Five Writers Awarded the Prestigious HWR Khozem Merchant Non-Fiction Fellowship
NAINITAL, India, April 24, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- The Himalayan Writing Retreat (HWR) announced the five recipients of the 2025 HWR Khozem Merchant Non-Fiction Fellowship, selected from a highly competitive pool of 183 applicants from across India.
Following a rigorous two-stage review process, 25 writers were shortlisted earlier this year. After careful evaluation, the final five fellows were selected this week for their compelling proposals and potential to contribute meaningfully to the Indian non-fiction literary landscape.
The selected fellows are:
- Anusuya Basu
- Anju Narayanan
- Jeff Joseph Paul Kadicheeni
- Radheshyam Jadhav
- Shirin Mehrotra
"Given the number of excellent proposals we received, choosing the final five wasn't an easy task. It came down to the quality of the writing and the durability of the idea. In years to come, I am certain that the fellowship will likely inspire many excellent non-fiction works," said Karthik Venkatesh, Executive Editor at Penguin Random House India, and Jury member.
"Each project aims to present a different shade of human experience and to explore, often through deeply personal narratives, what it means to overcome adversity. These are all works-in-progress, demonstrating great promise, but the winning entries seemed much closer to the finishing line as writing projects, both in terms of the writer's vision and intention," added Jury member Vineet Gill, also an editor at Penguin Random House India.
Endowed by best-selling author Aparna Piramal Raje, Lata Gullapalli and Saumya Roy, the fellowship honors Khozem Merchant, a former Financial Times journalist and a mentor to many emerging writers. The initiative is designed to support writers working on long-form non-fiction centered on lived experience, personal narratives, history, memoir, and narrative journalism.
Each fellow will participate in a five-day masterclass with acclaimed author Jerry Pinto in May, followed by a fully funded 21-day writing residency in the Himalayas in July. They will also receive a ₹50,000 grant upon completion of the residency and a ₹20,000 travel stipend. Fellows will submit their completed manuscripts to Penguin Random House India by April 30, 2026, for consideration.
"The winning projects capture everything we want for the Fellowship: all writers with a lot of work under their belts who can take on challenging stories that may otherwise not have happened," said Aparna Piramal Raje."
"I congratulate every single person who applied. It doesn't matter if you were shortlisted or selected – you have articulated an idea. If it matters to you, you should pursue and take it to completion," said Chetan Mahajan, co-founder of the Himalayan Writing Retreat.
For more information, visit: https://www.himalayanwritingretreat.com/khozem-merchant-non-fiction-fellowship/
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