Four Indian and two Pakistani authors in contention for DSC Prize 2018

The shortlist of six novels was announced on 14 November 2018 by Rudrangshu Mukherjee, chair of the DSC Prize 2018 jury panel, who along with the other four jury members, Claire Armitstead, Nandana Sen, Firdous Azim and Tissa Jayatilaka, had met a day prior to the event to arrive at the shortlist.

The shortlist comprises four authors of Indian origin and two authors of Pakistani origin and despite some of them being based outside the South Asian region, their work poignantly brings alive a wide spectrum of themes and emotions that are so relevant in contemporary South Asian life.

The shortlist also includes a translated book where the original writing was in Kannada. The shortlist announcement was well received by publishers, authors and literary enthusiasts who attended the event.

The six shortlisted entries contending for the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature 2018 are:

• Jayant Kaikini: No Presents Please (Translated by Tejaswini Niranjana, Harper Perennial, HarperCollins India)
• Kamila Shamsie: Home Fire (Riverhead Books, USA and Bloomsbury, UK)
• Manu Joseph: Miss Laila Armed and Dangerous (Fourth Estate, HarperCollins, India)
• Mohsin Hamid: Exit West (Riverhead Books, USA and Hamish Hamilton, Penguin Random House, India)
• Neel Mukherjee: A State Of Freedom (Chatto & Windus, Vintage, UK and Hamish Hamilton, Penguin Random House, India)
• Sujit Saraf: Harilal & Sons (Speaking Tiger, India)

Speaking on the occasion, Mukherjee, said, “Being the chair of the jury of the DSC Prize has been one of the most enriching experiences of my life. I say this for two reasons. One is the sheer intellectual excitement of reading, evaluating and discussing these works of fiction. The other is the interactions I had with my four colleagues on the jury. I know I learnt an enormous amount from all of them and for this I am profoundly grateful to all of them. Evaluating these books reminded me once again of the importance of reading in human lives."

Administered by the South Asian Literature Prize & Events Trust, the prestigious DSC Prize for South Asian Literature has helped to raise the profile of South Asian writing around the world by rewarding authors who write on the region. Founded in 2010 by Surina Narula and Manhad Narula, the winning author is awarded a USD 25,000 prize. This year the prize received a record 88 entries, which included stunning portrayals of migration, war and the pain of displacement, poignant love stories, the exploration of new found relationships and identities, and vivification of the personal struggles, hopes and aspirations that symbolize the urgent and divisive realities of contemporary South Asian life.

Surina Narula, co-founder of the DSC Prize, said, “My heartfelt thanks and commendations to the jury panel for the detailed deliberations over the last few months, and coming up with such a good shortlist. The longlist announced last month was an impressive list; it must have been a challenging task for the jury to bring this down to a shortlist of six books. The shortlist represents the very best of South Asian fiction writing, and the depth, creativity and unique narrative of each of these novels is indeed both impressive and inspirational. My congratulations to each one of the shortlisted authors and translator and I wish them the very best for the final award ceremony.”

The announcement evening also featured a special panel discussion moderated by Claire Armitstead, associate editor, Culture, for The Guardian on the ‘Importance of literary prizes, with Alexandra Pringle, and Sathnam Sanghera.

Following the announcement of the shortlisted entries, the jury will convene again to select the winning author, ahead of the final award ceremony to be held at the Tata Steel Kolkata Literary Meet which would take place in Kolkata, India between 22 and 27 January 2019.