Books, Authors and Literary Awards 2025-26 Notes for SSC Exams

Books and authors and literary awards are asked in every SSC exam: "Who wrote this book?", "Who won the Booker Prize this year?" and "Which language is the Jnanpith winner from?". These books, authors and literary awards 2025-26 notes for SSC give you the latest winners of the Booker, the International Booker, the Nobel Prize in Literature and the Jnanpith Award, followed by the evergreen list of the famous books and authors, pen names and the literary awards of India in simple tables and 20 practice questions. Read them with the Nobel Prize 2025 Winners Notes, Padma Awards 2026 and Bharat Ratna Notes and Important Days Notes notes.

Why This Topic Matters in SSC Exams

• Usually 1 to 3 questions come every year from books, authors, awards and literature.
• The questions are of two types: current (the winner of the latest award) and static (the author of a famous book).
• A small table of the latest winners, with the language and the prize amount, is enough to score in the current part.
• The facts of this note are collected from the news up to October 2026; check the latest announcements before your exam.

International Literary Awards: Latest Winners

• The Booker Prize is given every year for the best novel written in English and published in the UK or Ireland. Indian winners: Arundhati Roy (The God of Small Things, 1997), Kiran Desai (The Inheritance of Loss, 2006), Aravind Adiga (The White Tiger, 2008) and Salman Rushdie (Midnight's Children, 1981, born in India).
• The International Booker Prize is given for a book translated into English. Geetanjali Shree's "Tomb of Sand" (Hindi, translated by Daisy Rockwell) won it in 2022, the first Hindi book to win.
• The Nobel Prize in Literature is awarded by the Swedish Academy in Stockholm. Rabindranath Tagore won it in 1913 for Gitanjali, the first Asian Nobel laureate.

Literary Awards of India: Latest Winners and Facts

Remember: Jnanpith is given to a writer for the whole contribution (earlier for one work), while the Sahitya Akademi Award is given for one book in a year.

Important Books and Their Authors (Static)

Note: Ain-i-Akbari is the third volume of Akbarnama. Vande Mataram is a song in the novel Anandamath. The calligraphy of the original Constitution was done by Prem Behari Narain Raizada, and Nandalal Bose decorated it.

World Famous Books and Authors

Pen Names and Nicknames

• Rabindranath Tagore is called "Gurudev" and the "Bard of Bengal".
• Sarojini Naidu is called the "Nightingale of India".
• Tulsidas wrote the Ramcharitmanas in Awadhi; Kabir and Surdas are the poets of the Bhakti movement.
• Mirza Ghalib, Mir Taqi Mir and Allama Iqbal are famous Urdu poets; Iqbal wrote "Saare Jahan Se Accha".

Literature and Language Facts Frequently Asked in SSC

• India has 22 scheduled languages in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution. The latest additions are Bodo, Dogri, Maithili and Santhali (92nd Amendment, 2003).
• Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Odia have the status of classical languages; in October 2024 Marathi, Pali, Prakrit, Assamese and Bengali were also given the classical language status.
• Hindi Diwas is celebrated on 14 September and the World Hindi Day on 10 January. World Book Day is on 23 April and National Library Week in November.
• The National Book Trust (NBT) was set up in 1957, and the Sahitya Akademi in 1954; the Sahitya Akademi is in New Delhi.
• The Nobel Prize winners from India: Tagore (Literature, 1913), C. V. Raman (Physics, 1930), Mother Teresa (Peace, 1979), Amartya Sen (Economics, 1998), Kailash Satyarthi (Peace, 2014) and Abhijit Banerjee (Economics, 2019). See the Nobel Prize 2025 Winners Notes note.

Important Questions Explained

Question 1: Who won the Booker Prize 2025?
Answer: David Szalay won the Booker Prize 2025 for his novel Flesh.

Question 2: Which book won the International Booker Prize 2025 and in which language was it written?
Answer: Heart Lamp by Banu Mushtaq, written in Kannada and translated by Deepa Bhasthi.

Question 3: Who won the Nobel Prize in Literature 2025?
Answer: Laszlo Krasznahorkai of Hungary.

Question 4: Who is the winner of the 60th Jnanpith Award (for 2025)?
Answer: R. Vairamuthu, a Tamil poet and lyricist.

Question 5: Who wrote the Arthashastra and the Rajatarangini?
Answer: Kautilya (Chanakya) wrote the Arthashastra and Kalhana wrote the Rajatarangini.

Question 6: Who wrote Wings of Fire?
Answer: Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam.

Question 7: Which was the first Hindi book to win the International Booker Prize?
Answer: Tomb of Sand by Geetanjali Shree, in 2022.

Quick Tips to Remember

• For every award, note the year, the winner, the language of the winner and the prize money.
• Learn the Indian winners of the Booker in a list of four names.
• Remember that the International Booker is shared between the author and the translator.
• Make pairs of the classic books with the authors and revise them every week.
• Remember the first winners and the prize amounts: Jnanpith (Rs 11 lakh), Saraswati Samman (Rs 15 lakh) and Sahitya Akademi (Rs 1 lakh).
• Revise the Nobel Prize winners of India together with the literary awards.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Mixing the Booker Prize (original English novels) with the International Booker Prize (translations).
• Confusing the Jnanpith Award with the Sahitya Akademi Award.
• Writing the wrong author for books like Rajatarangini (Kalhana) and Mudrarakshasa (Vishakhadatta).
• Mixing Ain-i-Akbari and Baburnama.
• Forgetting that the International Booker prize is shared by the translator.

