SheThePeople Women Writer's Prize longlist announced
New Delhi: Twelve novels, including four translated works, have made it to the longlist of the inaugural SheThePeople Women Writer's Prize.
Among the longlisted books are "A Death in Shonagachhi" (Rijula Das), "A Mirror Made of Rain" (Naheed Phiroze Patel), "Sisterhood of Swans" (Selma Carvalho), "The Begum and the Dastan" (Tarana Husain Khan), "The Blind Matriarch" (Namita Gokhale), "The Illuminated (Anindita Ghose), "The Women Who Forgot to Invent Facebook and Other Stories" (Nisha Susan) and "What We Know About Her" (Krupa Ge).
The works of translation that figure in the list are "A Red-Necked Green Bird" (Ambai, translator GJV Prasad), "Baby Doll: Stories" (Gracy, translator Fathima EV), "Budhini" (Sarah Joseph, translator Sangeetha Sreenivasan), and "The Loneliness of Hira Barua" (Arupa Patangia Kalita, translator Ranjita Biswas).
The award carries prize money of Rs 50,000. In case of translated work, the award money will be shared equally between the writer and translator.
The shortlist will be out later this month and the winner will be announced in March.
Instituted by New Delhi-based women's platform SheThePeople, novels and short story collections having female protagonists and written by Indian women writers residing in India are eligible for the prize.
Selected by a discerning jury of Preeti Gill, G Sampath and Lakshmi Subodh, the longlist reflects individualistic interpretations of the times we live in, prize mentor Shashi Deshpande said.
On the significance of the award, prize founder Shaili Chopra said, "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."
According to the curator of the prize, Shinie Antony, "The longlist makes for an absolute must-read. These are compelling narratives, written and translated with the warmest authenticity.
