Six novels shortlisted for Shakti Bhatt prize

Author Deepti Kapoor’s “A Bad Character”, Shovon Chowdhury’s “The Competent Authority”, and Mahesh Rao’s “The Smoke is Rising” are among six books shortlisted for the 2014 Shakti Bhatt First Book Prize, the organisers said Sunday.

The award is named after journalist Shakti Bhatt, who passed away in 2007. The winners will be announced in November and will get a cash award of Rs.2,00,000.