Speaking at the 17th edition of Crossword Book Awards, an evening of celebrating literature and authors who made a mark in the year gone by, she said: "Writers need to have an inflated sense of self worth to feel that their work is worthy of someone else's attention and then look at their work objectively. Listen to yourself, create your suggestions and incorporate them."
Khanna's novel is narrated by Anshu, a middle-aged woman suffering from a sleep disorder.
The Crossword Book Award (Popular) for Biography was won by the 'Notes of a Dream', an authorised biography of composer A.R. Rahman penned by Krishna Trilok.
The jury award in non-fiction category went to 'One Foot on the Ground: A Life Told Through the Body' by Shanta Gokhale, while the popular non-fiction award went to 'Life's Amazing Secrets: How to Find Balance and Purpose' by Gaur Gopal Das.
The award in the category of children's literature went to 'Machher Jhol: Fish Curry' by writer Richa Jha and illustrator Sumanta Dey Illustrator. Accepting the award, Jha said that "our work creates the readers of tomorrow".
Sudha Murty's children's book 'The Upside-Down King: Unusual Tales about Rama and Krishna' also won in the children's category.
The Crossword award for fiction was given to 'The Far Field' by author Madhuri Vijay. This book had also won the JCB Prize for Literature 2019.
In the translation category, the Crossword Book Award went to the thought-provoking 'Diary of a Malayali Madman' by Jayasree Kalathil and N. Prabhakaran.
In the health and fitness category, 'Skin Rules: Your 6-week Plan to Radiant Skin' by Dr. Jaishree Sharad won, while in the business and management category, "Corporate Monk, A Journey From Wealth To Wisdom" by Anju Sharma was awarded. Sharma is an IAS officer and currently works in Gujarat.
Chiragh Oberoi, CEO, Crossword Bookstore said, "The Crossword Book Awards is a platform that aims to give Indian authors and books a launch pad to promote themselves in addition to recognising good writing. At Crossword Bookstores, our endeavour is to constantly bring forth avenues to engage people with diverse literature that appeals to their reading habits. We're extremely proud to give writers- young and seasoned alike, a platform to express themselves and further the practice of literature as self-expression".
The 17th edition of the prestigious awards were given away at the Crossword Bookstores in Mumbai on Tuesday evening.
The jury of twelve members included author Janice Pariat, literary critic Somak Ghoshal, culture editor Vivek Tejuja, writer and blogger Meenakshi Reddy Madhavan and Rohan Narayana Murty, founder of Murty Classical Library, who had selected the winners in the areas of fiction, non-fiction, Indian language translation, and children's writing.
( With inputs from IANS )