Editor, critic and author Nilanjana Roy has won the 2013 Shakti Bhatt First Book Prize for her debut novel--The Wildings.
According to the Shakti Bhatt Foundation, the novel is a "startling" narrative in which the characters are street cats in Delhi's Nizamuddin East.
The judges--poet and novelist Meena Kandasamy, author and professor Sunil Khilani and novelist Niven Govinden--were unanimous in their verdict, the Foundation said today.
The six books in contention for the cash prize of Rs one lakh and trophy were Boats on Land by Janice Pariat, India Becoming by Akash Kapur, The Kings Harvest by Chetan Raj Shreshta, Foreign by Sonora Jha and The Wildings by Nilanjana Roy.
"We all felt that this was an incredibly strong shortlist in an incredibly strong publishing year. The confidence and ambition of each of these first books was wonderful; stories and voices to lose yourself in, to learn from, to feel," Govinden said.
The award function will take place at Delhi's Max Muller Bhavan on December 20, the foundation said.
