A raze down in literary world
When the JCB Prize for Literature was launched in 2018, its Rs 25 lakh cash prize positioned it as India's answer to the Booker Prize. For six years, it was a coveted accolade that celebrated Indian-language and literature in a publishing landscape, overwhelmingly dominated by English. However, without any warning, it stopped. There was no 2025 long-list announcement, no press release, just a quiet government filing that dissolved its non-profit status.
The literary world, partly, was left reeling. 'It felt like a real loss,' says Tamil writer Salma, who fondly remembers it as one of the awards that supported.
Yet the silence surrounding its unprecedented demise points to deeper layered tensions. An open letter signed by more than 150 writers, including K Satchidanandan, Muhsin Parari, Meena Kandasamy, had earlier condemned the prize's corporate sponsor, JCB, for its alleged complicity in what they called 'bulldozer justice' against Muslim communities in India, as well as home demolitions in Palestine. 'This prize cannot wash off the blood on JCB's hands,' the letter declared.
Now, with the award gone, India's literary community finds itself divided. Was the JCB Prize a vital platform for marginalised voices or merely a hypocritical public relations exercise? And what does its sudden collapse mean for the future of Indian literature?
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