PUBLISHING BOOKS
Four translated works secure place in 2021 longlist
SheThePeople announces longlist for maiden Women Writers Prize
SheThePeople announced the longlist for the inaugural Women Writers Prize 2021 on 7 February 2022 . The maiden longlist comprises of twelve books , out of which four have been translated from regional Indian languages .
The longlist for the maiden Women Writers Prize 2021 is as follows : – A Death in Shonagachhi by Rijula
Das , Picador India – A Mirror Made of Rain by Naheed
Phiroze Patel , Fourth Estate India
– A Red-Necked Green Bird by Ambai , translated from Tamil to English by GJV Prasad , S & S India
– Baby Doll : Stories by Gracy , translated from Malayalam to English by Fathima EV , Harper Perennial India
– Budhini by Sarah Joseph , translated from Malayalam to English by Sangeetha Sreenivasan , Penguin Hamish Hamilton – Sisterhood of Swans by Selma Carvalho , Speaking Tiger – The Begum and the Dastan by
Tarana Husain Khan , Tranquebar – The Blind Matriarch by Namita
Gokhale , Penguin Viking – The Illuminated by Anindita
Ghose , Fourth Estate India
– The Loneliness of Hira Barua by Arupa Patangia Kalita , translated to English by Ranjita Biswas , Pan Macmillan India
– The Women Who Forgot to Invent Facebook and Other Stories by Nisha Susan , Context
– What We Know About Her by Krupa Ge , Context
Shinie Antony , writer , and curator of the Women Writers Prize 2021 discloses , “ The longlist makes for an absolute must-read . These are compelling narratives , written and translated with the warmest authenticity .”
The Women Writers Prize has been instituted by the New Delhi-
based platform for women , SheThePeople , and carries a cash prize of Rs 50,000 . In case a translation wins the honor , the prize money will be equally distributed between the author and the translator . The award has been introduced after seven years of the launch of the annual Women Writers Fest literature festival which focuses on Indian women writers .
The Prize was launched with an objective to “ shine the light on women writing fiction in India .” Fiction works and short story compilations with female protagonists and / or penned by Indian women writers based out of the country are eligible for the award . The works must be in English language or English translations from vernacular Indian languages .
Prize founder Shaili Chopra said on the relevance of the Prize , “ I believe we need to read more of women ’ s writing and understand and absorb stories as told by women . We also need to champion more female authors from India , whose writings
bring new and inclusive elements to the idea of the written word .”
Novelist and Women Writers Prize mentor Shashi Deshpande adds , “ The idea of the insignificance of women ’ s lives and experiences has spilled over into their writing and branded it as trivial and insignificant . Whereas , the truth is that every single human experience is part of the infinite tapestry of the human story ; without women ’ s stories , the record remains incomplete . A literary prize exclusively for women ’ s writing can right the wrong and give women ’ s writing the prestige and dignity that all writing deserves .”
The judges for the 2021 award are – independent literary agent Preeti Gill ; writer and journalist G Sampath ; and Bengaluru-based Atta Galatta bookshop co-founder Lakshmi Subodh . The shortlist for the Prize will be out by the end of February and the inaugural Women Writers Prize 2021 will be awarded by SheThePeople on 1 March 2022 . n
– Priyanka Tanwar
Indian Printer & Publisher | 1 March 2022
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