New Delhi: The Kalinga Literary Festival (KLF) has announced the English shortlist for the KLF Book Awards 2026 across five categories—Fiction, Non-Fiction, Poetry, Translation, and Debut. The shortlist celebrates exceptional books published in 2025 and highlights some of the finest contemporary voices in English writing and literary translation.

In the Non-Fiction category, the shortlisted books include Vauhini Vara's Searches, Anand Teltumbde's The Cell and the Soul, Snigdha Poonam's Scamlands, and Arundhati Roy's Mother Mary Comes to Me.

The Fiction shortlist features Jeet Thayil's The Elsewhereans, Ruchir Joshi's Great Eastern Hotel, Sarnath Banerjee's Absolute Jafar, and Rudraneil Sengupta's The Beast Within.

In the Poetry category, the shortlisted collections are Jennifer Robertson's Folie à Deux, Mani Rao's So That You Know, Subhashini Kaligotla's My Life Closed Twice, and John Kinsella and Jeet Thayil's The City under the City.

The Translation shortlist includes Jissa Jose's Mudritha, translated from Malayalam by Jayasree Kalathil; Sannapureddy Venkatarami Reddy's Tiger Lessons, translated from Telugu by Narasimha Kumar; Manoranjan Byapari's Nowhere People, translated from Bengali by Anchita Ghatak; and Banu Mushtaq's Heart Lamp, translated from Kannada by Deepa Bhasthi.

In the Debut category, the shortlisted books are Zahid Rafiq's The World With Its Mouth Open, Sowmiya Ashok's The Dig, Aranya Padiyal's The Map Is Not the Territory, and Sam Dalrymple's Shattered Lands.

The winners of the KLF Book Awards 2026 will be announced in September 2026 and honoured during the inaugural ceremony of KLF Indraprastha, which will be held on October 3–4, 2026, at the India International Centre, New Delhi. The festival will bring together distinguished authors, publishers, translators, scholars, artists, and literature enthusiasts from across India and beyond to celebrate books, ideas, and cultural dialogue.

The KLF Book Awards recognise exceptional literary works across Fiction, Non-Fiction, Poetry, Translation, and Debut categories. The awards celebrate books that demonstrate literary excellence, originality, and intellectual depth while contributing meaningfully to contemporary literary discourse.

The awards are presented by the Kalinga Literary Festival, one of India's leading literary platforms dedicated to promoting literature, ideas, and cultural dialogue. Through the Book Awards and its year-round literary initiatives, KLF continues to nurture literary excellence and foster meaningful engagement between writers and readers.

Rashmi Ranjan Parida, Founder and Director of the Kalinga Literary Festival, said, "The KLF Book Awards recognise books that challenge conventions, preserve memory, and open new possibilities for dialogue. The shortlisted works this year reflect the richness and diversity of contemporary writing across genres and represent voices that will continue to shape literary and intellectual conversations. We congratulate all the shortlisted authors and look forward to celebrating their achievements during KLF Indraprastha at the India International Centre, New Delhi, on October 3–4, 2026."

The KLF Book Awards 2026 honour outstanding books published during 2025, recognising authors whose works have made significant contributions to literature and public discourse. The shortlisted books reflect the vibrancy of contemporary writing across genres and demonstrate the enduring power of literature to inspire, inform, and connect readers across cultures. Selected by eminent juries comprising distinguished writers, scholars, translators, and literary experts, the awards continue to uphold the highest standards of literary excellence.