New Delhi, Oct 23 (PTI) Five works of fiction, including three translations from Bengali, Marathi and Malayalam, made it to the shortlist for the JCB Prize for Literature, announced on Wednesday.
In its seventh year, the JCB Prize for Literature is an annual award presented to a distinguished work of fiction by an Indian author, as selected by the jury. The shortlist was unveiled by chair of the jury Jerry Pinto. “The task of a jury is never easy. Chalk must be compared to cheese as fiction is a large and magnificent chamber of magic and madness. As chairman of the jury, I was purely ornamental; the members were chosen with skill and care so that diverse gazes were turned on the books at hand. We argued much, we discussed things often but we rarely disagreed on fundamental issues,” Pinto said in a statement.
The shortlist includes “The One Legged” by Sakyajit Bhattacharya, translated from the Bengali by Rituparna Mukherjee, “Chronicle of an Hour and a Half” by Saharu Nusaiba Kannanari, “Sanatan” by Sharankumar Limbale, translated from the Marathi by Paromita Sengupta, “Lorenzo Searches for the Meaning of Life” by Upmanyu Chatterjee, “Maria, Just Maria” by Sandhya Mary, translated from the Malayalam by Jayasree Kalathil.
“A deliberation on the meaning of life, a delineation of withdrawal and return, Upamanyu Chatterjee’s ‘Lorenzo Searches for the Meaning of Life’ was not afraid of asking questions that cannot be answered easily. Sakyajit Bhattacharya’s electric and spare story-telling was illuminated intelligently by translator Rituparna Mukherjee in ‘The One Legged’,” the jury noted.
It added that “Sanatan” combined a scholar’s attentiveness and an activist’s passion to a rewriting of Dalit history, while “Maria, Just Maria” in an elegant translation by Jayasree Kalathil gives a memorable heroine and her acutely perceptive viewing of family dynamics.
“Saharu Nusaiba Kannanari’s ‘Chronicle of an Hour and a Half’ is a page-turner that forces you to slow down and think of the ways in which small towns can punish those who do not toe the line,” they said.
The winner will be given a cash prize of Rs 25 lakh. If the winning entry is a translation, the translator will be presented with an additional cash prize of Rs 10 lakh. Each of the five authors who make it to the shortlist are awarded Rs one lakh, and if the shortlisted piece is a translation, the translator receives Rs 50,000.
“The JCB Shortlist for 2024 reflects how contemporary fiction in India throws up distinctive flavours, compelling voices. Each book is a brave forging forward into uncharted territories in storytelling,” Mita Kapur, literary director, said in a statement.
The JCB Prize fot Literature for 2024 will be announced on November 23. PTI MAH MAH MAH
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