New Delhi — Bestselling Indian author Ashwin Sanghi was conferred the inaugural JSW Prize in Literature at the opening ceremony of the 15th edition of Bhutan Echoes: Drukyul’s Literature and Arts Festival, held at the Royal University of Bhutan in Thimphu. The award was presented in person by Her Majesty Queen Mother Ashi Dorji Wangmo Wangchuck, the festival’s founder and Royal Patron of the Prize.
The ceremony was attended by the Prime Minister of Bhutan, Dasho Tshering Tobgay, alongside a distinguished gathering of writers, artists and dignitaries. Guests included Princess Aswathi Thirunal Gouri Lakshmi of Travancore, Nepalese entrepreneur Binod Choudhary, noted folk singer Ila Arun, and festival director Kelly Dorji.
The JSW Prize in Literature, instituted in 2025 to mark the 70th birth anniversary of Bhutan’s Fourth Druk Gyalpo, Jigme Singye Wangchuck, celebrates exceptional contributions to literature and the arts and the transformative power of storytelling in shaping societies and preserving cultural memory. Mr. Sanghi is its first-ever recipient, honoured this year under the festival theme “The Art of Being Human.”
The selection committee recognised Mr. Sanghi’s distinctive body of work, which weaves together history, mythology, philosophy and civilisational memory into compelling narratives, and his ability to make complex ideas accessible to a broad readership across generations and borders.
In a gesture warmly received at the ceremony, Mr. Sanghi donated the entire prize purse of Rs 5 lakh to the Tarayana Foundation, the Bhutanese organisation renowned for its extensive social and community development work across the kingdom.
On receiving the award, Ashwin Sanghi said:
“To receive this honour in person, from the hands of Her Majesty the Queen Mother, is a moment I will carry with me for the rest of my life. To be the first recipient of any prize is humbling — you are not joining a list, you are helping to begin one. That it should happen in Bhutan, a country I have long loved, makes it profoundly meaningful. My gratitude to Her Majesty, to the selection committee and to the entire Bhutan Echoes family is beyond words.”
Mr. Sanghi is the bestselling author of the Bharat Collection — including The Rozabal Line, Chanakya’s Chant and The Krishna Key — and of acclaimed crime fiction including the Kutta Kadam series. A new crime thriller follows in 2026, with the ninth Bharat Collection novel due in 2027.