Annie Zaidi Wins the Fiction Book of the Year 2020 at Tata Lit Live! Awards

Renowned Indian author Annie Zaidi has won the Fiction Book of the Year 2020 for “Prelude to A Riot” at the Tata Literature Live! Awards. The awards ceremony took place via a digital event in lieu of the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic. Aleph Book Company published the novel in September 2019.

Annie Zaidi is a renowned author, poet, and scriptwriter for stage and screen. Her latest book, Bread, Cement, Cactus: A Memoir of Belonging and Dislocation, published by Cambridge, won The Nine Dots Prize. Zaidi’s other books include Unbound: 2,000 Years of Indian Women’s Writing, Gulab, Sleep Tight, and more. Zaidi is also a professor at the Jindal School of Journalism & Communication, OP Jindal Global University. Prelude to A Riot addresses the issue of communal intolerance between three generations of two families – one Hindu and the other Muslim, and the ensuing communal violence in the town that changes their lives forever.

The Tata Literature Live! also known as the Mumbai LitFest, was held between November 16 to 22. Apart from the Fiction Book of the Year, other awards presented during the festival include Lifetime Achievement Award, Poet Laureate Award, Non-Fiction Book of the Year, First Book Fiction, First Book Non-Fiction, Business Book, and Publisher of the Year.

The jury for choosing the winner of the Fiction Book of the Year 2020 comprised of Prof. Ashwani Kumar, Padma Shri Keki Daruwalla, Prof. Madhavi Menon, and Prof. Shashi Baliga. Apart from Annie Zaidi’s Prelude to A Riot, other books in the shortlist were Aravind Adiga’s Amnesty, Gitanjali Kolanad’s Girl Made of Gold, and Memory of Light.

Winners’ List at Tata Literary Live! 2020:

Lifetime Achievement Award – Ruskin Bond

Poet Laureate Award – Javed Akhtar

Fiction Book of the Year – Annie Zaidi, Prelude to A Riot (Aleph)

Non-Fiction Book of the Year – TM Krishna, Sebastian & Sons: A Brief History of Mrdangam Makers (Westland)

First Book Fiction – Deepa Anappara, Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line (Penguin Random House)

First Book Non-Fiction – Taran N Khan, Shadow City: A Woman Walks Kabul (Vintage Books) Business Book of the Year – Sunil Kant Munjal, The Making of Hero: Four Brothers, Two Wheels and a Revolution that Shaped India (HarperBusiness)