The much-awaited shortlist of the Oxford Bookstore Book Cover Prize 2023 was announced at the 14^th Apeejay Kolkata Literary Festival (AKLF).

SHORTLIST – OXFORD BOOKSTORE BOOK COVER PRIZE 2023

NOMINATED BOOK- Pebble Monkey

NAME OF THE AUTHOR- Manindra Gupta

NAME OF THE DESIGNER- ParamitaBrahmachari

NAME OF THE PUBLISHER- Jadavpur University Press

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NOMINATED BOOK – Memory Police

NAME OF THE AUTHOR- Yoko Ogawa

NAME OF THE DESIGNER- Leeza John

NAME OF THE PUBLISHER- DC Books

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NOMINATED BOOK- Birdwatching: A Novel

NAME OF THE AUTHOR- Stephen Alter

NAME OF THE DESIGNER- BenaSareen

NAME OF THE PUBLISHER- Aleph Book Company

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NOMINATED BOOK- Invisible Empire

NAME OF THE AUTHOR- Pranay Lal

NAME OF THE DESIGNER- AhlawatGunjan

NAME OF THE PUBLISHER- Viking

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NOMINATED BOOK – Shakti: An exploration of the Divine Feminine

NAME OF THE AUTHOR- NilimaChitgopekar

NAME OF THE DESIGNER- Priyanka Thakur

NAME OF THE PUBLISHER- Dorling Kindersley India

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NOMINATED BOOK- The Muslim Vanishes

NAME OF THE AUTHOR- Saeed Naqvi

NAME OF THE DESIGNER- Antra

NAME OF THE PUBLISHER- Vintage

The hybrid session titled ‘Cover Story’ announced the Oxford Book cover Prize shortlist. The session saw the presence of the Chair of the jury Alka Pande, an art historian, and author, and jury members and authors Shobhaa De and Kunal Basu. ‘Fontwala: From ancient script to digital keyboard’, a presentation by Shubhra Prakash kept the audience captivated.

The session Evening in Four Voices which saw four poets perform their work, each unique in voice and style.

“Past, Present, Future” saw authors Shobha Tharoor Srinivasan, Shalini Modi, and Nita Bajoria discussing writing for young readers, spanning both ancient times and the future.

The session “Handspun Hotelier” was based on Bachi Karkaria’s new title: Capture the Dream -The Many Lives of C.P. Krishnan Nair which traces the life and career of ‘Captain’ C. P. Nair who founded Leela Group.

The session for the Oxford Junior Literary Festival had the presence of authors Anjana Basu and Madhurima Vidyarthi to read their books. There was also an interactive session with the junior & middle school.

‘Across Generations’: The Session was a Theatre Workshop with Ramanjit Kaur and The Creative Arts Academy at Oxford Bookstore.

The Session ‘Peace of Mind’ was about mental health. Aparna Piramal (Chemical Khichdi) and Vandana Kohli (Hinge) spoke on this topic.

It’s My Life: Shobhaa De discussed her new book Insatiable: My Hunger for Life, with Sandip Roy.

The session ‘It’s a Queer Thing’ included Sandip Roy (Don’t Let Him Know), Sumita Beethi (Monologue: Lesbian Narratives from Bengal), Paromita Chakravarti, and Angshu Dasgupta (Fern Road Boy). They discussed questions on identity and sexuality.

In the session, ‘100 Years of Mrinal Sen: A Tribute’ Filmmaker K A Abbas’ Chandi Sonake Buth, unveiled by editor Syeda Hameed, was followed by a discussion with actor Dhritiman Chaterjiand filmmaker/actor Suman Mukhopadhyay on the two filmmakers’ cinema of social commitment.

In the session ‘The Right to Write’ by Dalit women writers of Bengal, Kalyani Thakur Charal (Andhar Bil), Manju Bala, Kanan Boral and Lily Haldar discussed their work.

‘The Voices Within’: The session had poet and Novelist Janice Pariat, Travel writer & Translator Srinath Perur, and Poet, Novelist, and Musician Jeet Thayil in a discussion about their experiments with different genres.

The session ‘Close Encounters’ had well-known actor Divya Dutta in conversation with filmmaker Sangeeta Datta about her new book, Stars in my Sky, which explores people and influences from the film world.

In the session ‘Screen, Stage, Page’, popular actor Arunoday Singh shared the various phases of his creative journey in conversation with actor Ramanjit Kaur.

Priyanka Dutta