Posts filed under 'JCB Literary Prize'

Weekly Dispatches From the Front Lines of World Literature

November 11, 2022  |  in Dispatches, News, Weekly Roundup  |  by Rubén López and Suhasini Patni

The latest in literary news from Central America and India!

In this week’s round-up of the latest in global literary news, we are celebrating award honourees and writers redefining their national literatures by working through the art of translation. From keeping memory alive and imagining the future, these are some of the texts that connect past, present, and future.

Rubén López, Editor-at-Large, reporting for Central America

The Guatemalan writer Gloria Hernández was awarded with the Miguel Ángel Asturias National Prize in Literature on November 3. The prize, founded in 1988, is given annually to Guatemalan writers whose career has had an impact in the international landscape. It includes a monetary compensation of Q50,000 (USD4,700), a diploma, and a medal. Additionally, one of the awarded writer’s books is reedited and published.

Hernández was the seventh woman in history to receive the prize. In her speech, she devoted the award to “the female and male writers fallen performing writing and critical thinking against the enemies of freedom, art, and light,” mentioning several martyrs from the Guatemalan state terror of the 80s, such as María López Valdizón, Alaíde Foppa, Otto René Castillo, Irma Flaquer, Roberto Obregón, and Luis de Lión. She also talked about the role of women in storytelling, as they are the ones that keep the memory of the clan alive. “That memory which was my grandmothers is now living in my mother.” Long an an advocate for children’s literature, she additionally stated that “In the face of ignorance and foolishness that considers children’s literature a minor genre, I only smile and continue with my work.”

The nineteenth edition of the International Book Fair in Guatemala (FILGUA) is close; thousands of writers, editors, scholars, and artists from a wide range of disciplines will gather from November 24 to December 4. There will be more than a hundred book releases, several contests, conferences, and workshops. The fair will resume its face-to-face format after COVID restrictions, but will also keep a virtual schedule, and the organizers hope to reach an audience of 2.4 million people there.

This year, Korea will be the honored guest, and its embassy will hold several activities like Korean writing workshops, a traditional costumes exhibition, a taekwondo demonstration, a Korean art show, and a K-pop concert. The inaugural conference is entitled “The relation between Korea and Latin America,” and will be presented by Juan Felipe López Aymes, a scholar from the Regional Center of Multidisciplinary Research form Universidad Autónoma de México. READ MORE…

Weekly Dispatches from the Front Lines of World Literature

September 9, 2022  |  in Dispatches, News, Weekly Roundup  |  by Areeb Ahmad, José García Escobar, and Nestor Gomez

Literary news from India, El Salvador, and Guatemala!

Our team of editors across the world is back with the latest literary news as summer winds down. In India, the recently released longlist for a major literary prize has put translations  center stage. In El Salvador, a newly published book of poetry interrogates the concept of terrorism in Central America and the United States. In Guatemala, the city of Mazatenango played host to an international book festival. Read on to find out more!

Areeb Ahmad, Editor-at-Large, reporting on India

First awarded in 2018, the JCB Prize for Literature is India’s biggest literary prize and is given every year to “a distinguished work of fiction by an Indian author.” It is one of those rare prizes that gives equal attention to books originally written in English and translations from other languages, without putting them into separate categories as the Booker does. In a first for the prize, there are six translated titles out of the ten that comprise the 2022 longlist, which came out on September 3. This far exceeds the previous record of three longlisted translations. Two of this year’s longlisted books were translated from Urdu, and the rest were translated from Hindi, Malayalam, Bengali, and Nepali. One notable exclusion is Nireeswaran by V.J. James, whose novel Anti-Clock (translated from Malayalam by Ministhy S., who also translated Nireeswaran) was shortlisted last year.

Geetanjali Shree’s Tomb of Sand, translated from Hindi by Daisy Rockwell, needs no introduction. After winning the International Booker Prize earlier this year, its chances of taking home the JCB Prize are high. Another promising title is Sheela Tomy’s Valli, a work of eco-fiction translated from Malayalam by Jayasree Kalathil. Kalathil’s translation of S. Hareesh’s magical realist novel, Moustache, won in 2020 , meaning three of the prize’s four past winners were originally written in Malayalam.

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Weekly Dispatches from the Front Lines of World Literature

November 26, 2021  |  in Dispatches, News, Weekly Roundup  |  by Charlie Ng and Suhasini Patni

The latest news from India and Hong Kong!

