With the shortlist for the JCB Prize for Literature 2021 announced last week, excitement about the winner (to be declared on November 13) is mounting. Now in its forth edition, the JCB Prize has already become one of the most coveted literary prizes in India, not the least because it is the most expensive, with the winner getting ₹25 lakh. The JCB Prize is special also because it awards translators — if the winning work is a translation, the translator gets an additional ₹10 lakh. Two of the five books in the 2021 shortlist are translations.
If translations are in vogue now, this prize can be counted as one of the significant drivers of the resurgence. Mita Kapur, Literary Director of the JCB Prize, talks about the award and its impact.
What inspired you to include translated works in the prize?
The JCB Prize was constituted for awarding the best of Indian fiction. This immediately translates into enveloping the entire country, which has an infinite treasure of storytelling traditions, a wide spectrum of literary traditions, and languages that change from region to region along with voices, tonalities, local idioms and phraseology. Translations become integral when we celebrate excellence in Indian writing.
Do you see an expansion in the readership and demand of translated works since the JCB Prize was started in 2018?
Yes. Since the first year of the award, when two of the winning books were translated works, each year’s shortlist has also had a healthy ratio of translations. This has impacted visibility, promotions and sales of the books. Sales figures for the shortlisted and winning books have gone up by nine times.
Can you explain the selection process briefly? How is transparency maintained?
In order to maintain transparency, the JCB Prize comes with multiple checks. The process, each year, begins with the appointment of a jury of five members who come from different fields, bringing with them varied sensibilities and points of view. The opening of entries is announced publicly along with targeted outreach to publishers across the country.
Each publisher is provided with a quota of four entries, of which two have to be translations. No distinction is made among publishing houses by way of entry quotas. The prize also employs a third party consulting firm that receives the entries, vets them for eligibility, and sends them to the jury for reading. The same firm also conducts jury meetings right up to the final decision regarding the winner, while keeping records of each meeting.
From start to finish, each cycle of the JCB Prize has been run meticulously with the jury reading and re-reading all the books — each book has to stand out for the strength of its writing, and in that lies the spirit of inclusivity and transparency.
How has the response been to the prize since its inception?
The prize has had a very warm response, both from the publishing industry and readers across India. Being one of the biggest awards in the contemporary literary space, the prize not only encourages writing but also works towards enhancing the prestige and success of books. Over the past four years we have seen a year-on-year increase of 10-15% in eligible entries on the one hand and a good 600% increase in the people interacting with the listed books on the other.
A few words on the 2021 longlist and shortlist please. Do they reflect the present-day realities, from the pandemic to the political changes India and the world have been going through?
This year’s lists are special — they give credence to the fact that art and creativity will always rise up to face adversity and not only survive but also succeed. Memorable characters, strongly rooted in their sense of place and time, coming from different parts of the country, mirror the present times. Each narrative unfolds a world within itself, asking the reader to feel all the emotions the writer has portrayed. The longlist and shortlist literally span the geographical and cultural boundaries of India.