Quick Revision Points

• Booker 2025: Flesh by David Szalay; International Booker 2025: Heart Lamp by Banu Mushtaq (Kannada); International Booker 2026: Taiwan Travelogue.
• Nobel Literature 2025: Laszlo Krasznahorkai; 2024: Han Kang.
• Jnanpith 2025: R. Vairamuthu (Tamil); 2024: Vinod Kumar Shukla; 2023: Gulzar and Rambhadracharya.
• Prize money: Jnanpith Rs 11 lakh; Saraswati Samman Rs 15 lakh; Sahitya Akademi Rs 1 lakh.
• Arthashastra: Kautilya; Rajatarangini: Kalhana; Discovery of India: Nehru.

Practice Questions With Answers

1. Who won the Booker Prize 2025?
   Answer: David Szalay (Flesh).
2. Which novel won the Booker Prize 2025?
   Answer: Flesh (David Szalay).
3. Who won the International Booker Prize 2025 along with her translator?
   Answer: Banu Mushtaq (Heart Lamp).
4. Who translated Heart Lamp into English?
   Answer: Deepa Bhasthi (Kannada to English).
5. In which language was Heart Lamp written?
   Answer: Kannada (First Kannada winner).
6. Which book won the International Booker Prize 2026?
   Answer: Taiwan Travelogue (Yang Shuang-zi).
7. Who won the Nobel Prize in Literature 2025?
   Answer: Laszlo Krasznahorkai (Hungary).
8. Who won the Nobel Prize in Literature 2024?
   Answer: Han Kang (South Korea).
9. Who won the 60th Jnanpith Award?
   Answer: R. Vairamuthu (Tamil).
10. Who won the 59th Jnanpith Award?
    Answer: Vinod Kumar Shukla (Hindi).
11. What is the prize money of the Jnanpith Award?
    Answer: Rs 11 lakh (With Vagdevi statue).
12. What is the prize money of the Saraswati Samman?
    Answer: Rs 15 lakh (K. K. Birla Foundation).
13. Who was the first winner of the Jnanpith Award?
    Answer: G. Sankara Kurup (Malayalam, 1965).
14. Who wrote the Arthashastra?
    Answer: Kautilya (Chanakya).
15. Who wrote Rajatarangini?
    Answer: Kalhana (History of Kashmir).
16. Who wrote Discovery of India?
    Answer: Jawaharlal Nehru (Autobiographical history).
17. Who wrote Wings of Fire?
    Answer: A. P. J. Abdul Kalam (Autobiography).
18. Who wrote The God of Small Things?
    Answer: Arundhati Roy (Booker 1997).
19. Who is the first Asian Nobel laureate in Literature?
    Answer: Rabindranath Tagore (1913).
20. On which date is Hindi Diwas celebrated?
    Answer: 14 September (Rajbhasha).

How to Practise This Topic

1. Make a table of the latest winners with the book, the language and the prize.
2. Learn ten book and author pairs every day from the static tables.
3. Revise the prize money and the first winners of the Indian awards.
4. Attempt the practice questions without looking at the answers.
5. Read the latest award news of the last month and solve the SSC practice papers and the previous year papers.

Related Notes and Practice

• Nobel Prize 2025 Winners Notes
• Padma Awards 2026 and Bharat Ratna Notes
• Important Days Notes
• Who is Who of India 2026 Notes
• All Current Affairs notes
• SSC practice papers

Frequently Asked Questions

Who won the Booker Prize 2025?

David Szalay won the Booker Prize 2025 for his novel Flesh. The prize of 50,000 pounds was announced on 10 November 2025.

Who won the International Booker Prize 2025?

Banu Mushtaq won the International Booker Prize 2025 for Heart Lamp, a collection of Kannada short stories translated by Deepa Bhasthi.

Who won the International Booker Prize 2026?

Taiwan Travelogue by Yang Shuang-zi, translated by Lin King, won the International Booker Prize 2026, the first Mandarin Chinese book to win it.

Who won the Nobel Prize in Literature 2025?

The Hungarian author Laszlo Krasznahorkai won the Nobel Prize in Literature 2025.

Who won the Jnanpith Award for 2025?

The Tamil poet and lyricist R. Vairamuthu won the 60th Jnanpith Award, which was announced in March 2026.

What is the prize money of the Jnanpith Award?

The Jnanpith Award carries Rs 11 lakh, a citation and a bronze statue of Vagdevi.

What is the difference between the Jnanpith and the Sahitya Akademi Award?

The Jnanpith Award is the highest literary honour for a writer's contribution in an Indian language, while the Sahitya Akademi Award is given for one book each year in 24 languages.

Which Indian authors have won the Booker Prize?

Arundhati Roy (1997), Kiran Desai (2006) and Aravind Adiga (2008) won the Booker Prize, and Salman Rushdie (born in Mumbai) won in 1981.

Who wrote Discovery of India?

Jawaharlal Nehru wrote the Discovery of India while he was in Ahmednagar Fort prison.

Who wrote the Arthashastra?

Kautilya, also called Chanakya or Vishnugupta, wrote the Arthashastra.

How many questions come from books and awards in SSC exams?

Usually 1 to 3 questions come from books, authors and literary awards in the General Awareness section.

How can I prepare books and authors for SSC?

Make tables of the latest award winners and of the classic book and author pairs, and revise them weekly with MCQs.