Ashoka University and Oxford University announce the Ved Mehta Award for Creative Nonfiction

This year, Ashoka University and Balliol College of Oxford University introduced the Ved Mehta International Prize in Creative Nonfiction. Named after the Indian-born writer and journalist, whose work was indispensable in the field of modern nonfiction, this award, of the amount of £10,000, will be given to books written in English from any country and published during the preceding year. Additionally, in the case of translated books, the translator will be awarded an amount of £2,000.

The award “is meant to recognise the more imaginative forms of nonfiction writing, and to acknowledge the stretching of genre-related boundaries in creative nonfiction, which has emerged as a serious alternative to both fiction and academic writing in the 21st century,” according to the website.

The recipient of the award will be decided by a panel of 3 judges chosen by an international advisory board convened by Ashoka University and Balliol College, Oxford. Judges will be appointed to serve for one year at a time. 

This year, the judges are:

Merve Emre, the Shapiro-Silverberg Professor of Creative Writing and Criticism at

Wesleyan University, Connecticut, and Director of the Shapiro Center for Creative Writing and Criticism.

Seamus Perry, Professor of English Literature in the English Faculty at the University of

Oxford and Master of Balliol College, Oxford.

And, Vijay Seshadri, Pulitzer-Prize winning author and member of the Faculty of English and

Creative Writing at Sarah Lawrence College, New York.

Additionally, the advisory board is constituted by Edwin Frank of NYRB Classics, New York Review Books; Arvind Krishna Mehrotra, Indian poet; Linn Cary Mehta, the spouse and literary executor of Ved Mehta; Seamus Perry on behalf of Balliol College; and Amit Chaudhuri, the director of Center for the Creative and the Critical at Ashoka University, who also helped conceptually define this prize. A supplementary grant will also support an annual short-term visiting fellowship, the Ved Mehta Fellowship in Creative Nonfiction, at the Centre for the Creative and the Critical.

The Ved Mehta International Prize in Creative Nonfiction marks a significant addition to the global literary landscape, offering both recognition and material support to writers pushing the boundaries of the genre. As creative nonfiction continues to carve out its place as a distinct and serious mode of writing, this prize promises to nurture new voices and honour Ved Mehta’s contributions to the form.

[Edited by Antara Kulkarni and Avika Mantri]