Five non-fiction books make the 2026 Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay NIF Book Prize shortlist
The titles range from a biography of K.M. Panikkar to a history of five partitions, and the winner will receive ₹15 lakh.
The Global Sun Desk ·
The New India Foundation (NIF) announced on Wednesday, 28 October, a shortlist of five books for the 2026 edition of the Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay NIF Book Prize. All five are non-fiction works published in 2025. The winning author receives ₹15 lakh.
The winner will be named in December. The prize is to be presented at the Bangalore Literature Festival on 12 December.
The shortlisted books
- Narayani Basu, A Man for All Seasons: The Life of K.M. Panikkar
- Sam Dalrymple, Shattered Lands: Five Partitions and the Making of Modern Asia
- Rohit De and Ornit Shani, Assembling India's Constitution: A New Democratic History
- Devesh Kapur and Arvind Subramanian, A Sixth of Humanity: Independent India's Development Odyssey
- Sumana Ramanan, The Secret Master: Arun Kashalkar and a Journey to the Edge of Music
The Deccan Chronicle also listed the publishers. Westland Context brought out the Panikkar biography and The Secret Master. HarperCollins Fourth Estate published Shattered Lands, Penguin Random House's Allen Lane published Assembling India's Constitution, and HarperCollins published A Sixth of Humanity.
What the list covers
Taken together, the titles span the life of one public figure, the history of partitions across Asia, the drafting of India's Constitution, the story of independent India's development and the career of a single musician, Arun Kashalkar. Two of the five books have two authors each: the Constitution history by Rohit De and Ornit Shani, and the development study by Devesh Kapur and Arvind Subramanian.
Who chose them
The jury is chaired by the political scientist Niraja Gopal Jayal. Its other members are N. Chandrasekaran, chairman of Tata Sons and the Tata Group; Rahul Matthan, a partner at the law firm Trilegal; the historian of science Jahnavi Phalkey; the historian Srinath Raghavan; the former diplomat Nirupama Rao; and the entrepreneur Manish Sabharwal.
Outlook and DT Next both quoted Jayal as saying the five books "demonstrate the value of rigorous, imaginative non-fiction in deepening our understanding of India". The Deccan Chronicle reported that she also said the jury was delighted with this year's shortlist.
What happens next
The jury will choose one of the five as the winner, to be announced in December. The Deccan Chronicle said the prize will be handed over at the 2026 edition of the Bangalore Literature Festival on 12 December, where the winning author receives the ₹15 lakh award.