Ten-book longlist announced for NIF’s 2024 Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay Book Prize for nonfiction

The New India Foundation announced the longlist of the 2024 Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay NIF Book Prize which honours nonfiction books about modern and contemporary Indian history. The winning author will be awarded a cash prize of Rs 15 lakh.

The shortlist will be announced in September and the winner, in November. The winning author will be in conversation with an NIF Trustee at the Bangalore Literature Festival on December 14, 2024.

This year’s jury is chaired by political scientist Niraja Gopal Jayal, and comprises historian Srinath Raghavan, entrepreneur Manish Sabharwal, former diplomat and author Navtej Sarna, lawyer Rahul Matthan, and public policy researcher Yamini Aiyar.

“The landscape of Indian non-fiction today is prolific, exciting and constantly pushing boundaries, and we congratulate all the nominated authors and their publishers,” said the jury about the longlist.

Here are the longlisted books for this year’s Prize:

• Toward a Free Economy: Swatantra and Opposition Politics in Democratic India, Aditya Balasubramanian, Princeton University Press
  A deeply-researched book, arguing that India’s free-market economic policies were homegrown, and not simply imported from the West. This fascinating account of the Swatantra Party, through its leaders, policies, and ideas, shows how economic conservatism and democracy could cohabit.

• From Phansi Yard: My Year with the Women of Yerawada, Sudha Bharadwaj, Juggernaut
  This is a keenly felt autobiographical account of the author’s experience...

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