Jitan Jalishry becomes the first Hindi novelist to win the International Booker Prize

The author’s Hindi novel “Sand Tomb” by Zietanjarishuri became the first book in the prestigious International Booker Prize-winning Indian language.

At a ceremony in London on Thursday, a New Delhi-based writer received a prize worth £ 50,000 and shared it with the English translator of the book, Daisy Rockwell. I was completely overwhelmed. ”

“Sand Tomb”, originally “Ret Samadhi”, is located in northern India and follows an 80-year-old woman in a story that Judge Booker named “Fun Dissonance” and “Charming Novel”.

“I never dreamed of Booker. What a big deal, I was surprised, delighted, honored and humble,” Shree said in her acceptance speech.

“The awards that go to it are depressingly satisfying. The” Ret Samadhi / Tomb of Sand “is the elegy of the world we live in and the energy that remains hopeful in the face of imminent ruin. Booker will surely bring it to far more people than it would reach without it, it shouldn’t hurt the book, “she said.

Looking back on becoming the first fiction piece in Hindi to cut the booker, the 64-year-old author said he felt good that it was the way it happened.

“But behind me, there is a literary tradition in which this book is rich and prosperous in Hindi and other South Asian languages. By knowing some of the best writers in these languages, World literature will be richer, and such interactions will increase the vocabulary of life, “she said.

Rockwell, a painter, writer and translator living in Vermont, USA, joined the stage to win her award for translating a novel she described as a “love letter to Hindi.”

“Ultimately, I was fascinated by the power, heartfelt and playfulness of the polyphonic novel” Sand Tomb “of the identity and attribution of Gitanjari Shree. In an enthusiastic translation of Daisy Rockwell, Frank Win said.

“This is a glorious novel of India and Partition, but its fascinating Brio and fierce compassion weave youth and age, men and women, families and nations into a kaleidoscopic whole,” he said. ..

The 80-year-old protagonist of this book, Ma, insists on a trip to Pakistan in the astonishment of her family, while at the same time confronting the unresolved trauma of the teenage experience of Partition, a mother, daughter, woman and feminist.

Rather than taking the tragedy seriously, Booker’s jury said that Shree’s playful tone and abundant wordplay were an urgent and timely protest against the destructive, while at the same time being “attractive.” I was impressed with the creation of “and interesting and completely original” books, regardless of religion, country or gender, the influence of borders and boundaries.

Born in Mainpuri, author of three novels and several story collections, Shree has translated her work into English, French, German, Serbian and Korean.

First published in Hindi in 2018, “Tombof Sand” is the first book published in English in the United Kingdom by Tilted Axis Press in August 2021.

Shree’s novel was selected from a list of six book candidates. Other books are: “Cursed Bunny” by Bora Chung, translated by Anton Hur in Korean. “New Name: Septology VI-VII” by Jon Fosse, translated by Norwegian Damion Searls. Translated from Japanese by Mieko Kawakami’s “Heaven”, Sam Bett and David Boyd. “Elena Knows” by Claudia Pi’eiro, translated from Spanish by Frances Riddle. Olga Tokarczuk’s Book of Yakup, translated by Jennifer Croft in Polish.

This year, the jury will review 135 books, and for the first time in 2022, all finalists and translators will receive £ 2,500 each. This is an increase from £ 1,000 in the previous year, bringing the total prize to £ 80,000.

The International Award, which complements the Booker Prize fiction, is translated into English and awarded annually to a book published in the United Kingdom or Ireland.