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Q&A with Deepak Dalal, Crossword Book Awards 2025 Jury: Inside a longlist shaped by favourites, debates, and new voices
Q&A with Deepak Dalal, Crossword Book Awards 2025 Jury: Inside a longlist shaped by favourites, debates, and new voices
Deepak Dalal, jury member for the Crossword Book Awards 2025, reflects on the growth of children’s writing in India, where new voices are steadily emerging and stories are beginning to capture the realities of young lives more authentically.
Deepak Dalal is a renowned children’s author known for adventure stories that explore India’s wildlife and landscapes. His Vikram–Aditya series spans Ladakh, the Andamans, and the Western Ghats, while Feather Tales engages younger readers.
The jury reads a huge number of submissions in a limited time, what was your approach to reading so widely and still giving each book its due?
It is hard work.
If literature reflects its time, what did this year’s Children's Books submissions tell you about the world we’re living in?
For writers, most of us being adults, it is hard to keep up with the jargon and rapidly evolving trends on the internet (which children are experts at), but a few of the books have managed to realistically weave gadgetary and latest fads into their stories.
What was the toughest part of arriving at a longlist from such a wide range of submissions?
Each judge has his or her own favourites. The books you personally choose for the longlist don't necessarily figure on the lists of fellow judges. So the final selection can be difficult.
If you had to describe this year’s longlist in three words, what would they be?
Children's writing is coming of age in India.
What conversations do you think this year’s longlist adds to Indian literature, or even to our society at large?
It is difficult to make sweeping statements from the books we have read, but the heartening part is that the number of accomplished and exciting writers are steadily growing.
In a time of endless content, what do you think makes literature still worth turning to?
Nothing can replace a superbly-plotted and well-written book. This is the way it has been and will continue to be.
What, to you, makes a book unforgettable?
The story has to provide something different, something unique. It has to seize your attention and keep you turning the pages with a sense of anticipation and uncertainty.
As a jury member, what advice would you give to aspiring Indian writers hoping to be recognized in the coming years?
Read a lot. There isn't a single accomplished writer who isn't a good reader.
