JCB Prize for Literature - for Contemporary Indian Literature

Stevie B

Stevie B

Current Member
Haven't read any of these books, but they all look promising. I almost purchased Goat Days several months ago. It's an earlier novel by Benyamin that involves a young man who travels to the Gulf to earn money. Having worked in Kuwait, I can relate to that, though I taught English and the main character in the story herds goats. Might have to give that one a shot.
 
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Stevie B

Stevie B

Current Member
You'll be surprised by this, tiga, but I'm actually a somewhat experienced sheep herder. I spent a semester living on the Navajo reservation in New Mexico. Slept in a hogan at night and helped an elderly Navajo couple during the day. I typically took their sheep out every morning. Afternoons were spent in a variety of ways from digging a new outhouse pit to picking pine nuts. No electricity or running water. One day, I got so caught up with reading a book that I accidentally let a number of sheep wander away. Had to run like crazy to track them down.
 
tiganeasca

tiganeasca

Moderator
I don't know if things changed from last year, but the information I was reading suggested that the prize is awarded to writers in any of six languages, including English (as was the original language of this year's awardee). The prize doesn't have much history, as Jayan's original post indicated, having only been awarded for the first time last year. The jury of five is unknown to me but I find it...uh...interesting that it includes an economist and a filmmaker/environmentalist. Thanks for posting this update.
 
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kpjayan

Reader
For last couple of years, there is a huge surge in the availability of 'vernacular literature' to a larger audience. While the quality of these translations are still 'subjective', the quantity is definitely on the raise. Awards like these, are fueling that growth. Over time, I expect a lot more quality translations to be available. Writers like Perumal Murugan's popularity is , apart from the controversy, is due to this surge in translation activities.

I've been buying books translated from Maithili, Dogri, Naga languages ( apart from more popular Kannada, Tamil Telugu, Marathi, Gujarati), which wasn't available 5-6 years ago.
 
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kpjayan

Reader
S Hareesh's 'Moustache' won this year's JCB Prize for Literature..

www.thehindu.com

Malayalam writer S. Hareesh bags 2020 JCB Prize for Literature

The book, which is the author’s debut novel, is a contemporary classic mixing magic, myth and metaphor into a tale of far-reaching resonance.
www.thehindu.com www.thehindu.com
scroll.in

S Hareesh wins Rs 25-lakh JCB Prize for Literature 2020 for ‘Moustache’

The debut novel has been translated into English by Jayasree Kalathil.
scroll.in scroll.in

I've read this in the original Malayalam. Impressive book. Like in the case of Perumal Murugan, This book too had a tussle with the 'conservatives' , and the literary magazine, which was serializing this novel had to discontinue. However, that controversy , as in the case of Murugan, helped Hareesh's and the books popularity.
 
tiganeasca

tiganeasca

Moderator
Don't know most of the authors, but I do recognize Sealy, whose Everest Hotel I read many years ago and liked quite a bit.
 
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kpjayan

Reader
Everest Hotel is the only one, that I've read too.

Interestingly, Only 3 translated books and all are from Malayalam. Mukundan is one writer, I can recommend very highly in this list. His early novels 'By the Banks of River Mayyazhi' and 'God's Mischief' etc are some of the landmarks in Malayalam Literature. 'Delhi' is also pretty good.
 
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kpjayan

Reader
K

kpjayan

Reader
Well, my native tongue, and I've read them in the original language ( and the inflated linguistic identity and pride :) )

Importantly, translated literature from the regional languages are having a larger acceptance and readership in the last 4-5 years and to me that is an encouraging trend. Personaly, I think these languages have many gems, yet to be 'discovered'. Awards like these gives them some much needed limelight. Malayalam, spoken in the small southern state of Kerala, has a very active and vibrant literary scene ( others like Tamil, Kannada, Telugu, Bengali, Assamese etc too ).
 
Leseratte

Leseratte

Well-known member
kpjayan said:
Well, my native tongue, and I've read them in the original language ( and the inflated linguistic identity and pride :) )

Importantly, translated literature from the regional languages are having a larger acceptance and readership in the last 4-5 years and to me that is an encouraging trend. Personaly, I think these languages have many gems, yet to be 'discovered'. Awards like these gives them some much needed limelight. Malayalam, spoken in the small southern state of Kerala, has a very active and vibrant literary scene ( others like Tamil, Kannada, Telugu, Bengali, Assamese etc too ).
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Congrats then, Jayan. When Salman Rushdie visited São Paulo many years, he told us that people from India and Pakistan are usually polylingual, because of the many languages that are spoken there. I suppose Portuguese is still one of them, in some parts of the country.
 
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kpjayan

Reader
Leseratte said:
I suppose Portuguese is still one of them, in some parts of the country.
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Goa, was under Portuguese control, until 1961 ( 14 years after the rest of the country was independent). As I understand, there are a few elderly folks who understand the language and was educated. Konkani, is the widely used language there now.
 
Leseratte

Leseratte

Well-known member
I didn´t know the independence of Goa came so late. I don´t know if you have already read this work, the Portuguese exploits in India are less known than the English. But it is also with the travels of the Portuguese to India that Brazilian modern History begins.
portuguese-american-journal.com

| Book: ‘The Travels of Mendes Pinto’ – Editor’s NotePortuguese American Journal

This text, ostensibly the autobiography of Portuguese explorer Fernão Mendes Pinto, came second only to Marco Polo’s work in exciting Europe’s imagination of the Orient. Chronicling adventures from Ethiopia to Japan, Travels covers twenty years of Mendes Pinto’s odyssey as a soldier, a merchant...
portuguese-american-journal.com portuguese-american-journal.com
 
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kpjayan

Reader
^ Thanks. Haven't read this one.

Keki N Daruwalla ( poet, primarily) has written a novel "For Pepper and Christ" , which looks at the early attempts to reach India by the Portuguese, the Vasco da Gama one and the Cabral that followed.
 
Leseratte

Leseratte

Well-known member
kpjayan said:
^ Thanks. Haven't read this one.

Keki N Daruwalla ( poet, primarily) has written a novel "For Pepper and Christ" , which looks at the early attempts to reach India by the Portuguese, the Vasco da Gama one and the Cabral that followed.
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It´s a very recent novel (2010) I just saw. Yes, that´s exactly what it was about and that Cabral was our undoing, I mean when that large stretch later called Brazil still belonged solely to the tribes of Indians that lived there.
 
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