Second edition of Ramnath Goenka Sahithya Samman awards to be held in New Delhi

The second edition of the Ramnath Goenka Sahithya Samman awards launched by The New Indian Express will be held in New Delhi on Friday.

Swami Swaroopanandaji, Global Head, Chinmaya Mission, has graciously consented to be the chief guest.

The awards are named in honour of Ramnath Goenka, a doyen of the Indian print industry and visionary of The New Indian Express Group.

In the non-fiction category, four books are in the fray — The Day I Became A Runner by Sohini Chattopadhyay, The Yellow Sparrow by Santa Khurai, H-Pop: The Secretive World of Hindutva Pop Stars by Kunal Purohit, and Neerja Chowdhury’s How Prime Ministers Decide.

The fiction section has three contenders — Acts of God by Kanan Gill, The Scent of Fallen Stars by Aishwarya Jha and Western Lane by Chetna Maroo.

The jury also had the task of zeroing in on one among a shortlist of literary luminaries for a Lifetime Achievement Award, the top honour instituted in the name of the group’s iconic founder by Chairman and Managing Director Manoj Sonthalia.

Chaired by Pavan K Varma, former Ambassador and author, the external jury consisted of former foreign secretary and writer Vikas Swarup and the popular writer on history Manu S Pillai. They were joined by an internal jury comprising Editor Santwana Bhattacharya and Consulting Editor Ravi Shankar.