It was an exciting evening at Taj Palace, New Delhi this Friday (March 21, 2025) as the audience witnessed a heart-warming celebration of Indian women writers on the occasion of AutHer Awards 2025 winner announcements. The AutHer Awards, a joint venture between JK Paper and The Times of India, celebrates women authors who have added value and creativity to the literary space. From authors, publishers, and academicians to book lovers, politicians, and artistes– the sixth edition of AutHer Awards was attended by some of the biggest names in the literary world.
International Booker Prize 2022 winner Geetanjali Shree was the Chief Guest for AutHer Awards 2025. While, actress-author Ila Arun was the Guest of Honour for the event.
The winners are…
The AutHer Awards 2025 winners were announced in four major categories, namely– Fiction, Non-Fiction, Children’s Literature, and Debut. A Lifetime Achievement award, a Prize in the Popular Choice category (based on an online poll), and a Best Manuscript Award were also given.
The AutHer Awards 2025- Best Author Fiction was given to two women authors this time! While Tania James won the award for ‘Loot’ (published by Penguin Hamish Hamilton), Namita Gokhale won the award for ‘Never Never Land’ (published by Speaking Tiger).
The AutHer Awards 2025- Best Author Non-Fiction was given to not one but two women authors. The award was given to Aruna Roy for ‘The Personal Is Political: An Activist’s Memoir’ (published by HarperCollins Publications India), and to Alpa Shah for ‘The Incarcerations: Bhima Koregaon And The Search For Democracy In India’ (also published by HarperCollins Publications India).
The AutHer Awards 2024- Best Author Debut Award was awarded to Nayanima Basu for her book ‘The Fall Of Kabul: Despatches From Chaos’ (published by Bloomsbury India).
The AutHer Awards 2024 for Best Children’s Author was also given to two women writers! Author Kripa won the award for her book ‘Art Is A VoiceDevika’ published by Ektara Trust, while Andaleeb Wajid won the award for ‘The Henna Start-Up’ which is published by Duckbill Books.
The Popular Choice Award was won by two women writers: Astha Gill for her book ‘STM: Student-Teacher-Meet’ and Divsargun Kaur for the book ‘Sri Guru Hargobind Sahib Ji’, for garnering the maximum number of votes online.
Veteran Indian author and journalist, Shanta Gokhale was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award this year for her timeless contribution to Indian writing.
And lastly, the AutHer Awards 2025 for Best Manuscript was given to Tista Hijli for ‘Alchemy of Love’. Meanwhile, Indrani A. Deo was the Best Manuscript Runner-up. The award recognises and inspires budding writers to let their imaginations soar.
The selection process
The Longlist, Shortlist, and Winners for AutHer Awards 2025 were chosen after multiple layers of screening, followed by detailed discussions among a panel of eminent jury. This year The Times of India received more than 2000 entries, submitted by both publishers and authors, for the coveted women writers awards which is the first of its kind in India. The jury considered books by women published in India between December 2023 and November 2024.
Check the complete Longlist for AutHer Awards 2025 HERE
Check the complete Shortlist for AutHer Awards 2025 HERE
The Jury
The Jury for this year’s AutHer Awards 2025 in different categories included:
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 AutHer Awards and the selection process, Jaya Bhattacharji Rose, Literary Director- AutHer Awards 2025, said at the event, “The books that won at the AutHer awards tonight give reading pleasure and are thought-provoking. At the same time, they, hopefully, provoke readers to think differently and for themselves. The wonderful authors who have written them range from teenagers to those on the higher side of fifty. They have written across a breathtaking array of diverse genres — from picture books, to nonfiction, young adult novels, stories across faiths, folktales, climate fiction, literary fiction, historical fiction, memoirs, biographies, histories, war reporting, short stories, multi-generational sagas and mythologies.
“The Auther Awards would not be possible without our eminent jurors, renowned for their intellectual heft and the depth of their work in the industry — Prof Devy, Esther David, Priya Dutt, Suvir Saran, Trisha Das, Manu Pillai, Shrayana Bhattacharya, Sutapa Basu, Anasuya Vaidya, Anita Nair, Siddharth Dhanvant Shanghvi and Devashish Makhija. A special thank you to our jurors: for their time and for their appreciation of the nuances of writing.
“We are really proud that the Auther awards is the first and biggest award for women writers in India. I hope you enjoy reading and discovering the AutHer awards literature as much as we have.”
For more details, log on to https://autherawards.in/