Seven books were nominated for the The Shakti Bhatt First Book Prize this year. The contenders are: In Search of a Future: The Story of Kashmir by David Devadas, Kari by Amruta Patil, A Reluctant Survivor by Sridala Swami, The Music Room by Namita Devidayal, White Tiger by Aravind Adiga, A Case of Exploding Mangoes by Mohammed Hanif, Smoke and Mirrors, An Experience of China by Pallavi Aiyar.

William Dalrymple, Kamila Shamsie and Samit Basu will pick a winner from the books that made it to the shortlist this year.

The Shakti Bhatt First Book Prize is the only Indian prize that honours a first-time author. By awarding a cash prize of Rs 1 lakh, the prize aims to bring attention to deserving books of any genre by first-time authors. As a measure of the timeliness of this prize, there were more than two dozen entries this year, proof of the depth and quality of new writing in the country.

The prize is given by the Shakti Bhatt Foundation, a non-profit trust.

Shakti Bhatt, writer and editor of Bracket Books, and a former staffer of rediff.com/India Abroad in New York, passed away after a brief illness on March 31, 2007, at the age of 26.