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"Paradise of Food" by Khalid Jawed, Won the 5th JCB Literary Prize

The Paradise of Food by Khalid Jawed, which Baran Farooqi translated from Urdu, has been awarded the Fifth JCB Prize for Literature.
on Nov 21, 2022

The Paradise of Food by Khalid Jawed, which Baran Farooqi translated from Urdu, has been awarded the Fifth JCB Prize for Literature.

The novel, which was first released as Ne'mat Khana in 2014, is the first Urdu-language translation to receive the prize.

In The Paradise of Food, a middle-class Muslim joint family's 50-year history is chronicled. In conflict with his household and the outside world, the book's narrator tries to carve out a space for himself.

Ekram Khawar gave the book a favorable review for The Wire.

His narrative, with its free-flowing, centrifugally charged, multi-layered prose and discourse, the utter unfamiliarity of it, the concerns interspersed within, with sparks flying about occasionally, may intrigue you, disturb you, and ultimately engulf you with either a deep sense of admiration or of discomfort or disquiet, foreboding or introspection, culminating either in fulsome appreciation or rejection depending on your literary taste, inclinations, or insecure There is no room for compromise.

Along with the cash reward of Rs. 25 lakhs, Jawed also received a sculpture by the Delhi-based artists Thukral and Tagra, named "Mirror Melting," as a trophy.

In addition, Baran Farooqi earned Rs 10 lakh for the honor.

"We search for happiness every single day and in different parts of our globe," Jawed remarked after receiving the prize. But today is the first day I've truly felt joy. This novel, which I authored in 2014, has just been recognized.

According to Jawed, the reason the book won the prize was due to Farooqi's talent for fusing his universe with another.

A.S. Panneerselvan, a journalist and editor, author Amitabha Bagchi, academic author Rakhee Balaram, translator-historian J. Devika, and author Janice Pariat made up the panel of five judges that chose the winner.

Panneerselvan described the winning piece as "a celebration of the human spirit, hope, loss, aspirations, and anxiety."

It is a superb artistic accomplishment where aesthetics navigates a challenging political trajectory that looms over our nation. This is a modern story because of the carnivalesque aspect, the jury chair said.

The International Booker-winning book Tomb of Sand by Geetanjali Shree, which Daisy Rockwell translated from Hindi, and Imaan by Manoranjan Byapari was also placed on a shortlist unlike any other in the award's history, which exclusively comprised translations (translated from the Bengali by Arunava Sinha)

Additionally, Hindi and Nepali books were included in the shortlist of the literary award for the first time.

Song of the Soil by Chuden Kabimo, which Ajit Baral translated from Nepali, and Valli by Sheela Tomy was also on the shortlist (translated from Malayalam by Jayasree Kalathil).

The translators earned Rs 50,000, while each of the selected authors received Rs 1 lakh.

To advance the literary arts in India, the JCB Literature Foundation, a nonprofit organization, established the prize in 2018.