New Delhi: The shortlist for the JCB Prize for Literature, containing two translations and as many debut novels, was announced on Friday, October 4.
The literature prize includes a Rs 25 lakh cash award. The winner will be announced on November 2.
Pradip Krishen, chair of the 2019 jury, was quoted as having said that the chosen five, “address the many specific difficulties of living a life in Indian society.”
“Their private struggles help illuminate larger themes, including patriarchy in rural southern India, religious and political conflict in Kashmir, and social and sexual marginalisation in eastern India,” Krishen added.
A common thread of dissonance with the world surrounding them runs through all five books.
The shortlisted books are:
1) Ib’s Endless Search for Satisfaction by Roshan Ali
2) There’s Gunpowder in the Air by Manoranjan Byapari (translated from Bengali by Arunava Sinha)
3) Trial by Silence and Lonely Harvest (treated as one novel) by Perumal Murugan (translated from the Tamil by Aniruddhan Vasudevan)
4) My Father’s Garden by Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar
5) The Far Field by Madhuri Vijay
Both Madhuri Vijay and Roshan Ali are debutants.
Amidst readers expressing delight at favourite books having been chosen, there were a few who noted the absence of personal picks.