NEW DELHI, INDIA — The Rainbow Awards for Literature and Journalism (RALJ) returns with its second edition to celebrate diverse and authentic queer narratives. The period for assessment of work published began during the beginning of International Pride Month last year (June 01, 2023) and lasted until May 31, 2024.
Launched last year, RALJ was met with a positive response, receiving close to a hundred entries for its inaugural edition. A learning and genre-supporting initiative of the Dwijen Dinanath Arts Foundation, the purpose of the awards is to recognize honest, compelling, and unadulterated storytelling around LGBTQIA+ lives by Indian queer and cis-het writers. It also aims to encourage more people to write their own stories with the hope that the media and publishing world to give the queer community more space as a result of the pressure.
RALJ invites writers to submit entries across the categories of literature (fiction & non-fiction) and journalism (features & op-ed), starting Saturday, May 19, for eight weeks. The award function will be held during the Rainbow Lit Fest — Queer & Inclusive, which returns this December.
Sharif Rangnekar, Founder of RALJ, said, “The awards, I hope, help in our larger endeavor to support the creation of a genre focused on queer life. We hope this eventually leads to making more people aware of LGBTQIA+ existence besides providing queer folks with reference points. We believe that the sheer recognition of unadulterated and unfettered expression will encourage others to pen down their stories, whether they are personal or political.”
The power-packed jury this year is:
Fiction:
Parvati Sharma (she/her), author
Poonam Saxena (she/her), senior journalist, writer, and translator
Non-Fiction:
Niladri R Chatterjee (he/him), Department of English professor for the University of Kalyani, author, and translator
Dhamini Ratnam (she/her), Senior Editor for The Hindustan Times & podcaster
Features:
Ashlin Mathew (she/her), multilingual journalist and news editor for National Herald
Aroh Akunth (they/them/she/her), founder of Dalit Queer Project and Dalit Art Archive
Op-Ed:
Sindhu Rajasekaran (she/her), author, filmmaker and academic
Sayantan Datta (they/them), independent journalist and assistant professor at Krea University
RALJ is associated with a variety of organizations. Kunzum Books returns in the capacity of being both a Bookstore and Process partner. Ajay Jain, the founder of Kunzum Books said, “I am excited to witness the second edition of the RALJ. At Kunzum, we have ‘The Q List,’ a section solely dedicated to queer books, and moving forward, we are also creating a space for the winning and shortlisted books from RALJ 2023 and the years to come.”
Avian WE also joins hands with the awards as its Communications partner. The Mumbai Press Club, The Naz Foundation (India) Trust, The New Delhi LGBTQIA+ Centre, The Nazariya Foundation, Official Humans of Queer, The Pink List India, The QKnit Foundation, The Keshav Suri Foundation, Queering in Chandigarh, and Yes, We Exist also come together in support of RALJ this year.
Entries are open until July 18.
Find the detailed criteria and process for entries here.
