Entrants for Khushwant Singh prize for poetry announced

Five poetry books have been shortlisted for the inaugural Khushwant Singh Memorial Prize for poetry, to promote the genre across all Indian languages, organisers said Monday.

Adman and actor Suhel Seth had earlier this year announced this award in memory of Khushwant Singh who died last year.

The award, worth Rs.2,00,000, is open to Indian poets writing in English or regional works translated to English.

The shortlisted poetry books were announced at the ongoing Kasauli Literature Festival.

Sridala Swami's "Escape Artist", "Central Time" by Ranjit Hoskot, "When God is a Traveller" by Arundhathi Subramaniam, Keki N. Daruwalla's "Fire Altar" and "Selected Poems" by Joy Goswami have made it to the shortlist. Goswami's work was translated to English by Sampurna Chattarji.

The winner will be announced during the Jaipur Literature Festival (JLF) in January.

"This prize will promote the visibility, appreciation and understanding of the poetic sensibility," said author Namita Gokhale, who is also the co-director of JLF as well as a jury member of this prize.