Q&A with Vaishna Roy, Crossword Book Awards 2025 Jury: Why literature is ‘sanity for the mind’

Vaishna Roy, jury member for the Crossword Book Awards 2025, reflects on the year’s submissions—what they reveal about our times, the challenges of picking a longlist, and why literature remains “sanity for the mind” in an age of endless content.

Vaishna Roy is an accomplished journalist and editor with over 30 years of experience leading editorial teams and crafting compelling narratives. She currently serves as the editor of Frontline magazine. Vaishna is a prominent columnist, contributing to the fortnightly columns “Woman, Uninterrupted” and “Speech Melba” in The Hindu’s Weekend section.

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?

Well, as an editor, one does get used to speed-reading. I did that to get a sense of the books. That first speed-read was enough to eliminate many of the books sent to us. The promising ones were then kept aside and read slowly to get a sense of whether they could make it to the Top 10 or not. 

If literature reflects its time, what did this year’s fiction submissions tell you about the world we’re living in?

Several books have mythological plots. It shows we are living in a society where reactionary views and nostalgia for an imagined golden past have taken root. But it also shows that most people are writing for OTT. It is not literature they are producing but cheap and quick content, and that is a unique feature of our age.

I also saw an increase in the number of murder mysteries—clearly, there is a yearning for a truly Indian whodunnit. It's at an early stage and the plots are still derivative—harking back to ideas that come from Agatha Christie, etc, which often makes them implausible in an Indian setting. But I believe the genre shows promise and will only get better with time.

Finally, the overwhelming majority of the submissions was really bad. Publishing houses don't seem to be using any filters or editors. On the other hand, the good books are extraordinarily good. So we are in a strange landscape with absolute rubbish on one side and absolute treasures on the other.   

What was the toughest part of arriving at a longlist from such a wide range of submissions?

The good books were so brilliant that they outshone the rest by several degrees and it was really quite easy to pick them for the longlist.    

If you had to describe this year’s longlist in three words, what would they be?

Eclectic, engrossing, rich

What conversations do you think this year’s longlist adds to Indian literature, or even to our society at large?

I believe the books are conversations about India's present, past, and future—about what makes us who we are and what brought us here. They are about trying to make sense of the din and discord around us while emphasizing that we are still rooted in the unique experience of Indianness and that we still hold boughs blossoming with the delicate pinks and whites of peace and friendship and hope. 

In a time of endless content, what do you think makes literature still worth turning to?

Content and information, in which we are drowning, is not "understanding". And that is what literature gives you—it helps you make sense of the world and everything in it, including yourself. Umberto Eco thought of books as medicine for the mind, Joseph Addison called reading exercise for the mind, I would call literature sanity for the mind at a time when the endless content threatens to derange you. 

What, to you, makes a book unforgettable?

It has to have everything—plot, characters, writing—in perfect sync. That is the magic troika that makes a book come alive and dance in your mind forever.

As a jury member, what advice would you give to aspiring Indian writers hoping to be recognized in the coming years?

Get the basics right—Hone your language skills till they gleam. Poor grammar and syntax is the most irritating thing you can offer readers. Or else, write in a language that you are already brilliant in.  

Research it—You must know your subject matter inside out. The more knowledgeable you are, the more confidently you can play with plot and characters and setting. This makes the book sparkle. 

Write because you have a book in you—don't write to make money.