Chaired by co-founder and co-director of the Jaipur Literature Festival and award-winning author Namita Gokhale, the longlisted titles will now be whittled down to a six-strong shortlist be announced on March 31 followed by the Winner's Ceremony held in Swansea on May 12, two days before International Dylan Thomas Day.
A Little Book of India is an amalgamation of the physical and spiritual attributes of our homeland, and takes you on a journey filled with nostalgia and devotion.
As the India Shayari Project (ISP) launched on ZEE5 with Kumar Vishwas, Zakir Khan along with Kausar, she said that such an initiative will open many doors for young poets to flourish.
"I wanted to write a book that is easy to read but influential, that combines art and words to help anyone who reads it.
The list includes four novels, seven poetry books, two plays, five short stories, an epic poetry and a memoir in twenty Indian languages.
"The Pahari painters rarely inscribed their works," he explained of his research into the book, adding: "We have only sketchy information about the lives and working process of Pahari painters; hence attempts to describe their careers remain uncertain."
When we are able to relate the pain with the beauty and majority. When we get in contact with the piece of art-poetry, painting, literature, music–our struggles turn tiny before the magnificence of the universal things and chaos. We become humble.
