SOURCE: MONEYCONTROL

2023 JCB Prize for Literature longlist: Past favourites, internationally acclaimed authors, and debutants

The longlist for the sixth edition of the Prize features four translations, three debut novels and marks the return of authors Manoranjan Byapari and Perumal Murugan, whose works have been previously longlisted twice for the Prize, and of previously longlisted author Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar as a translator.

India’s most prestigious literary award, the JCB Prize for Literature, released its longlist on September 2. A list of five finalists will be released on October 18. Each shortlisted author will get Rs 1 lakh and an additional Rs 50,000 for the translator if the finalist book happens to be a translated work. The winner, which will be announced on November 18, shall take away Rs 25 lakh. And if the prize-winning book happens to be a translated one, then the translator gets an additional Rs 10 lakh.

This year’s jury includes literary critic and learning designer Somak Ghosal, playwright and theatre personality Mahesh Dattani, conservation journalist and filmmaker Swati Thiyagarajan, author and surgeon, Kavery Nambisan, and is chaired by award-winning author and translator Srinath Perur.

On the longlist announcement, the literary director of the prize, and the founder and CEO of literary agency Siyahi, Mita Kapur notes that “these 10 books [represent] audacious spirit and refreshingly cutting-edge expressions of how human nature shapes the direction of society.”

While there were noteworthy exclusions this year — Anjum Hasan’s History’s Angel (Bloomsbury), debut novelist Devika Rege’s Quarterlife (HarperCollins), Nilanjana S Roy’s Black River (Westland), Anees Salim’s The Bellboy (Penguin) to name a few — the list is indeed full of stories that reflect on the cultural, social and personal barriers that their protagonists overcome to tell their stories and celebrates the unique narratives across genres published in India.

The longlist includes the International Booker-longlisted and previously nominated author Perumal Murugan’s Fire Bird (Penguin). The Tamil writer’s work has been translated by Janani Kannan. Though the book explores the peculiarities of familial bonds, it draws from the author’s experiences of displacement. Another past finalist is Manoranjan Byapari, whose second installation of the Chandal Jibon trilogy and sequel to The Runaway Boy, The Nemesis (Eka, an imprint of Westland), translated from the Bengali by V Ramaswamy, is contending for this year’s prize. Byapari’s trademark writing style and humour, mixed with anger against the establishment and the caste-heteropatriarchal world, are reflected through the protagonist Jibon’s journey at the cusp of East Pakistan’s liberation and a tumultuous political period in India.