New Delhi: Hindi short story writer, novelist, poet and essayist Vinod Kumar Shukla has won the PEN/Nabokov Award for Achievement in International Literature for the year 2023.
The award, announced Monday, will be presented to the octogenarian in New York Thursday. Playwright Erica Dickerson-Despenza will also receive the prize alongside Shukla.
Shukla’s award, coming close on the heels of another prestigious prize —Tomb of Sand, the English translation of Geetanjali Shree’s Reit Samadhi, had won the International Man Booker Prize last year — makes it a proud moment for the Hindi literary world.
The PEN/Nabokov Award is given every year to authors whose works are considered to be original and of excellent craftsmanship. Past recipients include Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Anne Carson, M. NourbeSe Philip, Sandra Cisneros, Edna O’Brien and Adunis.
Born in 1937 in Rajnandgaon — then in Madhya Pradesh and now in Chhattisgarh — 86-year-old Shukla writes about people and subjects he knows intimately. His style is often considered closer to “jadui yathrthwad” or magic realism — one that holds ‘reality’ together with ‘imaginativeness’.
According to critics, an interesting feature of Shukla’s language and style was that it was not influenced by international writings or global literary movements.
Talking about Shukla’s experiments with language, writer Prabhat Ranjan said his writing was unique. “He has established his own style and it took a long time to be recognised. His language is not very direct, but he has done many experiments with his language,” said Ranjan.
Congratulating Shukla, Satyanand Nirupam, editor of publishing house Rajkamal Prakashan, told ThePrint, ‘It is a matter of great honour for Hindi writing and Hindi society. After the Booker International Prize last year (Geetanjali Shree’s), another award bagged by the Hindi literary world shows that the attitude of people towards Hindi writing has changed at the international level. This will further draw the interest of the youth towards Hindi literature.”
Nirupam added that his publishing house has so far brought out seven of Shukla’s books and two more are about to be published. One of these is a novel Khilega toh dekhenge (Will see if it blooms) and the other is a collection of poetry titled Woh aadmi chala gaya naya garam coat pahin kar vichar ki tarah (That man went wearing a new warm coat like a thought).
While those who know him for his honesty and simplicity, Shukla is also known for his outspokenness. Last year the author drew attention when he claimed publicly that some publishers were “cheating” him by paying him very little royalty.
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Book published by Penguin withheld
Talking to ThePrint Ranjan said, “One of Hindi’s living and most unique poets getting this honour shows that dedication towards literature is never a waste. Shukla is not a writer in the tradition of authors like Premchand. Getting this award is a big thing in itself despite not being a mainstream Hindi writer. He took the language to the level of art. It is a big achievement for a Hindi writer to get this award.”
Sharing an anecdote from Shukla’s life, Ranjan said that the English version of his novel Naukar ki kameez was published by reputed publisher Penguin under the name ‘Shirt of a Servant’. However, Shukla had taken back the book because the owner of Penguin had not met him. “Shukla ji said that ise lugdi bana do (crush this book to pulp). If you don’t have time to meet the author, what will you do by publishing the book?, he asked.
This incident took place around the year 2000 and Penguin was a big publisher at the international level, Ranjan added.
He also recalled how “once Shukla ji had gone to Poland to attend a programme in Mahatma Gandhi International Hindi University. He did not realise it would be freezing cold in Poland (-20 degrees) and had not taken enough clothes with him. He wore a simple pair of trousers, a shirt and a thin sweater. When he told his ordeal to his contemporary Manohar Shyam Joshi, the latter took off his overcoat and gave it to Shukla.
An honest and innocent person like Shukla winning this award is a great honour and respect for his dedication towards Hindi, he added.
Publishers accused of ‘cheating’
Last year Shukla, who had won the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1999 for his novel Deewar mein ek khidki rahti thi, (A window lived in the wall), accused two big Hindi publishing groups of cheating him.
He alleged that he was being paid less royalty and publishers had printed digital editions of his books without his permission. In a video that went viral on social media, Shukla appeared to be saying that his books were like hostages and he wanted to free them.
Talking to ThePrint, Shukla’s son Shashwat Gopal said “it (the award) is a matter of pride for all of us and congratulations to the entire country”.
“My father only told me and didi (sister) to be good human beings. He never said that you should become this or that by reading this or that, but always seek inspiration to become a good human being. He always told us to create something excellent that will definitely be useful for the coming generations and explained that satisfaction and savings are the mantra for living a happy life,” he said.
Gopal added that his father would be so engrossed in his thoughts that he was often forgetful.
“Dada used to forget me too and come back home. Many times he used to take me on a scooter to bring things from the market and later the things would reach home, but I would be left behind in the market. Even now at the age of nearly 90 years, when he goes somewhere with us, he gets so engrossed in his work that he forgets with whom he has come.”
(Edited by Geethalakshmi Ramanathan)
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