Mathrubhumi Book of the Year Award 2020: Prominent writers feature in longlist

Mathrubhumi Book of the Year Award has announced the long-list of 16 novels, which include an eclectic mix of writing and genres in fiction by leading writers in the country.

The long-list is: The Far Field (Madhuri Vijay), The City and the Sea (Raj Kamal Jha), Vanara (Anand Neelakantan), Ib’s Endless Search for Satisfaction (Roshan Ali), Milk Teeth (Amrita Mahale), There is gunpowder in the air (Manoranjan Vyapari), In search of heer (Manjul Bajaj), Eating Wasps (Anita Nair), A Secret History of Compassion (Paul Zachariah), Bhumika: the story of Sita (Aditya Iyengar), Diary of a Malayali Madman (N Prabhakaran), Blue is like Blue (Vinod Kumar Shukla), Fear of Lions (Amita Kanekar), The Black Dwarves of the Good Little Bay (Varun Thomas Mathew), The scent of God (Saikat Majumdar and The Queen of the Jasmine Country (Sharanya Manivannan).

The annual Mathrubhumi Book of the Year carries a prize money of Rs 500,000 and a sculpture by a leading artist. The inaugural edition of the award has received an enthusiastic response from the publishing industry across the country.

"The Mathrubhumi Book of the Year award is a commitment from Mathrubhumi to honour the best in Indian literature. We are inspired to honour and celebrate brilliant works, and encourage publishers to look for the best writing by Indian authors,” said Mr MV Shreyams Kumar, Joint Managing Director, Mathrubhumi.

The short-list of the award entries will be announced ahead of the third edition of Mathrubhumi International Festival of Letters, and the winner will be declared and awarded during the festival from Jan 30-Feb 2, 2020 at the Kanakakkunnu Palace, Thiruvananthapuram.