Geetanjali Shree 1st Indian author to win Booker for Hindi novel 'Tomb of Sand'

Author Geetanjali Shrees Hindi novel Tomb of Sand has become the first book in any Indian language to win the prestigious International Booker PrizeAt a ceremony in London on Thursday the New Delhibased writer said she was completely overwhelmed with the bolt from the blue as she accepted her prize worth GBP 50000 and shared with the books English translator Daisy Rockwell Tomb of Sand originally Ret Samadhi is set in northern India and follows an 80yearold woman in a tale the Booker judges dubbed a joyous cacophony and an irresistible novelI never dreamt of the Booker I never thought I could What a huge recognition Im amazed delighted honoured and humbled said Shree in her acceptance speech There is a melancholy satisfaction in the award going to it Ret SamadhiTomb of Sand is an elegy for the world we inhabit a lasting energy that retains hope in the face of impending doom The Booker will surely take it to many more people than it would have reached otherwise that should do the book no harm she said Reflecting upon becoming the first work of fiction in Hindi to make the Booker cut the 64yearold author said it feels good to be the means of that happeningBut behind me and this book lies a rich and flourishing literary tradition in Hindi and in other South Asian languages World literature will be the richer for knowing some of the finest writers in these languages The vocabulary of life will increase from such an interaction she said Rockwell a painter writer and translator living in Vermont US joined her on stage to receive her award for translating the novel she described as a love letter to the Hindi languageUltimately we were captivated by the power the poignancy and the playfulness of Tomb of Sand Geetanjali Shrees polyphonic novel of identity and belonging in Daisy Rockwells exuberant coruscating translation said Frank Wynne chair of the judging panel This is a luminous novel of India and partition but one whose spellbinding brio and fierce compassion weaves youth and age male and female family and nation into a kaleidoscopic whole he said The books 80yearold protagonist Ma to her familys consternation insists on travelling to Pakistan simultaneously confronting the unresolved trauma of her teenage experiences of Partition and reevaluating what it means to be a mother a daughter a woman a feministThe Booker jury were impressed that rather than respond to tragedy with seriousness Shrees playful tone and exuberant wordplay results in a book that is engaging funny and utterly originaliquest at the same time as being an urgent and timely protest against the destructive impact of borders and boundaries whether between religions countries or genders The author of three novels and several story collections Mainpuriborn Shree has translated her works into English French German Serbian and Korean Originally published in Hindi in 2018 Tomb of Sand is the first of her books to be published in the UK in English by Tilted Axis Press in August 2021Shrees novel was chosen from a shortlist of six books the others being Cursed Bunny by Bora Chung translated by Anton Hur from Korean A New Name Septology VIVII by Jon Fosse translated by Damion Searls from Norwegian Heaven by Mieko Kawakami translated by Samuel Bett and David Boyd from Japanese Elena Knows by Claudia Pintildeeiro translated by Frances Riddle from Spanish and The Books of Jacob by Olga Tokarczuk translated by Jennifer Croft from Polish This year the judges considered 135 books and for the first time in 2022 all shortlisted authors and translators will each receive GBP 2500 increased from GBP 1000 in previous years iquest bringing the total value of the prize to GBP 80000 Complementing the Booker Prize for Fiction the international prize is awarded every year for a single book that is translated into English and published in the UK or IrelandThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever