The longlist of 11 authors for the DSC Prize for South Asian literature 2016 was announced at Oxford bookstore by renowned journalist Mark Tully. By A Mishra
If we read the literatures of South Asia, we will find a lot of similarities between the countries, right from culture to the gender and religious issues. Countries like India, Pakistan and Bangladesh had suffered partition, there have been internal issues in Sri lanka and Afghanistan and we can get connected through the pain of these countries through their literature.
To encourage the literature of these countries, DSC Prize for South Asian literature is organised every year and it supports the writers by giving them the prize money of US $50,000. This is the sixth year and its main objective is to bring South Asian writing to a larger world wide forum.
The process of selecting the best book takes one year and 75 books have been registered from which, the jury has to select the 11 books that they feel are the best to be nominated for the longlist. Then again the shortlist is been finalised among them.
The jury members for the DSC prize 2016 includes, Mark Tully (renowned journalist), Dennis Walder, (professor of literature at open university in UK), Karen Allman (highly respected book seller and literary coordinator, USA), Neloufer de Mel (Senior Senior Professor of English at the University of Colombo, Sri lanka) and Syed Manzoorul Islam, (Bangladeshi writer, translator, critic and academic).
Mark Tully, one of the member from jury said, “This is for the first time when I have been chosen as one of the jury member for DSC Prize for South Asian literature and I found it very difficult to select the 11 best books out of 75, as each books were amazing and I am happy that the translated works are also included in the list. There is so much excellent work in the regional languages which we should all be aware of.”
In the longlist, translated works of the regional writer are also included and if, the translation wins, then the prize money will be distributed equally among the translator and the writer.
Surina Narula, co-founder of DSC Prize for South Asian literature, said, “I would like to thank the jury members for going through all the entries received for the DSC Prize 2016 and coming up with such an excellent longlist. I am delighted to find new authors as well as some well-known authors on this list and I think each novel on the longlist is a must read. These represent the best fiction writing about the South Asian region and they successfully bring out the nuances and challenges of the ever evolving South Asian life – its people, their fears and aspirations and the cultural changes happening around them.”
“Now in its sixth year, the DSC Prize has been successful in bringing the immense talent writing about the South Asian region to a larger global audience. I would like to congratulate each of the longlisted authors and wish them the very best,” concluded Narula.
The shortlist will be announced by the jury on November 26 at the london School of Economics and Political Science in london and the winner will be declared on January 16, 2016.
The longlisted entries contending for the DSC Prize for South Asian literature 2016 are: