Geetanjali Shree has become the first Indian to win the international version of the prestigious Booker prize for her novel Tomb of Sand.
Released in France under the title Ret samadhi: Beyond the border, the book recounts the unexpected and unconventional new beginning of an 80-year-old woman after the death of her husband. It takes place in northern India.
It is the first book in Hindi to obtain this award, awarded at a ceremony in London and endowed with 50,000 pounds sterling (58,000 euros) to be shared between the author and the American translator Daisy Rockwell.
The French version was published in 2020 by Éditions Des Femmes in a translation by Annie Montaut.
“I never dreamed of the Booker, I never thought I could” receive it, said Geetanjali Shree, quoted by the Press Trust Of India. “What immense recognition. I am amazed, delighted, honored”, said the novelist, born in Mainpuri in India in 1957 and who currently lives in New Delhi.
She added that behind her and this book “lies a rich and thriving literary tradition in Hindi and other South Asian languages” and that “world literature will be enriched by knowing some of the best writers in these languages ”.
Frank Wynne, who chaired the jury, said he had never read anything like it.
“Tomb of Sand has an exuberance, life, power and passion that the world could need right now,” he said.
Ms Shree beat five other finalists, including Poland’s Nobel Literature Prize winner Olga Tokarczuk, Argentina’s Claudia Pineiro and South Korea’s Bora Chung.
Last year, the International Booker Prize was won by David Diop’s French novel Frère d’âme.
Source: AFP
Geetanjali Shree became the first Indian woman to win the international version of the prestigious “Booker prize” for her novel Tomb of Sand. Released in France under the title Ret samadhi: Beyond the border, the book tells the unexpected and convention of an 80-year-old woman after the death of her husband. It takes place in the north of…