Nisid Hajari Wins 2016 Colby Award
NORTHFIELD, Vt. – Nisid Hajari has won the 2016 William E. Colby Award for his book, “Midnight’s Furies: The Deadly Legacy of India’s Partition.†Now in its 17th year, the Colby prize is awarded annually by Norwich University to a first-time author in recognition of a work of fiction or non-fiction that has made a major contribution to the understanding of military history, intelligence operations, or international affairs.
Hajari oversees Asia coverage for Bloomberg View, the editorial page of Bloomberg News. He writes editorials on Asian politics and economics and edits Bloomberg’s opinion columns and commentary from the region. “Midnight’s Furies,†his first book, has been named one of the best books of 2015 by NPR, Quartz, the Daily Beast, the Seattle Times, and Amazon.
{default}“I am absolutely thrilled to be named the recipient of the 2016 Colby Award,†Hajari said. “To join the company of such distinguished military and historical writers as Jon Meacham and Dexter Filkins is a tremendous honor, and it’s particularly gratifying that the judges chose to highlight a subject that may be unfamiliar to many American readers.â€
“Midnight’s Furies†covers the 1947 partition of India and the violence that surrounded that event.
Carlo D’Este, the executive director of the Colby Symposium and the esteemed author of several books on WWII including biographies of Dwight Eisenhower, George Patton, and Winston Churchill, describes “Midnight’s Furies†as “noteworthy, superbly readable, and very timely.â€
D’Este says Hajari’s book explores not only one of the “most historic events of the twentieth century but one that has powerful implications for the vital interests of the United States in one of the most unstable and dangerous regions of the world, where extremism and terrorism prevail.â€
“Norwich University and the Colby Symposium are pleased to confer this honor on Nisid Hajari, the latest in a long-line of distinguished authors to receive the Colby Award.â€
Prior to working at Bloomberg, Hajari spent 10 years as a top editor at Newsweek International and Newsweek magazine in New York, during which the magazine won over 50 awards for its international coverage. From 1997 to 2001, Hajari helped to create TIME’s first Asian edition in Hong Kong, winning two General Excellence Awards from the Society of Publishers in Asia. He has written for the New York Times, Financial Times, Washington Post, Esquire, Slate, Foreign Policy, Businessweek, and Conde Nast Traveler, among other publications. Hajari helped edit the best-selling essay collection, “Reimagining India: Unlocking the Potential of Asia’s Next Superpower.â€
Hajari has appeared as a commentator on foreign affairs for CNN, BBC, and National Public Radio and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He currently lives in Singapore.
Winners of the Colby book award receive a $5,000 author honorarium provided through a grant from the Chicago-based Tawani Foundation. The award and honorarium will be presented to Hajari at Norwich University during the 2016 William E. Colby Military Writers’ Symposium at the “Meet the Authors†Dinner on April 7, 2016. The 2016 Symposium will take place April 6-7, and includes a panel discussion and book signing. The symposium is open to the public.
Named for the late ambassador and former CIA director William E. Colby, the Colby Award recognizes a first work of fiction or non-fiction that has made a significant contribution to the public’s understanding of intelligence operations, military history or international affairs. The William E. Colby Award began at Norwich University in 1999.
Previous recipients of the Colby Award include Thomas McKenna, James Bradley, Nathaniel Fick, Col. Jack Jacobs, Dexter Filkins, Marcus Luttrell, John Glusman, Karl Marlantes, and Logan Beirne.
Colby Award Selection Committee:
William E. Butterworth, III is the author of more than 150 books, most notably the W. E. B. Griffin novels, and more than 50 New York Times bestsellers. He is the co-founder of the William E. Colby Military Writers’ Symposium.
Karl Marlantes is the author of “Matterhorn: A Novel of the Vietnam War,†a New York Times Top 10 Bestseller, and “What It Is Like To Go To War.â€Â He is a 2011 Colby Award recipient.
Jerry Morelock is a prize-winning military historian whose numerous publications include his latest book, “Generals of the Bulge: Leadership in the U.S. Army’s Greatest Battle.â€
John A. Glusman is vice president and editor-in-chief of W. W. Norton and Company, the largest independent, employee-owned publisher in the U.S. He is the 2007 Colby Award recipient for “Conduct Under Fire: Four American Doctors and Their Fight for Life as Prisoners of the Japanese, 1941-1945.â€
Frederick J. Chiaventone, a retired cavalry officer, is a novelist, screenwriter, and military historian. His novel “A Road We Do Not Know: A Novel of Custer at the Little Bighorn†won the 1999 inaugural Colby Award. His work has also won the Western Heritage and William Rockhill Nelson Awards and been nominated for a Pulitzer.
Carlo D’Este is a renowned military historian and biographer, and the 2011 recipient of the Pritzker Literature Award for Lifetime Achievement in Military Writing. He is the co-founder and the executive director of the William E. Colby Military Writers’ Symposium.
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