AutHer Awards 2025: Honoring Women Writers
A Grand Ceremony in New Delhi
On March 21, 2025, the Taj Palace in New Delhi held the AutHer Awards 2025, a collaboration between JK Paper and The Times of India. This event highlighted women authors who have made a significant impact in literature.
Chief Guest and Guest of Honor
Geetanjali Shree, the International Booker Prize 2022 winner, was the Chief Guest. Ila Arun, an actress-author, was the Guest of Honor.
The Winners
The AutHer Awards 2025 acknowledged winners in four main categories: Fiction, Non-Fiction, Children’s Literature, and Debut. Moreover, a Lifetime Achievement award, a Prize in the Popular Choice category, and a Best Manuscript Award were presented.
- Fiction: Tania James for ‘Loot’ and Namita Gokhale for ‘Never Never Land’
- Non-Fiction: Aruna Roy for ‘The Personal Is Political: An Activist’s Memoir’ and Alpa Shah for ‘The Incarcerations: Bhima Koregaon And The Search For Democracy In India’
- Debut: Nayanima Basu for ‘The Fall Of Kabul: Despatches From Chaos’
- Children’s Literature: Kripa for ‘Art Is A VoiceDevika’ and Andaleeb Wajid for ‘The Henna Start-Up’
- Popular Choice Award: Astha Gill for ‘STM: Student-Teacher-Meet’ and Divsargun Kaur for ‘Sri Guru Hargobind Sahib Ji’
- Lifetime Achievement Award: Shanta Gokhale
- Best Manuscript: Tista Hijli for ‘Alchemy of Love’
The Selection Process
The Longlist, Shortlist, and Winners for AutHer Awards 2025 were selected after numerous rounds of screening and discussions by a panel of distinguished jury. The Times of India received over 2000 entries for the awards, which are the first of their kind in India.
The Jury
The jury for this year’s AutHer Awards 2025 included:
- Fiction: Esther David, Siddharth Dhanvant Shanghvi, Trisha Das
- Non-fiction: Ganesh N. Devy, Manu S Pillai, Shranaya Bhattacharya
- Debut: Anita Nair, Sutapa Basu, Suvir Saran
- Best children’s literature: Priya Dutt, Anasuya Vaidya, Devashish Makhija
