Indian bags Int’l Booker Prize for ‘Tomb of Sand’
London, May 27: Geetanjali Shree has become the first Indian author to win the prestigious International Booker Prize for her “utterly original” Hindi novel ‘Tomb of Sand’, a family saga set in northern India about an
80-year-old woman who travels to Pakistan to confront the unresolved trauma of her teenage experiences of Partition and reevaluates what it means to be a mother, a daughter, a woman and a feminist.
At a ceremony in London on Thursday, the
64-year-old New Delhibased writer said she was “completely overwhelmed” with the “bolt from the blue” as she accepted her 50,000-pound prize, and shared it with the book’s English translator Daisy Rockwell. The prize is split between author and translator equally.
‘Tomb of Sand’, originally ‘Ret Samadhi’, is set in northern India and follows an 80-year-old woman in a tale the Booker judges dubbed a “joyous cacophony” and an “irresistible novel”.
“I never dreamt of the Booker, I never thought I could. What a huge recognition, I’m amazed, delighted, honoured and humbled, said Shree in her acceptance speech.
“There is a melancholy satisfaction in the award going to it. Ret Samadhi/Tomb 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 author said it felt good to be the means of that happening. — PTI
Geetanjali Shree, a Delhibased Hindi novelist, as become the first Indian author to win the prestigious International Booker Prize for her novel ‘Tomb of Sand’, published originally in Hindi in 2018 as ‘Ret Samadhi’.
Born in the city of Mainpuri in Uttar Pradesh state, Shree, 64, is the author of three novels and several story collections.
She had written a novel Mai in 2000 which was shortlisted for the Cross-word Book Award. She had written her first story, Bel Patra, in 1987. It was published in the famous literary magazine Hans.
Mai had been a literary success for her as the novel was translated into several languages, including English, Urdu, Serbian and Korean.
Shree is known for choosing hard-hitting subjects for her novels. Her second novel, Hamara Shahar Us Baras was loosely set on Babri demolition. Her fourth novel Khali Jagah, published in 2006, was translated into English by Nivedita Menon. Ret Samadhi, originally published in 2018, was translated by Daisy Rockwell.
Naveen Patnaik @Naveen_Odisha
Congratulate author #GeetanjaliShree as her translated novel, #TombOfSand has been awarded the 2022 International #BookerPrize, becoming the first book in any Indian language to win the prestigious prize. It will encourage our vernacular & Odia writers to reach world readers.
Arunava Sinha @arunava
Yessss! Translator Daisy Rockwell and author Geetanjali Shree win the International Booker for 'Tomb of Sand' ('Ret Samadhi' in the original). A first win for a Hindi novel, an Indian novel, a south Asian novel. Congratulations! @TheBookerPrizes
Pritish Nandy @PritishNandy
It’s great, Geetanjali Shree’s Tomb of Sand, translated from Hindi, has won the Booker. India’s finest literary works exist in its languages. It’s time these were discovered. The world has already discovered that many of the most amazing writers and poets in English are Indian.