Mumbai: Meghna Pant, the award-winning author of 'One & A Half Wife', was felicitated with the prestigious ‘Bharat Nirman Award’ for her contribution to the field of literature.
The award was given to her by the Bharat Nirman Foundation during the 3rd edition of the Asiad Literature Festival 2017, which aims to reward and empower women and promote the beauty of Indian literature.
The Asiad Literature Festival seeks to felicitate individuals who have made an outstanding contribution in their field of expertise. The noted author was bestowed with the award for her work and contribution as a pioneer amongst women writers.
Other recipients honoured at the festival included Divya Dutta, Shaina NC, Brinda Miller, Manju Lodha, Dr Ancy Jose, Nisha JamVwal and Punam Joseph.
Meghna Pant is an award-winning Indian author, columnist, feminist and TEDx Speaker. Her books have been published to critical and commercial acclaim.
Meghna's debut collection of short stories HAPPY BIRTHDAY (Random House, 2013) was long-listed for the prestigious Frank O'Connor International Award 2014, the world's biggest short story prize. ONE AND A HALF WIFE (Westland, 2012) – her bestselling debut novel – won the national Muse India Young Writer Award and was shortlisted for several other awards, including the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award.
Her latest book THE TROUBLE WITH WOMEN (Juggernaut, 2016) is considered a landmark in feminist writing and was described as 'the best book from Juggernaut' by The Hindu Business Line. Pant is also the winner of the coveted 2016 FON South Asia Short Story Award.
Meghna is known for having abridged the world’s longest epic, THE MAHABHARATA, into one hundred tweets that The Guardian (UK) quoted as ‘wonderfully descriptive and paced’.
Meghna curates a monthly panel discussion on feminism called FEMINIST RANI, and interviews India’s top female leaders and opinion makers on two online shows––FIRST LADY With Meghna Pant (Firstpost/ Network 18) and GET REAL With Meghna Pant (SheThePeople).
She is invited as a speaker for many of the nation's biggest literary festivals and conferences. Meghna has previously worked as a business news anchor with Times Now, NDTV and Bloomberg-UTV in Mumbai and New York.
Bharat Nirman is an organisation launched by the Government of India in 2005 that promotes rural development across the country. The 3rd Asiad Literature Festival was launched in New Delhi with the purpose to promote Indian literature and reading.