This week, we bring you news from India and Hong Kong! In India, Suhasini Patni reports on recent controversies in the treatment of translators, while in Hong Kong, Charlie Ng highlights the opening of a politically charged museum for visual culture and the release of a new cross-genre poetry collection. Read on to find out more!  

Suhasini Patni, Editor-at-Large, reporting from India

Translated literature has been enjoying a boom in India ever since the launch of the JCB Literary Prize. This year, the winning novel is Delhi: A Soliloquy, written by M. Mukundan and translated from Malayalam by Fathima E.V. and Nandakumar K. Although the JCB Prize is committed to honoring translated literature, many noted that the translators were not called onstage to receive the award with the author. Fathima E.V. tweeted: “Frankly, I expected to be called onstage, in keeping with the JCB foundation’s stated commitment towards translated literature. It would have been fitting finale for a graciously organised function in which all the authors and translators were well taken care of throughout.” This incident feeds into the larger question of how translators are treated globally and recent demands for fairer wages and due recognition.

Sanjoy Roy, of Teamwork, the company that organizes the Jaipur Literature Festival across the world, also noted: “Translations earlier were not necessarily good ones, they’re excellent now. The JCB Prize has brought that out,” when discussing the festival for 2022. The festival will return to the city in a hybrid mode, with online and in-person events, and the venue will change from Diggi Palace to Hotel Clarks Amer.

Certainly, translations have gained wider popularity in India during recent years. One of the most anticipated novels of the year was Resolve by Tamil writer Perumal Murugan. Translated by Aniruddhan Vasudevan, Resolve is about how marriage is turned into a social contract. Marimuthu, the protagonist, is on the quest to look for a wife. But he constantly must reevaluate his marital prospects when faced with rejections. The novel explores the challenges in a society afflicted by patriarchy and caste.

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Weekly Dispatches from the Front Lines of World Literature

September 24, 2021  |  in Dispatches, News, Weekly Roundup  |  by David Boyd, Eva Wissting, and Suhasini Patni

The latest in literature from India, Japan, and Sweden!

This week, our editors on the ground are bringing news of book fairs, prestigious awards, and new mediums for well-loved texts. Suhasini Patni takes us through the JCB Literary Prize longlist, David Boyd introduces a new adaptation of Banana Yoshimoto, and Eva Wissting welcomes back the revitalised, in-person edition of the Gothenburg Book Fair. Read on to find out more!

Suhasini Patni, Editor-at-Large, reporting from India

August and September have been the months of literary awards in India. The fourth iteration of the JCB Literary Prize, known as India’s most “valuable literary prize” has announced its longlist; the panel of judges—“author and translator Sara Rai—who will act as chair, 2018 JCB Prize-winner Shahnaz Habib, designer and art historian Dr. Annapurna Garimella, journalist and editor Prem Panicker, and writer and podcaster Amit Verma”—have chosen mainly debut novels for the longlist.

There are also three novels in translation, all from Malayalam. Notably, the prize last year went to Moustache, written by S. Hareesh and translated from Malayalam by Jayasree Kalathil. The books on the longlist are: Delhi: A Soliloquy, written by M Mukundan (translated by Fathima EV and Nandakumar M), Anti-Clock by VJ James (translated by Ministhy S), and The Man Who Leant to Fly but Could Not Land by Thachom Poyil Rajeevan (translated by PJ Mathew).

Delhi: A Soliloquy was the winner of Ezhuthachan Puraskaram, the highest literary award given by the government of Kerala. The book is set during the 60s-80s and follows the lives of Malayalis living in Delhi, exploring how the daily existence of migrants are full of disruption and longing. While the capital undergoes a war with China, the Emergency, and the anti-Sikh riots, the families struggle to earn money to send back home. “Delhi’s underbelly is laden with squalor and misery. I wanted to talk about these dark sides of the city,” said the author. But the loneliness and alienation of migration is captured through a discussion on language.

She didn’t know Hindi, and no one spoke Malayalam. For a few months, she had to live without language. For the first time in her life, she understood what it meant to be isolated.

The New India Foundation also announced its longlist for the fourth edition of the Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay NIF Book Prize, celebrating excellence in non-fiction writing. The foundation is also currently accepting translation fellows for work in non-fiction. The mentors for this fellowship include writers like Ayesha Kidwai, Vivek Shanbag, and Rana Safvi among many others. READ MORE…