The Final Draft – A short story book by Ajay Singh released

Noted author Ajay Singh, a resident of Salunke Vihar society in Kondhwa, Pune was recently awarded the prestigious Rabindranath Tagore International Prize for Art & Literature – 2021, for his latest book ‘The Final Draft,’ a collection of short stories and poetry that has created ripples in the literary world. 

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The award is in recognition of his prodigious contribution to the field of Literature – an output spread over a decade that encompasses five books, over 200 published articles, film and television screenplay, plus talks and videos that have earned wide acclaim.

The very scale and diversity of his work is amazing. From an initial focus on military history, he graduated to the path breaking novel ‘Through Orphaned Eyes’ – which wove symbolism and facts together into a masterful story of India and Pakistan. He followed it up with the encyclopaedic ‘India’s Battlefields – from Kurukshetra to Balakot’ – a work that brought India’s battles alive for the layman. But it is the poetry and short stories that he put together in ‘The Final Draft’ which has placed him in the ranks the leading literary figures of the country. 

His years in the Army reflect in his writings, especially the earlier works. But his stories are rarely on military themes. Rather he explores characters and settings and delves deep in to the creative process in many of his stories. The interspersing of poetry between the pages is a new and novel way of reintroducing the dying art of poetry to the audience.

Ajay Singh while sharing about the achievement said, “I set out to tell a story. And it makes me happy that people seem to be enjoying the stories.” And as for the art of storytelling ? “It is a timeless art and India has a rich story telling tradition. Look at the great epics, the Puranas, and so many great works that have come down largely through word of mouth and have survived the centuries.” 

Through his writings, Ajay Singh ensures that the thrill of reading a good story remains unabated.