Indian author Geetanjali Shree has won the prestigious International Booker Prize for her Hindi novel Ret Samadhi , translated into English as Tomb of Sand by Daisy Rockwell.
The Mainpuri-born, 65-year-old Ms. Shree follows in the footsteps of Indian-origin author Salman Rushdie, Kiran Desai, Arundhati Roy and Arvind Adiga to win the international honour. The book was chosen among 135 longlisted ones. The Hindi original was published in 2018 while the English translation hit the stores in India in March this year.
“This rather chunky text,” as Ms. Rockwell said at the award ceremony, “is the first time the translation of a Hindi language book had been nominated for the award”.
“Shortlisting from 135 books was daunting. Choosing a single one from them has been agonising,” as the compere said before the announcement.
Shortly before the award ceremony in London, Ms. Shree, who has four other novels under her belt, told the media, “The plot challenges the boundaries of time and geography. It is recognition of a very special kind.”
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