The much anticipated longlist for the US $25,000 DSC Prize for South Asian Literature 2018 was announced by eminent historian and academic Rudrangshu Mukherjee, who is the chair of the jury panel for the distinguished prize.
The longlist of 16 novels which was unveiled at the Oxford Bookstore in New Delhi includes four translated works from Assamese, Kannada, Tamil and Hindi. The longlist features six women authors and three women translators. Two outstanding debut novels also find place alongside the works of several established writers.
The longlist represents the best of South Asian fiction writing of the last year and includes submissions from a diverse mix of publishers and authors of different backgrounds writing on a wide range of issues and themes.
The novels include stunning portrayals of migration, war and the pain of displacement, poignant love stories, the exploration of new found relationships and identities, and vivification of the personal struggles, hopes and aspirations that symbolize the urgent and divisive realities of contemporary South Asian life.
This year the DSC Prize, administered by the South Asian Literature Prize & Events Trust, received 88 eligible entries and the five member international jury panel diligently went through these entries to arrive at this year’s longlist of 16 novels which they feel represent the best works of fiction related to the South Asian region.
Speaking on the occasion, Mukherjee, Chair of the jury commented, “It gives me enormous pleasure to announce this longlist of 16 works of fiction for the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature 2018. My fellow jurors and I read through over 80 works of fiction and then arrived at this list of 16 which we will further prune to prepare a shortlist and then finally a winner. “
The jury will now deliberate on the longlist over the next month and the shortlist of five or six books for the DSC Prize 2018 will be announced on November 14 at the London School of Economics & Political Science (LSE) in London. Thereafter the jury would meet once again to arrive at the final winner that would be announced at a special Award Ceremony to be hosted in a South Asian city.
