About British Academy Book Prize – Key Facts to Consider

• About: The British Academy Book Prize is the leading international non-fiction prize worth GBP 25,000.
• The Author: Nandini Das is a 49-year-old author who works as a Professor in the English faculty at the University of Oxford. She also holds an honorary professorship at the University of Liverpool.
  • She holds a BA from Jadavpur University and received a PhD from the University of Cambridge following her Rhodes Scholarship to the University of Oxford.
• Theme of Book: The book is described as an origin story of Britain and India told through England’s first diplomatic mission to the Mughal courts.
  • The book presents a new perspective on the origins of the empire through the story of the arrival of the first English ambassador in India, Sir Thomas Roe, in the early 17th century.
• Other Short-listed Works for Book Prize: ‘Black Ghost of Empire: The Long Death of Slavery and the Failure of Emancipation‘ by Caribbean-born Kris Manjapra, who is also of Indian heritage.
• Jury Panel for Book Prize: Professor Madawi Al-Rasheed FBA; Professor Rebecca Earle; Fatima Manji; and Professor Gary Younge Hon.

British Academy Book Prize: Celebrating Global Non-Fiction Excellence

• About: The British Academy Book Prize is an annual prize that was set up in 2013 to reward and celebrate the best works of non-fiction that demonstrate rigor and originality and have contributed to public understanding of other world cultures and their interaction.
  • Earlier, it was known as the Nayef Al-Rodhan Prize.
• Eligible Categories: Books should come from subjects such as humanities and social sciences, including archaeology, history and psychology to philosophy, languages and cultural studies.

A Comparative Overview of Prestigious Literary Awards and Their Distinguished Recipients

• Pulitzer Prize Achievements: Indian-Origin Winners in Diverse Fields of Excellence
  • The Pulitzer Prize is given by Columbia University annually, honoring Joseph Pulitzer.
  •  It is awarded to individuals for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition.
  • Indian Roots Winner: Vijay Seshadri, Siddhartha Mukherjee, Geeta Anand, Jhumpa Lahiri, Danish Siddiqui, Sanghamitra Kalita, Gobin Behari Lal etc are some of the Indian-origin individuals to have won the award.
• Booker Prize: Celebrating Literary Success
  • The Booker Prize is presented annually for the best novel written in English and published in Ireland or the United Kingdom.
    • It was previously called the Man Booker Prize, and has been awarded since 1969.
  • Indian Roots Winner: Salman Rushdie, Arundhati Roy, Kiran Desai and Aravind Adiga are some of the previous winners of the prize from India.
• International Booker Prize: Geetanjali Shree’s Triumph
  • The International Booker Prize is the sister award of the Booker Prize and is given annually to the best literature work translated into English.
    • For the International Booker Prize, the award is shared by the author and the translator.
  • Indian Roots Winner: Geetanjali Shree became the first and the only Indian writer in 2022 to win the International Booker Prize for her novel Tomb of Sand.
• Nobel Prize in Literature: Rabindranath Tagore
  • This prize is considered to be the most prestigious award within the field of literature. It’s awarded based on overall remarkable contribution in the field of literature.
  • It has been given annually by the Swedish Academy annually since 1901. 
    • The most recent winner was Norwegian author Jon Fosse.
  • Indian Roots Winner: Rabindranath Tagore was the first and only person from India and the first person from Asia to win the Nobel Prize in 1913 for his work Geetanjali.