The third edition of the prestigious Ramnath Goenka Sahithya Samman, instituted by The New Indian Express Group to honor excellence in Indian literature, celebrated four remarkable authors in the categories of Lifetime Achievement, Best Fiction, Best Non-Fiction, and Best Debut during a distinguished ceremony held at the group's headquarters in Chennai, with Vice President of India CP Radhakrishnan presiding as the Chief Guest.

Dr Chandrashekhara Kambara, a towering figure in Indian letters and one of the most influential voices in Kannada literature, was bestowed the Lifetime Achievement award in recognition of his extraordinary body of work as a poet, playwright, folklorist, scholar, and theatre activist, whose creations have seamlessly woven ancient folk traditions and oral histories into modern narratives, profoundly shaping contemporary Indian theatre and expanding the boundaries of regional literary expression.

Sudeep Chakravarti received the Best Non-Fiction award for his compelling book Fallen City: A Double Murder, Political Insanity, and Delhi’s Descent from Grace, a work of meticulous investigative journalism that dissects the gradual breakdown of civic institutions and public rationality in the national capital through the prism of a harrowing double murder, maintaining intellectual rigor and moral clarity while serving as both historical documentation and a timely societal caution.

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Subi Taba was honored with the Best Fiction award for her poignant collection Tales from the Dawn-Lit Mountains: Stories from Arunachal Pradesh, a series of finely crafted short stories deeply anchored in the oral storytelling traditions of the Northeast, employing sparse yet powerfully evocative prose to illuminate themes of memory, cultural belonging, profound loss, and human resilience in landscapes and communities seldom represented in mainstream Indian fiction.

Neha Dixit clinched the Best Debut award for her deeply moving work The Many Lives of Syeda X: The Story of an Unknown Indian, a narrative that follows the trajectory of an anonymous woman's life to expose the intertwined forces of gender discrimination, entrenched poverty, and institutional indifference in modern India, combining empathetic storytelling with sharp investigative insight to reclaim dignity for lives marginalized and silenced by systemic neglect.

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