AutHer Awards 2026 Longlist announced

The AutHer Awards 2026 Longlists for best women authors in Fiction, Non-Fiction, Children’s Literature, and Debut were announced today by a panel of eminent judges. The Times of India received approximately 3000 entries submitted by both publishers and individual authors for the coveted national award for women writers, the first of its kind in India.The AutHer Awards- a joint venture between JK Paper and Times of India – is a celebration of women authors who have added value and creativity to the literary space. Started in 2018, this is the sixth edition of AutHer Awards. The jury considered books by women published in India between December 2024 and November 2025.Checkout the complete AutHer Awards 2026 Long list in different categories here *The lists have been arranged randomly.The esteemed jury for the AutHer Awards 2026 in various categories are:1. Fiction: Manju Kapur, Sudeep Nagarkar, Kiran Manral2. Non-fiction: Ravikant Kisana, Amrita Shah, Dr Radha Kumar3. Debut: Soha Ali khan, Preeti Shenoy, Vasudhendra4. Best children's literature: Nina Sabnani, Neil D'Silva, Zai WhitakerThe books under consideration went through multiple layers of screening before reaching the jury.Jaya Bhattacharji Rose, Literary Director, AutHer Awards, said, "The books longlisted for AutHer Awards 2026 by our esteemed jurors provides a rich and assorted list of literature. The common factor underlying this fabulous variety of books is that they have been written by women writers. Women who have umpteen responsibilities, are constantly multitasking in the real world and cannot outsource their physical labour to an AI bot. Yet, these writers find the time to research, analyse, reflect, be imaginative and create worlds that pull the reader into their parallel universe. As a result, they give the reader plenty to mull over with some books and provide unbridled joy with others. We hope that you enjoy reading these books as much as our juries have and celebrate all these women writers."The AutHer Awards Shortlist will be announced on March 15, 2026.The AutHer Awards winners will be announced at a grand ceremony in New Delhi on March 22, 2026. Cash prizes would be given to the top winners of all four categories and along with the winners of two other categories: The Popular Choice Award, and the Best Manuscript Award for aspiring authors. A Lifetime Achievement Award will also be given to a woman author for her lasting contribution in the field of literature.For more details, log on to: https://autherawards.in/