Two of India’s most celebrated writers—both Booker winners—are back in the global spotlight. Arundhati Roy and Kiran Desai have been shortlisted for the 2025 Kirkus Prize, one of the most prestigious (and wealthiest) literary awards in the world. Roy is in the running with her memoir Mother Mary Comes to Me, while Desai has been recognized for her long-awaited novel The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny.
For readers, this is a big deal. For Indian literature, it feels like a moment.
What’s the Kirkus Prize, Anyway?
The Kirkus Prize may not have the same long history as the Booker or Pulitzer—it’s only been around since 2014—but it has quickly become one of the most influential awards in the literary world. Why? Well, for one, it carries a whopping $50,000 prize in each category (Fiction, Nonfiction, and Young Readers’ Literature). That makes it one of the richest single-author prizes anywhere.
But the money is only part of it. What gives the Kirkus Prize its shine is how selective it is: only books that earn a coveted starred review from Kirkus Reviews—roughly 1 in 10—are even eligible. From there, juries made up of writers, critics, editors, and booksellers whittle down the hundreds of titles to just six per category.
This year’s winners will be announced in New York on October 8, 2025, at a ceremony at TriBeca Rooftop, with a global livestream for those tuning in from afar.
Arundhati Roy’s Mother Mary Comes to Me
Arundhati Roy, of course, needs no introduction. Since her explosive debut with The God of Small Things (which won the Booker back in 1997), she’s been one of the most fearless, uncompromising voices in Indian and global literature.
Her new memoir, Mother Mary Comes to Me, is perhaps her most personal work yet. At its heart, it’s about her mother, Mary Roy—fiery, difficult, brilliant, and often at odds with both her daughter and the world around her. Mary Roy raised her children alone in Kerala, defied social norms, founded a respected school, and lived life on her own uncompromising terms.
Arundhati writes about growing up in that shadow: the poverty, the arguments, the love, and the lasting shape it all gave her. The book also carries the weight of grief, as Mary Roy passed away in 2022.
Critics have described it as intimate and stirring, both a portrait of an extraordinary woman and a reckoning with the messy, complicated ways mothers and daughters shape each other. And in classic Roy fashion, it combines the sharp eye of a reporter with the lyricism of a novelist—an almost poetic honesty.
Kiran Desai’s The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny
If Roy’s book looks inward, Kiran Desai’s looks outward—though with no less intimacy. It’s been nearly two decades since Desai won the 2006 Booker Prize for The Inheritance of Loss, and fans have been waiting ever since.
Her new novel, The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny, finally arrives this September, and early buzz has been glowing. The story follows two characters—Sonia and Sunny—whose lives stretch across India and the U.S., tangled up in love, family, and migration.
At its heart, it’s about the things we inherit—emotional baggage, traditions, expectations—and how those invisible threads follow us across continents. Desai’s gift has always been weaving the personal with the political, the intimate with the global. This book, critics say, is no exception: sweeping and meditative, but also tenderly close to the skin.
Why This Matters
Roy and Desai being shortlisted in the same year feels bigger than just two individual successes. It’s a recognition of how Indian literature continues to shape the global conversation—not by flattening itself into “universality,” but by being unapologetically specific, grounded in its own realities, and yet resonant everywhere.
Both books tackle themes that have always been central to Indian writing—identity, migration, family, grief, inheritance—but they do so in fresh, urgent ways that speak to readers across cultures.
And let’s be honest: it’s just exciting to see two Indian-born, Booker-winning authors making waves together again, nearly 20 years apart in their Booker triumphs, now side by side on the Kirkus shortlist.
The Rest of the Field
Of course, the shortlist is stacked beyond Roy and Desai. In fiction, they’re up against Angela Flournoy, Allegra Goodman, Megha Majumdar, Lucas Schaefer, and David Szalay. In nonfiction, Roy’s competition includes heavyweights like Scott Anderson and Imani Perry. The Young Readers’ Literature list, meanwhile, features beloved picture books by Brian Floca and Thao Lam, among others.
It’s a strong, diverse lineup—exactly what you’d expect from the Kirkus Prize.
Looking Ahead
On October 8, we’ll know who takes home the prize. But win or not, Roy and Desai’s nominations are a celebration in themselves. They remind us why literature matters—why it reaches across oceans, why it lingers in us for years, why it returns when we need it most.
For readers, it’s a good excuse to pick up Mother Mary Comes to Me and The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny. For Indian literature, it’s a reminder that its voice is not only strong, but impossible to ignore.
And maybe that’s the real prize.