Lord Jeffrey Archer and Amish Tripathi have announced the IGF Archer-Amish Award for Literature, a new $25,000 literary prize dedicated to celebrating contemporary Indian fiction. The award was introduced during the India Global Forum’s (IGF) London summit on Monday, marking the start of a week-long series of events focused on Indian culture and business.
The IGF Archer-Amish Award for Literature will begin accepting nominations later this year, with the criteria for entries and jury selection to be announced soon. The winner will be revealed at next year’s IGF London summit in 2025.
Reflecting on the significance of literary recognition, Lord Archer said, “Awards are very important because they give recognition, and they allow someone who has slaved night and day to achieve something to realise they’re not on their own, stuck in a box.”
Amish Tripathi, known for his novels based on Hindu mythology, highlighted the award’s focus on storytelling. “This is an award that aims to encourage the gift of storytelling itself, and that is one of the key drivers. This will make it very different from other awards which might reward those whose books are boring but use good language. However, there’s no story,” Tripathi stated.
Tripathi also emphasised the importance of narratives that reflect the Indian perspective, rather than being viewed through a Western lens. “The way Westerners see India, in a lot of ways through the Western lens, it is one narrative, one lens, which is very different from how Indians see India,” he said.
The winner will gain not only the prize money but also an opportunity to feature across IGF’s platforms, sharing their journey and work with a global audience. Manoj Ladwa,
the founder of IGF, underscored the importance of storytelling in bridging cultural and commercial gaps. “There is a disconnect between what the West thinks of India, and what Indians read and are, and what they see of their country. So IGF seeks to bridge that disconnect with this award,” Ladwa explained.
