Geetanjali Shree's breathtaking Hindi novel makes history as the first book written in any Indian language to be recognised by the International Booker Prize
The International Booker Prize celebrates novels or anthologies from around the world and their translations. It provides an equal playing field for books written in different languages to thrive and highlights the often overlooked work of translators in making these stories accessible to readers around the globe. Winners are presented with £50,000 (approximately RM276,000) prize money divided equally between author and translator.
See also: David Diop's Riveting War Novel Wins International Booker Prize 2021
On May 26, the winner of the 2022 International Booker Prize was announced at One Marylebone in London by Frank Wynne, the chair of this year's panel of esteemed judges. Tatler's predictions came true as the award went to Tomb of Sand by Geetanjali Shree, translated by Daisy Rockwell.
Rockwell manages to navigate the nuances of multiple dialects and languages, from Hindi to Urdu, while capturing the playful tone that Shree portrays her protagonist, an 80-year-old widower who decides to rebel against convention by striking up a friendship with a hijra (trans) woman and traveling back to Pakistan, where she had lived during the Partition in the 1950s.
Adding another dimension to the story is her relationship with her daughter, Beti, through which the story comes to life with meaningful evaluation of womanhood, motherhood and feminism, and a cross-generational look at the lasting human impact of British Indian rule.