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14
authors on South Asian literature prize long-list
Acknowledging the diversity of
literature emanating from the region, the DSC Limited Tuesday
announced a long-list of 14 works of fiction as also the
five-member jury of the first DSC prize for South
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New Delhi: The search
for the first winner of the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature
has narrowed down to six books, from an initial list of 16.
The six books are "The Immortals" by Amit Chaudhuri, "The Story of
a Widow" by Musharraf Ali Farooqui, "Atlas Of Unknowns" by Tania
James, "The Immigrant" by Manju Kapur, "A Life Apart" by Neel
Mukherjee, and "Home Boy" by H.M. Naqvi, a statement released by
the DSC South Asian Literature Festival said here Tuesday.
The list was announced at a gala dinner at London's prestigious
Globe Theatre by the jury, chaired by Nilanjana S. Roy. It
comprised Matthew Evans, Ian Jack, Amitava Kumar and Moni Mohsin.
The prize carries a purse of of $50,000.
"The criteria, while finalising the six novels, was DSC's mandate
to look for the best and the most interesting examples of the
contemporary novel set in, or about, South Asia. As we argued the
merits of the final contenders, all of us rediscovered the
pleasures of reading," chairperson of the jury Nilanjana S. Roy
said.
"Moni Mohsin was impressed by the rich variety of experiences that
one gets from these novels while Ian Jack felt that South Asian
novel has found its voice," she said.
For Lord Matthew Evans, "reading the novels was a welcome reminder
of how much things had changed from the era when Britain and
America exported books to India and Pakistan."
"With a rising publishing industry in South Asia, what we are now
seeing is knowledge and creative thinking being exported to other
parts of the world," Amitava Kumar said.
The winner will be declared at the DSC Jaipur Literature Festival
in January 2011.
Manhad Narula, director of DSC Limited, said shortlisting the six
books out of the 16 was not an easy task.
The initiative for setting up the prize was guided by an
international advisory committee comprising Surina Narula, M.J.
Akbar, Urvashi Butalia, Tina Brown, William Dalrymple, Meghnad
Desai, David Godwin, Senath Walter Perera, Nayantara Sehgal and
Michael Worton.
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