Literature Nobel winner Annie Ernaux to make first India visit

(New Delhi, Feb 23, 2023) 2022 Nobel Prize winner Annie Ernaux will be on her maiden visit to India this week as part of a delegation of authors from France, which is the Guest of Honour at the New Delhi World Book Fair beginning Saturday.

“We were so honoured when Annie Ernaux accepted our invitation, especially when we got to know she has said yes to only two invitations abroad after receiving the Nobel Prize in Literature. At age 82, it will be her first visit to India,” said Julia Trouilloud, Attache for Books at the French Institute in India.

Ernaux, who was awarded the Nobel for the “courage and clinical acuity with which she uncovers the roots, estrangements and collective restraints of personal memory”, will deliver a special lecture at the book fair venue Pragati Maidan on Saturday and also address a conference at the Shri Ram Centre the next day.

The 16-member French delegation also has several other popular contemporary writers across literary genres, including adult fiction, non-fiction, young adult fiction, children’s books and graphic novels.

Over 10 French publishers will meet their Indian counterparts to learn about the Indian publishing markets, and exchange rights between the two countries.

Representatives from the French publishing industry bureau (Bureau international de l’edition francaise and Syndicat national de l’edition), the Institut francais en Inde, and the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs will also be present.

According to Emmanuel Lebrun-Damiens, Counsellor for Education, Science & Culture at the French Embassy in India, “We will discuss broader perspectives about the place of literature in our cultural cooperation worldwide, also in the bilateral relationship between France and India. A little bit about what the book market represents in France.”

Trouilloud said Indo-French literary ties are stronger than ever, with an increasing number of translations in both directions.

“French graphic novels for adults and illustrated books for children are attracting the attention of Indian publishers more and more so we will have a special focus on these two genres. Visitors to the French pavilion will have the experience of a typical Parisian bookstore-cum-cafe, stunningly illustrated by graphic artist Simon Lamouret,” she said.

India was the Country of Honour at the Festival du Livre de Paris in France in April 2022. The 31st edition of the New Delhi World Book Fair will run till March 5.

Besides their participation in round-tables and special events at the book fair, the French authors will give lectures and workshops in major universities, bookstores, and other cultural institutions such as the Alliance francaise de Delhi.

After Delhi, each one of them will visit other Indian cities, with the support of the Alliance francaise network present in 15 cities across the country, officials said.

Gurugram to host 2-day lit fest for families from Jul 22

(Gurugram, Jul 16, 2022) A two-day literature festival here from July 22 for families will bring together fun-filled author sessions and reconstruct characters of the literary world besides having workshops and a mini football league.

Named Doodle-Do, the festival will be opened by actor Samir Soni, who has recently authored “My Experiments With Silence”.

While Soni will be talking about unconditional parenting in modern times, young author Ilina Singh will dwell upon the contribution of 11 gutsy women who loved science and fought for their place under the sun in her session ‘Gutsy Girls of Science’ and Kanika Kush will help recreate the world of Gruffalo.

There will also be a science quiz, reading sessions and interactions with authors.

“I am extremely excited about being at the first edition of Doodle-Do. And I am glad we will be addressing two key areas of our culture – reading and parenting. I look forward to sharing my experiences with my readers and fans,” says Soni.

“The festival will create a fun space for families and will expose them to the power of books and storytelling. We aim to attract readers and non- readers alike and our programming has a variety of components from author sessions to DIY craft as well as experiential games,” says Preeti Chaturvedi, founder of Thehappymomscafe.com.

Organised by the parenting platform Thehappymomscafe.com and Airia Mall, the festival is being supported by brands like Crossword, Faces Canada, HDFC, Smartivity, Lattooland and leading publishers in the country.

Awards like pat during marathon; no time for selfies: DSC Prize winner Jayant Kaikini

Zafri Mudasser Nofil

(Kolkata, Jan 30, 2019) Awards are not new to Jayant Kaikini but the Kannada author and dramatist says such recognitions are like a cheering pat on the back of a marathon runner, whose aim is to finish the race and not take selfies.

Kaikini was on Friday adjudged the winner of the USD 25,000 DSC Prize for South Asian Literature, 2018 for his work No Presents Please: Mumbai Stories.

The award was given to him and translator Tejaswini Niranjana along with a trophy at the Tata Steel Kolkata Literary Meet here.

He says the award means a lot for the short story form and for translations.

“These awards are good because publishers will come forward for translations. Awards do not mean much to writers because these give a wrong signal as people will think the aim of a writer is to get an award.

“An award is like a pat on the back while you are running a marathon race. You are also given nimbu pani (lemon juice) during the race but the aim is to keep running and cross the finishing line and not take selfies,” Kaikini told PTI.

He is happy that his book is reaching new minds.

“This is good as each mind gives its own life to a book.”

Kaikini, who stayed in Mumbai for 24 years, wrote these stories in the ’80s and the ’90s.

“These are stories written in the pre-smartphone era. After being translated into English, the response is very heartening. The stories have reached new readers,” he says.

It was Niranjana’s idea to pick up stories based in Mumbai and they jointly chose 16 stories.

There was a collective mindset and that’s how the book started, says the author, who has six short-story volumes, five poetry collections, three collections of non-fiction, and three plays to his credit.

He has won the Karnataka Sahitya Akademi award four times for his short-story collections. He has also received the Dinakar Desai Award for poetry, the B H Sridhar award for fiction, the Katha National Award and the Karnataka State Award for best dialogue and lyrics, and the Filmfare Award for best lyrics in Kannada four times.

He describes his book as a bunch of metaphors and images of Mumbai.

“Mumbai is a very spiritual space because of its minimalistic living. Mumbai liberates everyone from caste, creed, bio data and everything,” Kaikini says.

He is quite satisfied with the translations. Niranjana is a poet and translation is very safe in the hands of a poet, he says.

He is now working on another book in Kannada.

According to jury chair Rudrangshu Mukherjee, the judges were deeply impressed by the quiet voice of Kaikini through which he presented vignettes of life in Mumbai and made the city the protagonist of a coherent narrative.

“The Mumbai that came across through the pen of Kaikini was the city of ordinary people who inhabit the bustling metropolis. It is a view from the margins and all the more poignant because of it.”

For Niranjana, undertaking this translation was coming to terms with the ruse of the ordinary that Kaikini has mastered.

“The language of Kaikini’s fiction – as well as the characters who populate the stories – exceed the post-Independence dynamic that ties language to identity,” she says.

No Presents Please: Mumbai Stories is about what Mumbai enables. Here is a city where two young people decide to elope and then start nursing dreams of different futures, where film posters start talking to each other, where epiphanies are found in keychains and thermos-flasks.

From Irani cafes to chawls, old cinema houses to reform homes, Kaikini seeks out and illuminates moments of existential anxiety and of tenderness in the book, published by HarperCollins India.

Kannada author Jayant Kaikini’s translated work wins DSC Prize

(Kolkata, Jan 25, 2019) Kannada author Jayant Kaikini was Friday named the winner of the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature 2018 for his translated work No Presents Please.

This is the first time that a translated work has won the USD 25,000 prize.

The announcement was made at the Tata Steel Kolkata Literary Meet at the iconic Victoria Memorial Hall here. The award was given to Kaikini and translator Tejaswini Niranjana, along with a trophy by eminent writer Ruskin Bond.

According to the presenters, No Presents Please is vivid yet full of contradictions, spirited yet lonely, embattled yet big-hearted – the city of Mumbai.

Empathy and survival are the constant, co-dependent themes that unify every strand of this extraordinary book, creating a shimmering mosaic of a conflicted city that is as kind as it is, at times, cruel, the DSC Group said.

According to the prize process, the award money would be equally shared between the author and the translator.

No Presents Please is published by HarperCollins India.

The other shortlisted authors were Kamila Shamsie (Home Fire), Manu Joseph (Miss Laila Armed And Dangerous), Mohsin Hamid (Exit West), Neel Mukherjee (A State Of Freedom) and Sujit Saraf (Harilal & Sons).

Jury Chair Rudrangshu Mukherjee said the panel was deeply impressed by the quiet voice of Kaikini through which he presented vignettes of life in Mumbai and made the city the protagonist of a coherent narrative.

“The Mumbai that came across through the pen of Kaikini was the city of ordinary people who inhabit the bustling metropolis. It is a view from the margins and all the more poignant because of it.

“This is the first time that this award is being given to a translated work and the jury would like to recognise the outstanding contribution of Tejaswini Niranjana, the translator,” he said.

The DSC Prize for South Asian Literature, which was instituted in 2010, awards the best work in South Asian fiction writing each year. The past winners have been from various countries and their work has reflected the importance of South Asian culture and literature.

Surina Narula, co-founder of the DSC Prize said, “The challenges faced by the authors to weave their protests against the wave of anti-globalisation into their writings of seemingly harmless pieces of literature could be seen through their work, migration being a major theme this year.”

Besides Mukherjee, the jury comprised Nandana Sen, Claire Armitstead, Tissa Jayatilaka, and Firdous Azim.

‘Life of Pi’ recreated on the Hooghly

Zafri Mudasser Nofil

(Kolkata, Jan 25, 2019) Talking everyone onboard on a journey of imagination, Booker Prize winner Yann Martel recreated the story of his magnum opus Life of Pi sans the tiger, orang-utan or the hyena on a ferry that set sail on the Hooghly river here.

Martel spoke of how he came up with the idea of his novel he published in 2001 and which fetched him the Booker Prize the next year, how he chose the characters and how he did research among other things.

In the late 90s, Martel flew to India for research on another book.

“I noticed in India that there was abundance of gods as well as animals. There is a link between the two and there are lots of instances of this in Hindu mythology,” he said.

These two extremes – gods and animals – struck Martel.

“While in Matheran (Maharashtra), I suddenly remembered that premise of a very confined space – with a character and an animal. I found that to be a perfect metaphor for human conditions,” he said during a discussion as the ferry cruised along the Hooghly with the majestic Howrah Bridge as the backdrop Thursday night.

The Life of Pi is about what happened after the tragic sinking of a cargo ship, as a solitary lifeboat remains bobbing on the wild, blue Pacific Ocean.

The only survivors from the wreck are a 16-year-old boy named Pi, a hyena, a zebra (with a broken leg), a female orang-utan and Richard Parker, a 450-pound Royal Bengal tiger.

The novel was later adapted into a movie by Ang Lee and won multiple Oscars.

According to Martel, in Life of Pi, the life boat crossing the Pacific is the metaphor of the human condition he talks about.

“It is the crossing of a life and living of a life. We are animals and always behave like animals – so that is the tiger. We also have human qualities and one of these qualities is our extraordinary capacity to imagine. One of the things we imagine is god.

“So Pi and his gods are one extreme of the human conditions and the tiger is the other – the animal condition. These are brought together in this lifeboat,” he said.

The main idea conceived, he then spent the next six months in India for research as the country is a “place of marvel and magic”.

Another interesting fact he shared during the discussion, organised as part of the ongoing Tata Steel Kolkata Literary Meet, was why Pi was stranded for 227 days.

“I wanted Pi to be at sea for a time. So I had to have some reason to choose a number. So after some thought, I chose a prime number 227. Prime numbers are indivisible and I wanted to tell a story which is indivisible. You can’t have one half of a story, another quarter of one and fabricate another story.”

Later, a reader pointed out to him that 22 divided by 7 is close approximation of Pi.

Indian, Pakistani origin authors in contention for DSC Prize

(London, Nov 15, 2018) Indian authors Neel Mukherjee, Sujit Saraf, Jayant Kaikini and Manu Joseph and writers of Pakistani origin Kamila Shamsie and Mohsin Hamid will vie for this year’s USD 25,000 DSC Prize for South Asian Literature.

The shortlist was announced at the London School of Economics & Political Science Wednesday evening by Rudrangshu Mukherjee, chair of the DSC Prize 2018 jury panel.

The works of Arundhati Roy, Jeet Thayil, Perumal Murugan and Tabish Khair among others which were in the longlist failed to make the cut.

According to the jury, which also included Claire Armitstead, Nandana Sen, Firdous Azim and Tissa Jayatilaka, the six novels poignantly bring alive a wide spectrum of themes and emotions that are so relevant in contemporary South Asian life.

The shortlisted books are: Kaikini’s No Presents Please in Kannada (translated by Tejaswini Niranjana); Shamsie’s Home Fire; Miss Laila Armed And Dangerous (Joseph); Exit West (Hamid); Mukherjee’s A State Of Freedom and Harilal & Sons (Saraf).

Rudrangshu Mukherjee said evaluating these books reminded him once again of the importance of reading in human lives.

The prize received close to a quarter of the submissions from publishers based beyond South Asia and from countries such as the UK, the US, Canada and Australia.

According to the organisers, the shortlisted entrants reflect this global interest, and include Shamsie and Mukherjee who are both based in the UK. Hamid is based between Pakistan, the UK and the US, while Saraf is based in the US.

