Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Shortlist announced for the 2012 DSC Prize for South Asian Literature

by Lex Delaney - Monday 24 October 2011 

Anticipation around the 2nd annual DSC Prize for South Asian Literature continued to rise earlier tonight as the shortlist for the prize celebrating the best writing on South Asia was revealed.
The finale, held at the prestigious Globe Theatre, was a perfect end to this year’s highly successful and well-received DSC South Asian Literature Festival. Longlisted authors, publishers, London’s literati and South Asian Ambassadors from the countries represented, were treated to a champagne-and-canapés reception, entertained with mesmerising performances by Talvin Singh - award-winning producer and tabla player – and sarod maestro and composer Soumik Datta.
Recipient of the inaugural DSC Prize H.M. Naqvi delighted guests with a compelling reading from his winning novel Home Boy, which was recently acquired by Hamish Hamilton and will be published by Penguin UK.
The jury for this year’s $50,000 prize includes renowned literary figures Dr. Alastair Niven, Dr. Fakrul Alam, Faiza S. Khan and Marie Brenner. Ira Pande, chairperson of the jury, reveals the difficult task of intense deliberation over the 16-book longlist:
“The task before the jury was not easy; the main hurdle was how to sift the clever and stylish from the real and true tale. All of us were united in feeling that a novel by any definition must have a strong tale to tell.”
Fortunately the panel rose to the task and we’re very excited to exclusively reveal the six books that made it onto this year’s hotly anticipated shortlist for the 2012 DSC Prize for South Asian Literature:
U.R. Ananthamurthy: Bharathipura (Oxford University Press, India, Translated by Susheela Punitha)
Chandrakanta: A Street in Srinagar (Zubaan Books, India, translated by Manisha Chaudhry)
Usha K.R: Monkey-man (Penguin/Penguin India)
Shehan Karunatilaka: Chinaman (Random House, India)
Tabish Khair: The Thing About Thugs (Fourth Estate/HarperCollins India)
Kavery Nambisan: The Story that Must Not Be Told (Viking/Penguin India)

The winner of the second DSC Prize for South Asian Literature will be announced at the DSC Jaipur Literature Festival on 21 January 2012. 

No comments: