The AutHer Awards 2025 Shortlists for best women authors in Fiction, Non-Fiction, Children’s Literature, and Debut categories were announced today by a panel of eminent judges. The Times of India received over 2000 entries which were submitted by both publishers and individual authors for the prestigious award, the first of its kind in India.
The AutHer Awards is a joint venture between JK Paper and The Times of India. It celebrates women authors who have added value and creativity to the literary space. The jury considered books by women published in India between December 2023 and November 2024.
Here is a look at the authors and their books that made it to the AutHer Awards 2025 Shortlist under various categories (in random order):

The jury for the AutHer Awards 2025 in different categories are:
1. Fiction: Esther David, Siddharth Dhanvant Shanghvi, Trisha Das
2. Non-fiction: Ganesh N. Devy, Manu S Pillai, Shranaya Bhattacharya
3. Debut: Anita Nair, Sutapa Basu, Suvir Saran
4. Best children’s literature: Priya Dutt, Anasuya Vaidya, Devashish Makhija
Talking about the AutHer Awards 2025 shortlist, Jaya Bhattacharji Rose, Literary Director, AutHer Awards said, “Today, we are in the second Industrial Revolution. Technological developments are of a magnitude that it is humanly impossible to keep pace with. Information disruption is here to stay. Fortunately, the age-old craft of writing, putting down words on paper, ensures that ideas will remain fixed in time and will also pass on to coming generations. There will be a continuity that only words on paper can assure us of. For most women, time is a flexible entity which they have to make their own. Basically, find the time to write. It requires mental agility, creativity, and patience to compose one’s thoughts, edit, and then make public. A human feat that no machine can ever replace — at least for the foreseeable future. Yet, as is evident in the wide range of writing that the AutHer Awards 2025 shortlist showcases, women writers have an extraordinary range of topics to reflect upon. The different genres like literary fiction, historical accounts, memoirs, war reporting, art books, short stories, and young adult literature exemplify the rich landscape of Indian publishing. We hope that you — the reader— will enjoy discovering the books as much as the incredible juries have had in putting together this fine selection of works by talented women writers.”
The much-awaited AutHer Awards 2025 winners will be announced at a grand ceremony in New Delhi on March 21, 2025. Cash prizes will be given to the top winners in all four categories and a Lifetime Achievement Award will be given to a woman author for her lasting contribution in the field of literature. A winner in Best Manuscript category will also be announced at the event. A winner for Popular Choice Award based on online voting will also be announced.
For more details, log on to: https://autherawards.in/