Indians have yet again made us feel proud. After being a part of the Forbes list, winning Magsaysay Award for the nation now it is turn to grab Booker prize.
Indian author Anuradha Roy and British-Indian Sunjeev Sahota are among 13 international authors long-listed for the 2015 Booker Prize, the prestigious literary prize committee announced London on Wednesday.
Roy has been picked for her third novel, ‘Sleeping on Jupiter’, and Sahota for ‘The Year of the Runaways’, the committee said.
“We had a great time choosing this list. Discussions weren’t always peaceful, but they were always very friendly,” said Michael Wood, chair of this year’s Man Booker judging panel.
“We were lucky in our companions and the submissions were extraordinary. The long-list could have been twice as long, but we’re more than happy with our final choice.”
“The range of different performances and forms of these novels is amazing. All of them do something exciting with the language they have chosen to use,” he said.
‘Sleeping on Jupiter’ has received glowing reviews for its attempt at exposing the hypocrisies of Indian society, while Sahota has been praised for his tale of Indian migrant workers living in Britain.
The judges were struck by the international spectrum of the novels, with the long list also featuring British writers, American writers and writers from the Republic of Ireland, New Zealand, Nigeria and Jamaica.
Marlon James, who currently lives in Minneapolis, is the first Jamaican-born author to be nominated and Laila Lalami, based in Santa Monica but born in Rabat, is the first Moroccan-born who made to the list.
There are three debut novelists on the list with Bill Clegg’s ‘Did You Ever Have a Family’, Chigozie Obioma’s ‘The Fishermen’ and Anna Smaill’s ‘The Chimes’.
Others are, former Booker winner, Anne Enright is long-listed for ‘The Green Road’, British writers Tom McCarthy for ‘Satin Island’ and Andrew O’Hagan for ‘The Illuminations’.
US author Marilynne Robinson is long-listed for ‘Lila’, Anne Tyler for ‘A Spool of Blue Thread’ and Hanya Yanagihara for ‘A Little Life’.
The shortlist of six will be announced on September 15 at the Man Group offices in London and the 2015 winner will be declared at the annual gala ceremony at London’s Guildhall on October 13.
First awarded in 1969, the prize is recognised as the leading prize for high quality literary fiction written in English.
The rules of the prize changed at the end of 2013, to embrace the English language “in all its vigour, its vitality, its versatility and its glory”, opening up to writers beyond the UK and Commonwealth.
The shortlisted authors each receive pound 2,500 and a specially bound edition of their book.
The winner will receive a further pound 50,000 (over $ 78,000) and can expect international recognition.
Last year’s winning novel, ‘The Narrow Road to the Deep North’ by Richard Flanagan, has sold 300,000 copies in the UK and almost 800,000 worldwide.