Rudrangshu Mukherjee announcing the shortlist

The winner will be announced at the Tata Steel Kolkata Literary Meet which would take place in Kolkata from January 22-27, 2019.

This year, the prize received 88 entries which included stunning portrayals of migration, war and the pain of displacement, poignant love stories, the exploration of new found relationships and identities, and vivification of the personal struggles, hopes and aspirations that symbolise the urgent and divisive realities of contemporary South Asian life.

Commenting on the shortlist, Surina Narula, co-founder of the DSC Prize said, “It represents the very best of South Asian fiction writing, and the depth, creativity and unique narrative of each of these novels is indeed both impressive and inspirational.”

Past winners are H M Naqvi (Pakistan), Shehan Karunatilaka (Sri Lanka), Jeet Thayil and Cyrus Mistry (both India), American author of Indian origin Jhumpa Lahiri, Anuradha Roy (India) and Anuk Arudpragasam (Sri Lanka).

After DSC Prize, Arudpragasam bags Shakti Bhatt award

(New Delhi, Nov 22, 2017) Sri Lankan author Anuk Arudpragasam, who won the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature on Saturday, has now bagged the Shakti Bhatt First Book Prize 2017 for his debut novel The Story of a Brief Marriage, set in the backdrop of the civil war.

The jury of Kamila Shamsie, Rohini Mohan and Margaret Mascarenhas chose Arudpragasam’s book over Prayaag Akbar’s Leila, Hirsh Sawhney’s South Haven, How I Became a Tree by Sumana Roy, Tripti Lahiri’s Maid In India and These Circuses that Sweep Through the Landscape by Tejaswini Apte-Rahm.

Now in its tenth year, the prize was set up in 2008 in memory of young writer Shakti Bhatt to encourage authors from the sub-continent. The prize is a cash award of Rs 2 lakh and a trophy.

The award ceremony will take place on December 20.

The Story of a Brief Marriage presents the civil war in Sri Lanka like never before. Writing from within the debris of Tamil lives, Arudpragasam’s protagonists find dignity as they piece together strategies of survival.

The story is about the human spirit in the most desperate of times. It sings not as testament of glory but as a dirge of despair, according to the jury.

The novel, published in India by HarperCollins, won the USD 25,000 DSC Prize at the just-concluded Dhaka Lit Fest.

Sharing his sentiments on the win, Udayan Mitra, Publisher (Literary) at HarperCollins India said, “Anuk Arudpragasam’s novel ‘A Story of a Brief Marriage’ is a work of extraordinary sensitivity and imagination: a short novel that unfolds over a small time span during the final battle between the Sri Lankan army and the LTTE in 2009, it has a ripple effect that resounds and ricochets in the reader’s consciousness, for it is an unforgettable work about life and the human condition.”

Two and a half decades into the devastating civil war, Sri Lanka’s Tamil minority is pushed inexorably towards the coast by the advancing army. Among the evacuees is Dinesh, whose world has contracted to a makeshift camp where time is measured by the shells that fall around him like clockwork.

Alienated from family, home, language, and body, he exists in a state of mute acceptance, numb to the violence around him, till he is approached one morning by an old man who makes an unexpected proposal: that Dinesh marry his daughter, Ganga. Marriage, in this world, is an attempt at safety, like the beached fishing boat under which Dinesh huddles during the bombings.

As a couple, they would be less likely to be conscripted to fight for the rebels, and less likely to be abused in the case of an army victory. Thrust into this situation of strange intimacy and dependence, Dinesh and Ganga try to come to terms with everything that has happened, hesitantly attempting to awaken to themselves and to one another before the war closes over them once more.

Dhaka Lit Fest expresses concern over Rohingyas

Zafri Mudasser Nofil

(Dhaka, Nov 20, 2017) The Dhaka Lit Fest has backed the Rohingyas, urging the global community to support these refugees from Myanmar and “to hold accountable those who have orchestrated the violence leading to this catastrophe”.

Since August 26, over 600,000 Rohingyas have been forced to take exile in neighbouring Bangladesh, a statement said at the recently-concluded festival here.

The signatories include celebrated Syrian poet Adonis, Academy award-winning actress Tilda Swinton, Booker prize winning novelist Ben Okri, playwright David Hare, historian William Dalrymple, writer Lionel Shriver, and Bangladeshi literary icons Syed Manzoorul Islam and Kaiser Haq, among over 40 other participants.

