The Tata Literature Live! Mumbai LitFest announced the shortlists for five of its ten literary awards on November 8. With three titles in each category, the shortlists for the First Book Awards for fiction and for non-fiction, the Book of the Year Awards for fiction and for non-fiction as well as the Business Book of the Year Award were announced.

With a mix of popular and a few unfamiliar names, the shortlist is in line with the literature festival’s mission to “recognise and promote literary talent across genres of literature, including distinguished and emerging writers alike.” The winners will be announced on November 19, the last day of the Tata Literature Live! LitFest.

In addition to these categories, acclaimed Indian playwright, film director, and writer Girish Karnad will be awarded the Tata Literature Live! Lifetime Achievement Award for 2017 and one of India’s best-known poets and short story writers, Keki Nasserwanji Daruwalla, will be honoured as the Tata Literature Live! Poet Laureate for 2017.

Here are the shortlists:

First Book Award, Fiction

  • Leila by Prayaag Akbar (Simon & Schuster)
  • South Haven by Hirsh Sawhney (HarperCollins)
  • These Circuses that Sweep through the Landscape by Tejaswini Apte-Rahm (Aleph)

First Book Award, Non-fiction

  • How I Became a Tree by Sumana Roy (Aleph)
  • Indica: A Deep Natural History of the Indian Subcontinent by Pranay Lal (Penguin Random House)
  • Mr and Mrs Jinnah: The Marriage that Shook India by Sheela Reddy (Penguin Random House)

Book of the Year, Fiction

  • Harilal and Sons by Sujit Saraf (Speaking Tiger)
  • Son of a Thundercloud by Easterine Kire (Speaking Tiger)
  • The Small-Town Sea by Anees Salim (Penguin Random House)

Book of the Year, Non-Fiction

  • Age of Anger: A History of the Present by Pankaj Mishra (Juggernaut)
  • An Era of Darkness: The British Empire in India by Shashi Tharoor (Aleph)
  • When Crime Pays: Money and Muscle in Indian Politics by Milan Vaishnav (HarperCollins)

Business Book of the Year

  • Advice and Dissent: My Life in Public Service by YV Reddy (HarperCollins)
  • Dialogue of the Deaf: The Government and the RBI by TCA Srinivasa Raghavan (Westland)
  • Failing to Succeed: The Story of India’s first e-commerce company by K Vaitheeswaran (Rupa)