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Nandini Das, an Indian-born Author, has won the British Academy Book Prize for 2023

Explore Britain and India's enthralling history with Nandini Das' award-winning debut, 'Courting India,' the 2023 British Academy Book Prize winner.
on Nov 01, 2023

The award was presented to the UK-based academic's debut work, defined as the "true origin story of Britain and India told through England's first diplomatic mission to the Mughal courts," at a ceremony at the British Academy in London on Tuesday evening.

Nandini Das, an Indian-born author, has been selected the 2023 British Academy Book Prize for Global Cultural Understanding winner, a prestigious international non-fiction prize worth GBP 25,000, for her book Courting India: England, Mughal India, and the Origins of Empire.

Nandini Das, an Indian-born author, has won the British Academy Book Prize for 2023. The award was presented to the UK-based academic's debut work, defined as the "true origin story of Britain and India told through England's first diplomatic mission to the Mughal courts," at a ceremony at the British Academy in London on Tuesday evening.

The 49-year-old author has endeavored to provide a unique viewpoint on the roots of empire through the account of the arrival of the first English envoy in India, Sir Thomas Roe, in the early 17th century, as a Professor in the English faculty at the University of Oxford.

"By using contemporary sources by Indian and British political figures, officials and merchants she has given the story an unparalleled immediacy that brings to life these early encounters and the misunderstandings that sometimes threatened to wreck the whole endeavour," said Professor Charles Tripp, who is also the chair of the prize jury

"At the same time, she grants us a privileged vantage point from which we can appreciate how a measure of mutual understanding did begin to emerge, even though it was vulnerable to the ups and downs of Mughal politics and to the restless ambitions of Mughal politics and to the restless ambitions of the British," he said.

He highlighted how, as a result of her exquisite writing and superb research, the jury was drawn to the contrast between an impoverished, insecure Britain and the flourishing, confident Mughal Empire, as well as the frequently hilarious, occasionally raucous conversations between their various officials. "Moreover, we were reminded through this story of the first ambassadorial mission of the value of international diplomacy, but also of the cultural minefields that surround it in ways that still have resonance today," he went on to say. The British Academy Book Prize, formerly known as the Nayef Al-Rodhan Prize, was founded in 2013 to recognise and reward the best works of nonfiction that display rigour and creativity while also contributing to public knowledge of other world cultures and their interactions.

"This is the British Academy's 11th year of celebrating well-researched books that improve global cultural understanding," said Professor Julia Black, President of the British Academy. Every year, it appears that the desire to comprehend one another across borders, boundaries, and cultures becomes more essential. This year is no different.

"The power of good writing and a well-told story in connecting people should not be underestimated." This book does exactly that, bringing together the best of intellectual and literary traditions to give light on where we are today."

Das will earn GBP 25,000 for winning the prize, and each of the selected works, including Caribbean-born Kris Manjapra of mixed African and Indian ancestry's Black Ghost of Empire: The Long Death of Slavery and the Failure of Emancipation, will receive GBP 1,000. Others on this year's shortlist, which was announced in September, included Tania Branigan's Red

Memory: Living, Remembering, and Forgetting China's Cultural Revolution; Daniel Foliard's The Violence of Colonial Photography; Irene Vallejo's Papyrus: The Invention of Books in the Ancient World; and Dimitris Xygalatas' Ritual: How Seemingly Senseless Acts Make Life Worth Living.

Professor Madawi Al-Rasheed FBA, Visiting Professor at the Middle East Centre at the London School of Economics; Professor Rebecca Earle, food historian and Professor of History at the University of Warwick; Fatima Manji, award-winning broadcaster; and Professor Gary Younge Hon, award-winning author, broadcaster, and Professor of Sociology at the University of Manchuria comprised the 2023 judging panel for the British Academy Book Prize for Global Cultural Understanding.