UK-based India Global Forum (IGF) has partnered with two of the world’s most famous authors, Lord Jeffrey Archer and Amish Tripathi, to launch a $25,000 literary award aimed at promoting contemporary literature in India and recognizing storytelling that meaningfully contributes to the India story. The IGF Archer-Amish Award for Literature was unveiled on Monday at the start of a week-long forum in London.
Entries will be accepted later this year once criteria are laid out for submission and jury selection process. The money prize winner is due to be announced during the next IGF London Summit in 2025.
“An award is very important because it recognizes you; it tells somebody who has worked day and night that he or she is not alone anymore,” said Lord Archer. Who wrote many successful books including ‘Kane and Abel’ and ‘The Clifton Chronicles’.
“Writing is a lonesome pursuit as you stay all by yourself. Therefore, if you get an award from people around the world it means they accept your aptitude,” he added.
One can see an underlying rationale behind this latest literary award according to Amish Tripathi whose work orbits Hindu mythological themes—the one produced recently being “War of Lanka” which reimagines the epic Ramayana.
“It strives to inspire storytellers: that’s why we want stories essentially. This will make it immensely different from other prizes which might reward those who take safe options. But use high quality language with boring tales while there’s no story in them.” She added
“The second aspect is about Indians talking about ourselves, our own stories. For westerners, they look at India through their eyes—almost one narrative, one lens! And that’s so different from how Indians view their country”, he said.
Winners of this competition are also given prominence on IGF platforms. Where they share their creative journeys as well as introduce their works to global audience.
“IGF is a group of storytellers, we tell the story of modern India from the perspective of business and technology and science. But business without culture is like commerce without spice,” opined IGF Founder Manoj Ladwa.
“There’s a gulf between what India gets seen as in the West and what Indians read and are every day. So this prize acts as a bridge between that gap for IGF,” he concluded.
