U.R. Ananthamurthy on South Asian prize shortlist

Distinguished Kannada writer and Jnanpith awardee U.R. Ananthamurthy is among the six authors shortlisted for this year’s $50,000 DSC Prize for South Asian Literature.

He has been selected for his widely acclaimed novel Bharathipura (translated into English by Susheela Punitha), which reflects his lifelong preoccupation with transcending caste and class interests in modern society.

The Prize was instituted last year to recognise the best writing about the South Asian region.

Others on the shortlist are: Kavery Nambisan (The Story that Must Not Be Told’); Chandrakanta (A Street in Srinagar); Usha K.R. (Monkey-man); Tabish Khair (The Thing About Thugs); and Shehan Karunatilaka (Chinaman).

Announcing the shortlist at a glitzy function here on Tuesday at the end of a two-week-long DSC South Asian Literature Festival, Ira Pande, chairperson of the jury, regretted that “some of the terrific novels’’ had to be left out — “a cross that every jury has had to carry’’. 

The winner will be announced at the DSC Jaipur Literature Festival on January 21, 2012.  

Organisers described the prize as “a first-of-its-kind initiative’’ specifically focusing on the richness and diversity of South Asian writing.

“The prize is also unique since it is not ethnicity driven in terms of the author’s origin and is open to any author belonging to any part of the globe as long as the work is based on the South Asian region and its people.
Last year, it was won by Pakistani author H.M. Naqvi for his debut novel Home Boy.