The JCB Prize for Literature announces its Shortlist for the 6th Year

Jaipur, October 20, 2023: In its sixth year, the JCB Prize for Literature announced its 2023 Shortlist at the Jai Mahal Palace in Jaipur. The intimate event, prior to the Award Ceremony in November, was attended by authors, translators, and the community of book lovers in the city. Jury members Srinath Perur, Somak Ghoshal and Kavery Nambisan announced the Shortlist of five books including three translations from Bengali, Hindi and Tamil.

The JCB Prize for Literature is a Rs 25-lakh award presented each year to a distinguished work of fiction by an Indian author. Each year, the Literary Director appoints a jury of prominent individuals from various areas of Indian social and intellectual life. Every member of the jury reads every novel entered for the Prize and is alone responsible for selecting the Longlist (of ten), the Shortlist (of five), and the winner.

The announcement was followed by actor Divya Seth Shah, and poet and researcher, Wamiq Saifi reading from the shortlisted books. The dramatized readings were interspersed with a musical performance by Dayam Ali on sarangi and Pt Harihar Sharan Bhatt on sitar, giving the audience a taste of a truly diverse Shortlist spanning across geographies and time. 

The 2023 shortlist includes: 

•    The Secret of More by Tejaswini Apte-Rahm (Aleph Book Company, 2022)
•    The Nemesis by Manoranjan Byapari, translated from the Bengali by V. Ramaswamy  (Westland Books, 2023)
•    Fire Bird by Perumal Murugan, translated from the Tamil by Janani Kannan (Penguin Random House India, 2023)
•    Mansur by Vikramajit Ram (Pan Macmillan India, 2022)
•    I Named my Sister Silence by Manoj Rupda, translated from the Hindi by Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar (Westland Books, 2023)

Commenting on the shortlist, the chair of the 2023 jury, Srinath Perur said, "In our shortlist meeting we reluctantly set out to eliminate five books from the longlist of ten. It turned out that every book on the longlist was a serious shortlist candidate for at least one jury member. But in the end there were exactly five books that all five of us wanted on the shortlist. None of the books was easy to let go of, and those that made the cut did so by the jury's unanimous decision."

As the winner announcement approaches, Mita Kapur, Literary Director, stated, The 2023 Shortlist of five books for the JCB Prize for Literature beautifully captures the kaleidoscope of India's literary landscape. Each tale is a captivating dance of words—a testament to our rich literary pulse. The contribution of our publishers, bookstores, and the online community in amplifying these voices has been invaluable. As you delve into these books, you'll discover reflections of our shared human journey, and find myriad emotions and tales that resonate."

The winner, set to be announced on 18 November, will be granted a cash prize of Rs 25 lakh. If the winning entry is a translation, the translator will be presented with an additional cash prize of Rs 10 lakh. Moreover, each of the five authors on the shortlist are awarded Rs 1 lakh, and if the shortlisted piece is a translation, the translator receives Rs 50,000.