New Delhi, October 19: Sheikh Bashir Ahmad, Managing Director of Jay Kay Books, Kashmir, and Kitab Mahal Publishers, has received the Golden Award 2026 from the Federation of Publishers’ and Booksellers’ Associations in India (FPBAI), becoming the first publisher from Jammu and Kashmir to receive the distinction, according to the citation issued at the award ceremony.
The award was presented on October 3 at the India Habitat Centre in New Delhi during the federation’s 72nd Annual General Meeting. It recognised Ahmad’s contribution to the publishing sector and his efforts to promote literature, culture and knowledge.
The award was presented by S. K. Ghai, president and chairman of the FPBAI Award Committee, and Arunjeet Singh Gujral, vice-president (North). Vikas Chowdhary, honorary secretary of the federation, read out the citation.
The citation described Ahmad as the torchbearer of a six-generation publishing legacy. Under his stewardship, Jay Kay Books has published works covering history, culture, heritage, literature, Sufism, geography, and Indian and Western philosophy.
His organisation’s efforts to maintain access to reading material during the COVID-19 pandemic were also acknowledged. According to the citation, it made electronic text modules available free of cost and subsequently introduced home-delivery services.
The publishing family’s history traces back to Sheikh Muhammad Ibrahim, who brought Persian manuscripts from Central Asia to Kashmir through a Lahore-based publishing agency. His son, Sheikh Abdul Ghaffar, expanded the enterprise by establishing a publishing outlet at Chattabal in Srinagar. Sheikh Ghulam Muhammad later developed it into a full-fledged publishing house at Maharaj Gunj.
Ahmad has continued the family’s publishing tradition through Jay Kay Books, with a focus on making books and manuscripts accessible to scholars, students and general readers, while supporting writers and preserving Kashmir’s literary and intellectual heritage.
The Golden Award recognises his contribution to publishing and the book trade, as well as his efforts to sustain the region’s literary and cultural traditions.
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