| The Rabindranath Tagore Literary Prize | |
| Subheader: | Literary award |
| Awarded For: | Outstanding work by an Indian Author |
| Sponsor: | Maitreya Publishing Foundation |
| Firstawarded: | 2018 |
| Lastawarded: | 2020 |
| Reward: | USD 10,000 (2018-2019) USD 5,000 (2020) |
| Holder Label: | Most recent winner |
| Holder: | The City And The Sea, Raj Kamal Jha |
| Award2 Type: | First winner |
| Award2 Winner: | One hundred poems of Kabir, Kabir |
| Award3 Type: | Last winner |
| Award3 Winner: | The City And The Sea, Raj Kamal Jha |
| Website: | tagoreprize.com |
The Rabindranath Tagore Literary Prize is a literary honour in India conferred annually to published works of Indian authors (residing in India or abroad) in novel, short stories, poetry and drama, originally written in any of Indian official languages and dialects, but translated to English. It was founded in 2018 by US-based independent and non-profit publishing house Maitreya Publishing Foundation (MPF)[1] as a platform for world peace, literature, art, education and human rights. The winners receive USD 10,000 as the prize money along with a Rabindranath Tagore statuette while the shortlisted authors each receive USD 500.[2] [3]
The 2019 Rabindranath Tagore Literary Prize in literature was awarded to Rana Dasgupta for the literary novel “Solo". Rabindranath Tagore Literary Prize 2019 for Social Achievement was awarded to Yohei Sasakawa, for his efforts to uproot leprosy and his great contribution to world peace, and to Madame President of Taiwan, Ms. Tsai Ing-Wen and Taiwanese people, as being a Beacon of Democracy, Human Rights and Freedom.[4]
In 2020 Rabindranath Tagore Prize for Social Achievement was conferred to His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said Al Said, the late Sultan of Oman and The People of Oman, for his lifelong efforts and legacy as a peacemaker, his Majesty’s velvety diplomatic mediation of complex domestic and world affairs resulting in successful peaceful resolutions and to the world-renowned dancer choreographer Sandip Soparrkar for his worldwide initiative 'Dance for a Cause' where he uses dance, music and drama to highlight various world social issues.[5] Raj Kamal Jha was announced the winner of the Tagore Literary Prize for his novel – The City and the Sea.[6] In 2020, it was announced that the prizes for 2021 and 2022 would be merged, due to disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.[7]
The winners and shortlisted authors of Rabindranath Tagore Literary Prize are.[8] [9] [10]
| Year | Author | Title |
|---|---|---|
| 2018 | ||
| Kabir (translated to english by Rabindranath Tagore) | One Hundred Poems of Kabir (poetry) | |
| The Silk of Hunger (poetry) | ||
| Dances with the Cranes (poetry) | ||
| Tishani Doshi | Pleasure Seekers (novel) | |
| Amitav Ghosh | The Ibis Trilogy (Sea of Poppies, River of Smoke, Flood of Fire) (novels) | |
| Jhumpa Lahiri | Unaccustomed Earth (short stories) | |
| The Lilac House (novel) | ||
| Daya Pawar | Kondwada (poetry) | |
| Kiriti Sengupta | Healing Waters Floating Lamps (poetry) | |
| Amish Tripathi | Shiva Trilogy – (The Immortals of Meluha, The Secret of the Nagas, The Oath of the Vayuputras) (novels) | |
| 2019 | ||
| Rana Dasgupta | Solo (literary fiction) | |
| Amit Chaudhuri | The Immortals (literary fiction) | |
| K. Madavane | To Die in Benares (translated from the French language by Blake Smith, literary fiction (poetic prose/short stories)) | |
| Jayanta Mahapatra | Hesitant Light (poetry) | |
| Neel Mukherjee | The Lives of Others (literary fiction) | |
| Manoj Pandey | The Legacy of Nothing (illustrations by Yuko Shimizu, literary fiction (poetic prose/ short stories)) | |
| Kala Ramesh | Beyond the Horizon Beyond (haiku & haibun) | |
| Siddharth Dhanvant Shanghvi | The Lost Flamingoes of Bombay (literary fiction) | |
| Menka Shivdasani | Frazil (poetry) | |
| Jeet Thayil | The Book of Chocolate Saints (literary fiction) | |
| 2020 | ||
| Raj Kamal Jha | The City and the Sea (literary fiction)[11] | |
| Amitav Ghosh | Gun Island literary (fiction) | |
| Nirmala Govindarajan | Taboo (literary fiction) | |
| Ranjit Hoskote | Jonahwhale (poetry) | |
| Sachin Kundalkar translated from Marathi into English by Jerry Pinto | Cobalt blue (literary fiction) | |
| Varun Thomas Mathew | The Black Dwarves of the Good Little Bay (literary fiction) | |
| Sonnet Mondal | Karmic Chant (poetry) | |
| Rochelle Potkar | Paper Asylum (haibun) | |
| Bijoya Sawian | Shadow Men (literary fiction) | |
| Sudeep Sen | EroText (literary fiction, experimental fiction) |
It is awarded annually along with the literary award to recognise those who have made a positive and lasting impact on the society.
| Year | Awarded to | |
|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Kailash Satyarthi Children’s Foundation[12] | |
| 2019 | Yohei Sasakawa and Ms. Tsai Ing-Wen and Taiwanese people [13] | |
| 2020 | His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said Al Said and the People of Oman and Sandip Soparrkar a renowned Indian dancer choreographer [14] |