10 Indian Books Listed

Times Now used World Book Day on April 23 to publish a 10-book Indian reading list focused on titles from 2021 to 2025. (timesnownews.com) The list was published April 23, 2026, under the byline of Girish Shukla, and framed as a shelf-building guide to books “written inside the country.” Times Now said the selection aimed to shift attention from the Indian diaspora names that often dominate English-language reading lists. (timesnownews.com) Times Now said the books came from “the last five years” and included work in languages other than English, presenting the list as a record of what “has actually been happening in Indian literature” during that span. The outlet paired it with another World Book Day feature on books in translation. (timesnownews.com; timesnownews.com) World Book and Copyright Day is observed each year on April 23 under the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, which describes the date as a celebration of reading, publishing and copyright. That annual hook has become a routine moment for Indian newsrooms to publish recommendation lists and reading advice. (unesco.org; timesnownews.com) Moneycontrol ran a separate World Book Day piece on April 23, 2026 arguing for rereading books at different stages of life. Its article linked repeat reading to changing perspective, memory and emotional response rather than to new releases or prize cycles. (moneycontrol.com) The timing also lands after two high-profile wins for Indian-language literature in translation. Geetanjali Shree’s *Tomb of Sand*, translated from Hindi by Daisy Rockwell, won the International Booker Prize in 2022, and Banu Mushtaq’s *Heart Lamp*, translated from Kannada by Deepa Bhasthi, won in 2025. (penguin.co.in; thebookerprizes.com) The Booker organizers said *Heart Lamp* was the first winner translated from Kannada and the first short-story collection to take the International Booker Prize. Penguin India said *Tomb of Sand* was the 2022 winner and had first appeared in Hindi before its English translation. (thebookerprizes.com; penguin.co.in) That context helps explain why a mainstream outlet would build a World Book Day list around recent Indian books instead of older canon titles. On April 23, the holiday produced not one argument about reading, but several: buy new Indian work, read more in translation, and revisit books you already own. (timesnownews.com; timesnownews.com; moneycontrol.com)