Banaras Lit Fest 2025 Book Awards: A Celebration of Indian Literary Talent | Check Winners List

The awards, which include categories for poetry, fiction, non-fiction, and translation, were presented to winners across multiple languages.

This year's winners include Kashinath Singh, who received the Bhartendu Harishchandra Lifetime Achievement Award, and Radha Vallabh Tripathi, who was honored with the Banaras Lit Fest Kalidas Award.

Read More | How To Be Alone | A Poem By Jeet Thayil

Winners Of The Banaras Lit Fest Book Awards 2025 (English)

• Sarojini Naidu Award for Poetry

  I’ll Have It Here: Poems – Jeet Thayil (HarperCollins)

• Ruskin Bond Award for Fiction

  The Patient in Bed Number 12 – Raj Kamal Jha (Penguin)

• Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan Award for Nonfiction: Tipu Sultan: The Saga of Mysore’s Interregnum (1760-1799), Vikram Sampath, Penguin India

• Rabindranath Tagore Award for Translation: The Keeper of Desolation: Stories, Chandan Pandey, translated from the Hindi by Sayari Debnath, HarperCollins India

Winners of the Banaras Lit Fest Book Awards 2025 (Hindi)

• Kabir Award for Poetry आत्मद्रोह – आर. चेतनक्रांति (राजकमल प्रकाशन)

• Rahul Sankrityayan Award for Non-Fiction (Hindi) गार्जियनता – व्योमेश शुक्ल (रुख़ पब्लिकेशन)

• Premchand Award for Fiction आउशवित्ज: एक प्रेम कथा – गरिमा श्रीवास्तव (वाणी प्रकाशन)

• Mahadevi Verma Award for Translation नये भारत की दीमक लगी शहतीरें – परकाला प्रभाकर (अनुवाद: व्यालोक पाठक, राजकमल प्रकाशन)

The official announcement of the winners was made at the festival's inaugural event on February 23, 2025, held at PHDCCI House in New Delhi.

As a token of recognition, each winner will be awarded a cash prize of Rs 51,000, accompanied by a certificate and a trophy.

These honors will be formally presented during the finale of the Banaras Lit Fest, taking place from March 7 to 9, 2025.