New Delhi: All the books on the shortlist for the fifth JCB Prize for Literature are translated works, including for the first time for the awards volumes originally written in Urdu, Hindi and Nepali.
The books on the shortlist of the Rs 25-lakh award given to a writer of a distinguished work of fiction are:
- International Booker-winning novel Tomb of Sand by Geetanjali Shree (translated from Hindi by Daisy Rockwell),
- The Paradise of Food by Khalid Jawed (translated from Urdu by Baran),
- Imaan by Manoranjan Byapari (translated from Bengali by Arunava Sinha),
- Song of the Soil by Chuden Kabimo (translated from the Nepali by Ajit Baral), and
- Valli by Sheela Tomy (translated from the Malayalam by Jayasree Kalathil).
Kabimo and Tomy are shortlisted for their debut novels.
The longlist for the prize had six translations.
The shortlist was selected by a panel of five judges consisting of journalist and editor A.S. Panneerselvan, author Amitabha Bagchi, author-academician Rakhee Balaram, translator-historian J. Devika and author Janice Pariat.
The statement by the award had it that “historic milestones and a strong sense of the geographic locations they represent is prominent in all novels.”
Each of the five shortlisted authors will receive Rs one lakh, and translators Rs 50,000.
The winner will be announced on November 19. The translator will receive an additional Rs 10 lakh.