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The Hindi novel Tomb of Sand, by author Geetanjali Shree, has won the coveted International Booker Prize, making it the first book in any Indian language to do so. As she took her prize, worth GBP 50,000 and split with the book’s English translator, Daisy Rockwell, at a ceremony in London on Thursday, the New Delhi-based writer said she was absolutely overwhelmed by the “bolt from the blue.”
The novel Tomb of Sand, originally titled Ret Samadhi, is set in northern India and follows an 80-year-old woman in a story described by the Booker judges as a “joyous cacophony” and a “irresistible novel.” I never imagined myself winning the Booker, and I never imagined myself capable of it. In her acceptance speech, Shree expressed her gratitude by saying, “I’m amazed, happy, honoured, and humbled.” The honour that has been given to it has a bittersweet satisfaction. Ret Samadhi/Tomb of Sand’ is an elegy for the world we live in, a lingering spirit that maintains hope despite coming disaster. The Booker will undoubtedly reach a far larger audience than it would have otherwise, and she believes this will benefit the book.
The 64-year-old novelist expressed his delight at being the first work of fiction in Hindi to enter the Booker shortlist, saying, “It feels fantastic to be the means of that occurring.” But there is a vast and thriving literary legacy in Hindi and other South Asian languages that lays behind me and this work. Knowing some of the finest writers in these languages can enrich world literature. According to her, such an engagement will expand one’s life vocabulary.
We are delighted to announce that the winner of the #2022InternationalBooker Prize is ‘Tomb of Sand’ by Geetanjali Shree, translated from Hindi to English by @shreedaisy and published by @tiltedaxispress@Terribleman @JeremyTiang @mervatim @VascoDaGappah @VivGroskop pic.twitter.com/TqUTew0Aem
— The Booker Prizes (@TheBookerPrizes) May 26, 2022
Rockwell, a Vermont-based painter, writer, and translator, joined her on stage to accept her award for translating the novel, which she characterised as “a love letter to the Hindi language.” According to Frank Wynne, chair of the judging panel, “we were taken by the strength, the poignancy, and the lightness of Tomb of Sand,” Geetanjali Shree’s polyphonic novel of identity and belonging, in Daisy Rockwell’s exuberant, coruscating translation.”
He commented that this is a magnificent story about India and divide, but one that combines youth and age, male and female, family and nation into a colourful whole. Ma, the book’s 80-year-old protagonist, goes to Pakistan, much to her family’s dismay, to confront the unresolved sorrow of her childhood Partition memories while also re-evaluating what it means to be a mother, a daughter, a woman, and a feminist.
The Booker jury was impressed that, rather than taking tragedy seriously, Shree’s playful tone and exuberant wordplay produce a book that is engaging, funny, and completely unique, while also being an urgent and timely protest against the destructive effects of borders and boundaries, whether between religions, countries, or genders. Shree, who was born in Mainpuri and has written three novels and various story collections, has had her work translated into English, French, German, Serbian, and Korean.
Tilted Axis Press will release Tomb of Sand in English in August 2021, after it was initially released in Hindi in 2018. Bora Chung’s ‘Cursed Bunny’ was translated from Korean by Anton Hur. The six books were A New Name: Septology VI-VII’ by Jon Fosse, translated from Norwegian by Damion Searls; Heaven’ by Mieko Kawakami, translated from Japanese by Samuel Bett and David Boyd; Elena Knows’ by Claudia Pieiro, translated from Spanish by Frances Riddle; and The Books of Jacob’ by Olga Tokarczuk, translated from Polish by Jennifer Croft.
For the first time in 2022, all shortlisted authors and translators will each get GBP 2,500, up from GBP 1,000 in prior years, increasing the total award value to GBP 80,000. The international prize, which is awarded every year in addition to the Booker Prize for Fiction, is given for a single book that has been translated into English and published in the United Kingdom or Ireland.
