New Delhi, March 27: The JCB Prize for Literature has announced the jury for this year’s prize.
The jury comprises Anjum Hasan, author and critic; Pradip Krishen, filmmaker and environmentalist (Chair); KR Meera, author; Parvati Sharma, author; and Arvind Subramanian, economist and former Chief Economic Adviser to the Government of India.
“Each year, the JCB Prize for Literature jury is conceived in such a way as to reflect a wide variety of backgrounds and experiences. This is how we ensure the verdicts are fresh and interesting to a large number of readers. The members of the 2019 jury are all passionate readers, very eminent within their respective fields, and I think they will have fascinating debates about the books we send in their direction.” – Rana Dasgupta, Literary Director
Entries will close on 30th April. The jury will announce the longlist of ten titles on September 4th, followed by the shortlist of five titles on October 4th. The winner of the `25 lakh prize will be
announced at the awards dinner on November 2nd.
If the winning work is a translation, the translator will be awarded an additional `10 lakh. Each of the five shortlisted authors will receive `1 lakh; if a shortlisted work is a translation, the translator will receive `50,000.
“I’m honoured and immensely pleased at this extraordinary opportunity to peer deeply into a year’s worth of Indian fiction. It is especially gratifying that the JCB Prize for Literature goes out of its way to include Indian fiction in languages other than English and bringing it to the attention of a wider audience. It’s going to be intense and together with a set of wonderful colleagues on the jury, I’m looking forward to playing my part in this year’s selection.” – Pradip Krishen, Jury Chairman
The 2018 Prize was awarded to Jasmine Days by Benyamin, translated from Malayalam by Shahnaz Habib and published by Juggernaut Books.
Through the life of radio jockey Sameera Parvin, it describes the lives of foreign workers caught up in the turmoil of the Arab Spring, a subject that few Indian writers have previously approached.
Since it appeared on the JCB Prize for Literature longlist, Jasmine Days has reached new audiences in India and abroad, and has seen a dramatic rise in sales.
The JCB Prize for Literature was set up in 2018 to enhance the prestige of literary achievement in India and create greater visibility for contemporary Indian writing.
The prize encourages translations and aims to introduce new audiences to works of Indian literature written in languages other than their own. It is funded by JCB and administered by the JCB Literature Foundation.
For information about the prize, visit the official website or follow their pages on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.