New 2020 Shakti Bhatt Prize to Anand Teltumbde and Gautam Navlakha

For twelve years the Shakti Bhatt First Book Prize has recognized and celebrated literature from the South Asian subcontinent, honouring writers from Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and every corner of India.

Administered, judged, curated and funded solely by writers, the Prize is and will always be independent. It is beholden to no corporate sponsors.

In these twelve years, there has been a proliferation of prizes and first books have become a part of numerous shortlists. For these reasons, the First Book Prize will be discontinued and henceforth be known as the Shakti Bhatt Prize.

The 2020 Shakti Bhatt Prize is shared by Dr. Anand Teltumbde and Mr. Gautam Navlakha for their body of work.

Dr. Teltumbde is the author of more than two dozen books, including Dalits: Past, Present and Future, Republic of Caste and Radical in Ambedkar.
In April this year he was arrested in connection with the violence that took place during anniversary celebrations of the Bhima-Koregaon battle.
The award will be given to his wife, Rama Teltumbde, grand-daughter of BR Ambedkar, on his behalf.

Gautam Navlakha is a human rights activist and journalist. He retired as editorial consultant of the Economic & Political Weekly, and is a founding member of the People’s Union for Democratic Rights.
His areas of engagement range from justice in conflict zones, to workers' and peasants' rights, to the persecution of political prisoners. He is the author of Days and Nights in the Heartland of Rebellion (Penguin India, 2012).
In April of this year he was arrested in connection with the Bhima-Koregaon case.