Bangalore: The New India Foundation announces the Winner of the Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay NIF Book Prize 2023 — Akshaya Mukul for Writer, Rebel, Soldier, Lover: The Many Lives of Agyeya, published by Penguin Random House.

The winner of the sixth edition was selected from a diverse shortlist of five magisterial books across a distinct range of Indian history, including Achyut Chetan’s Founding Mothers of the Indian Republic (Cambridge University Press), Rotem Geva’s Delhi Reborn: Partition and Nation Building in India’s Capital (Stanford University Press), Gita Ramaswamy’s Land, Guns, Caste, Woman: Memoirs of a Lapsed Revolutionary (Navayana), and Taylor C. Sherman’s Nehru’s India: A History in Seven Myths (Princeton University Press).

The Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay NIF Book Prize recognises excellence in non-fiction writings about modern and contemporary Indian history by writers of all nationalities. The winner receives a cash award of INR 15 lakhs, a trophy and a citation. 

The winner was selected by an eminent Jury including political scientist Niraja Gopal Jayal (Chair); entrepreneur Manish Sabharwal; historian Srinath Raghavan; former diplomat Navtej Sarna; policy analyst Yamini Aiyar, and lawyer Rahul Matthan.

The Jury Citation for the Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay NIF Book Prize 2023:

“This is an outstanding biography of the writer, Sachidanand Hiranand Vatsyayan Agyeya, one of the towering figures of the Hindi literary world in the 20th century. Through Agyeya’s life, the book offers a panoramic view of the landscape of Hindi literature in possibly its most fertile period, and of the exceptional writers and poets who populated it.”