Eight Authors to Be Honoured Across Genres in Dehradun
The Valley of Words (VoW) literature and arts festival announced the winners of the 2025 REC-VoW Book Awards, recognising eight authors and translators across English Fiction, English Non-Fiction, Hindi Fiction, Hindi Non-Fiction, Hindi Translation, and Children’s & Young Adult Literature.
The winners will be felicitated during the festival’s ninth edition on October 25–26, 2025, at Hotel Madhuban, Dehradun. Each award carries a citation and a cash prize of ₹1 lakh. This year, the awards received over 600 nominations from 75 publishing houses, with final selections made by a jury comprising last year’s winning authors and translators.
Festival Director Dr. Sanjeev Chopra noted, “What distinguishes this year’s winners is the range of voices and the themes they take on — from questions of identity and social change to the reinterpretation of cultural memory. Together, they reflect the evolving landscape of Indian publishing and the appetite among readers for stories that are both rooted and contemporary.”
Winners of the 2025 REC-VoW Book Awards
- Karan Madhok – Ananda: An Exploration of Cannabis in India (Aleph, Mussoorie)
- Lakshmi Murdeshwar Puri – Swallowing the Sun (Aleph, Delhi)
- Banibrata Mahanta (Translator) – Lavanyadevi (Orient BlackSwan, Varanasi)
- Sudhir Vidhyarthi – Bidaai De Ma! (Rajpal, Bareilly)
- Soni Pandey – Suno Kabir (Lokbharti, Noida)
- Sulabha Kore (Translator) – Bahattar Meel (Radhakrishna, Mumbai)
- Kripa – art is a voice (ArtsIntegrated, Mumbai)
- Neil Flory – Cactus Wants a Hug (Hachette, Goa)