Three translations, two first appearances on the JCB shortlist

Indian Fiction Prize 2023 shortlist unveiled! Discover remarkable literary works and their authors. Winner to be revealed on Nov 18th.

on Oct 27, 2023

Three translations, two first appearances on the JCB shortlist | Forntlist

The Secret of More by Tejaswini Apte-Rahm (Aleph Book Company, 2022), The Nemesis by Manoranjan Byapari, translated from the Bengali by V. Ramaswamy (Westland Books, 2023), Fire Bird by Perumal Murugan, translated from the Tamil by Janani Kannan (Penguin Random House India, 2023), Mansur by Vikramajit Ram (Pan Macmillan India, 2022 Every year, a Rs 25-lakh prize is given to a remarkable work of fiction by an Indian author. Srinath Perur, Somak Ghoshal, and Kavery Nambisan are among the jury members.

The works of Tejaswini Apte and Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar are debuts in their respective categories.

The winner will be revealed on November 18th.

If the winning entry is a translation, the translator will receive an additional Rs 10 lakh cash reward.

Furthermore, each of the five nominated authors receives Rs 1 lakh, and if the shortlisted piece is a translation, the translator earns Rs 50,000.

Srinath Perur, chair of the 2023 jury, commented on the shortlist, saying, "In our shortlist meeting, we reluctantly set out to eliminate five books from the longlist of ten." Every book on the longlist was a credible shortlist contender for at least one jury member.

But, in the end, there were exactly five novels on the shortlist that all five of us wanted. None of the novels were easy to say goodbye to, and those who made the cut did so unanimously by the jury."

This is the sixth year of the award.