Author, Geetanjali Shree wrote ‘Tomb of Sand’ which is the first novel in any Indian language to win the International Booker Prize.
Geetanjali Shree is the author of three novels and several story collections, Mainpuri-born Geetanjali Shree has translated her works into English, French, German, Serbian, and Korean and her book ‘Tomb of Sand’ is the first novel in any Indian language to win the prestigious International Booker Prize making the country proud.
‘Tomb of Sand’ originally called ‘Ret Samadhi’, is set in northern India and tracks an 80-year-old woman. The Booker judges said, “We were captivated by the power, the poignancy, and the playfulness of Tomb of Sand’. Frank Wynne, chair of the judging panel said, “This is a luminous novel of India and partition, but one whose spellbinding brio and fierce compassion weaves youth and age, male and female, family and nation into a kaleidoscopic whole” he said.
It was chosen from a shortlist of six other books: Cursed Bunny’ by Bora Chung, translated by Anton Hur from Korean; A New Name: Septology VI-VII’ by Jon Fosse, translated by Damion Searls from Norwegian; Heaven’ by Mieko Kawakami, translated by Samuel Bett and David Boyd from Japanese; Elena Knows’ by Claudia Pi eiro, translated by Frances Riddle from Spanish; and The Books of Jacob’ by Olga Tokarczuk, translated by Jennifer Croft from Polish.
A melancholic satisfaction in the award: Shree in her acceptance speech
“I never dreamt of the Booker, I never thought I could. What a huge recognition, I’m amazed, delighted, honored, and humbled, said Shree, in her acceptance speech. There is a melancholic satisfaction in the award going to it. Ret Samadhi/Tomb of Sand’ is an elegy for the world we inhabit, lasting energy that retains hope in the face of impending doom. The Booker will surely take it to many more people than it would have reached otherwise, that should do the book no harm”, she said.
At a ceremony in London on Thursday, the New Delhi-based writer said she was completely overwhelmed by the “bolt from the blue” as she accepted her prize, worth GBP 50,000, and shared it with the book’s English translator, Daisy Rockwell.
Pondering upon becoming the first work of fiction in Hindi to make the Booker cut, the 64-year-old author said it feels good to be the means of that happening. But behind me and this book lies a rich and flourishing literary tradition in Hindi, and in other South Asian languages. World literature will be richer for knowing some of the finest writers in these languages. The vocabulary of life will increase from such an interaction, she said.
The author wrote three novels and several story collections, Mainpuri-born Shree has translated her works into English, French, German, Serbian, and Korean. Originally published in Hindi in 2018, ‘Tomb of Sand’ is the first of her books to be published in the UK in English by Tilted Axis Press in August 2021.