Mumbai, Dec 21 (IANS): Celebrity writer Shashi Tharoor was conferred the Lifetime Achievement Award while Ruskin Bond, Sudha Murthy and Soha Ali Khan were among those who were honoured at the 16th Crossword Book Awards, an organizer said here on Friday.

Prolific author and politician Tharoor, a Commonwealth Writers Prize winner was conferred the award his "exemplary contribution to Indian writing in English" by Lord Meghnad Desai at a function here late Thursday night.

The prominent awardees in the popular category were: Sudha Murthy for "Three Thousand Stitches: Ordinary People, Extraordinary Lives" (non-fiction); Durjoy Datta, for "The Boy Who Loved" (fiction); Soha Ali Khan for "The Perils of Being Moderately Famous"; Ruskin Bond for "Looking for the Rainbow: My Years with Daddy"; Chandramouli Venkatesan for "Catalyst"; and Sarita Davarre & Sanjeev Kapoor for "You've Lost Weight: The Easy Guide to Receiving This Compliment Everyday."

The winners in the jury category were: Prayaag Akbar for "Leila" (fiction); Snigdha Poonam for "Dreamers" (non-fiction); Nandhika Nambi for the children's book "Unbroken"; and Shahnaz Habib for translation of "Jasmine Days" by Benyamin (born Benny Daniel), a Kerala-based author.

The event at the Royal Opera House saw a celebrity dialogue on #ReadingIsGood, between author-actress Soha Ali Khan and spiritual speaker Gaur Gopal Das, moderated by journalist Arijit Barman.