“This is one of the largest forced migrations in recent times, and puts the Rohingya as a community at risk of extinction from their native Arakan province,” it said.

“The participants in the Dhaka Lit Fest express sympathy for the refugees, and wish to keep the news of this unfolding situation at the forefront of global consciousness, as the situation in the refugee camps precipitates what could be an even larger humanitarian crisis due to disease and malnutrition…,” it added.

The Rohingya crisis also figured prominently at the festival.

There was two separate sessions on the Rohingya issue titled “Rohingya: Humanity in Despair” and “Rohingyas: Landless Future”. The participants called upon the international community to put pressure on the Myanmar government to end the crisis.

Ameerah Haq, under-secretary general at the UN Department of Field Support, was of the view a huge international outrage like the one over the Darfur crisis in 2004 was needed to show support to the Rohingya community.

Such a protest should involve renowned global personalities, including Hollywood celebrities, she suggested.

According to BBC South Asia Correspondent Justin Rowlatt, who has been covering the issue, it was hard to imagine the movement of such a huge number of people, while Michael Vatikiotis, Asia regional director of Geneva-based Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, this crisis has led to a rift across South East Asia.

Myanmar does not recognise Rohingya as an ethnic group and insists that they are Bangladeshi migrants living illegally in the country.

Bangladesh has accused Myanmar of spearheading a violent depopulation campaign to eliminate Rohingya by branding them as so-called “Islamist terrorists”.

Lankan author Anuk Arudpragasam wins DSC Prize for 2017

Zafri Mudasser Nofil

(Dhaka, Nov 18, 2017) Sri Lankan author Anuk Arudpragasam is the winner of this year’s DSC Prize for South Asian Literature for his book The Story of a Brief Marriage, beating the likes of Aravind Adiga, Karan Mahajan and Anjali Joseph.

The jury said the novel is told in meditative, nuanced and powerful prose and marks the arrival of an extraordinary new literary voice.

The USD 25,000 DSC Prize was awarded to the winner along with a trophy by Bangladesh Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith on the concluding day of the Dhaka Literary Festival (DLF).

Ritu Menon, chair of the jury, said, “The jury met and discussed the shortlisted novels in detail. As all the shortlisted novels had considerable strengths and remarkable literary quality, deciding the winner was not an easy task.”

She said the jury agreed that Arudpragasam was the best possible choice for his outstanding novel which is “impressive for its intensity and rich detail, and for exploring the tragic heart of war with such quiet eloquence.”

“It is also a testament to the redemptive power of love, and to the human spirit’s capacity for hope,” she added.

The Story of a Brief Marriage is published by Granta Books.

The other shortlisted authors were Anjali Joseph for The Living, Aravind Adiga for Selection Day, Karan Mahajan for The Association of Small Bombs and Stephen Alter for In the Jungles of the Night.

Oxford launches first-ever Hindi word of the year

(New Delhi, Nov 16, 2017) Oxford Dictionaries will have a Hindi word of the year for 2017.

The Hindi word of the year will be a word or expression that has attracted a great deal of interest this year. The chosen word should reflect the ethos, mood, or preoccupations of the year. It is not necessarily a new word, but should be one that is strongly linked somehow to 2017.

This word of the year will be announced in January 2018.

Oxford Dictionaries has called on Hindi speakers across the country to help choose the word. Submissions need to be made before November 29.

Following the public suggestions, the word will be chosen by the Hindi Dictionaries team at Oxford University Press (OUP) along with an advisory panel of language experts who each bring a unique perspective.

The panel includes writer-publisher Namita Gokhle, Indian language expert Kritika Agrawal, journalist Saurabh Dwivedi, senior editorial manager at OUP India Malika Ghosh, and Ranchi University associate professor Poonam Nigam Sahay.

Kritika Agrawal, language champion for Oxford’s Hindi Living Dictionary, says that the Hindi word of the year is a big leap forward for the Hindi language as it aims to highlight the social and cultural relevance of Hindi in the current context.

“It is the campaign’s endeavour to alter perceptions about languages being a living intangible heritage and not merely a static tool of communication. I am delighted to be a part of, and to promote, a wonderful initiative as this,” she says.

Oxford says it has been creating dictionaries for over 150 years and its dictionary editors in India and around the world have developed expertise in monitoring how language is used by real people.

“To further supplement our research we’re both calling on Hindi speakers across India to send us their word of the year suggestions and consulting with a panel of experts from a range of backgrounds,” it says.