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The shortlist for the 2012 DSC Prize for South Asian Literature announced

Anticipation around the 2nd annual DSC Prize for South Asian Literature continued to rise last night as the shortlist was announced at a prestigious gala event at London’s Globe Theatre. Long-listed authors, publishers, London’s literati, ambassadors from the South Asian region gathered together for the event, which was also the finale of the 2011 DSC South Asian Literature Festival in London. Guests were treated to a stirring performance by award-winning producer and Tabla player Talvin Singh, alongside Sarod maestro Soumik Datta, while the winner of the first DSC Prize, Pakistani writer H.M. Naqvi gave a dazzling reading from his winning novel Home Boy which has just been published by Penguin in the UK.

After intense deliberation over the longlist comprising 16 books, the eminent Jury, chaired by Ira Pande along with renowned literary figures Dr. Alastair Niven, Dr. Fakrul Alam, Faiza S. Khan, and Marie Brenner, selected the shortlist for this major international award. The DSC Prize for South Asian Literature has a prize value of $50,000 for the best writing about the South Asian region.

The shortlist of 6 books for the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature, 2012 is as follows:

  • U.R. Ananthamurthy: Bharathipura (Oxford University Press, India, Translated by Susheela Punitha
  • Chandrakanta: A Street in Srinagar (Zubaan Books, India, Translated by Manisha Chaudhry)
  • Usha K.R: Monkey-man (Penguin/Penguin India)
  • Shehan Karunatilaka: Chinaman (Random House, India)
  • Tabish Khair: The Thing About Thugs (Fourth Estate/HarperCollins-India)
  • Kavery Nambisan: The Story that Must Not Be Told (Viking/Penguin India)

Speaking on the occasion, Chairperson of the Jury, Ira Pande said, “The task before the jury was not easy; the main hurdle was how to sift the clever and stylish from the real and true tale. All of us were united in feeling that a novel by any definition must have a strong tale to tell. While there will always be legitimate differences between jury members on individual choices, I think we were fortunate this year in arriving at a broad consensus on what we were looking for. I have a twinge of regret, as doubtless other jury members do too, that we could not include some of the terrific novels we had before us but that has been a cross that every jury has had to carry.”

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