The Wise Owl Literary Awards were held in the city on Thursday, bringing together writers, poets, academics and students for an event celebrating contemporary literature and cultural engagement. The programme opened with a classical music performance by Pt Subhash Ghosh, who presented Raga Basant on the Sarasvani.
Founding editor of The Wise Owl, Rachna Singh, outlined the vision of the platform and the scope of the awards, followed by interactions with award winners and jury members. Awards were presented in three categories—poetry, fiction and non-fiction.
The poetry award was won by Akhil Katyal for The Last Time I Saw You, Jeet Thayil (I’ll Have It Here) and Amlanjyoti Goswami (A Different Story) were named first runners-up, while Renu Uniyal received the second runner-up award for ‘This Could Be a Love Poem for You’.
In the fiction category, Ruchir Joshi won for Great Eastern Hotel. The runners-up were Sheela Tomy’s Do Not Ask the River Her Name (translated by Ministhy S) and Zahid Rafiq’s The World With Its Mouth Open.
The non-fiction award was presented to Amitav Ghosh for Wild Fictions: Essays. Deepa Malik (Bring It On) and Ruskin Bond (Another Day in Landour) were named First Runners-up, while Sanhamitra Chakraborty and Daneesh Majid received Second Runner-up recognition.
{{/usCountry}}The non-fiction award was presented to Amitav Ghosh for Wild Fictions: Essays. Deepa Malik (Bring It On) and Ruskin Bond (Another Day in Landour) were named First Runners-up, while Sanhamitra Chakraborty and Daneesh Majid received Second Runner-up recognition.
{{/usCountry}}Two outreach programmes complemented the event, including an interactive session with paralympics medallist Deepa Malik and a student interaction with poets Akhil Katyal, Amlanjyoti Goswami and Renu Uniyal. The programme concluded with a classical performance of Raga Gujari Todi and closing remarks by Harmeet Singh, co-founder of The Wise Owl.