JCB Prize 2019 Shortlist Press Conference

In a press conference at Oxford Bookstore in New Delhi, Literary Director of JCB Prize, Rana Dasgupta and chairperson of the 2019 JCB Prize jury, Pradip Krishen announced the shortlisted books for the JCB Prize for Literature 2019. The longlist, which was announced on September 4 in Mumbai was chosen from a vast range of submissions by writers in 14 states writing in six languages (Bengali, English, Hindi, Kannada, Tamil, and Telugu).

This year, the longlist was dominated by debut authors. The shortlist comprises of two debut authors- Roshan Ali and Madhuri Vijay. Making it to the shortlist for the second time is Perumal Murugan with his twin novels. Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar makes it for his second title while Manoranjan Byapari makes it to the shortlist with his first fiction book to be translated in English.

The shortlist was selected by a jury comprising of – filmmaker and environmentalist ​Pradip Krishen​ (chair), author and critic Anjum Hasan​, author ​KR Meera​, author ​Parvati Sharma, and economist and former Chief Economic Adviser to the Government of India ​Arvind Subramanian​.

The 2019 shortlist: 

• Ib’s Endless Search for Satisfaction ​by Roshan Ali (Penguin Random House India, 2019).
• There’s Gunpowder in the Air by Manoranjan Byapari, translated from the Bengali by Arunava Sinha  (Westland Publications, 2018).
• Trial by Silence ​and ​Lonely Harvest ​by Perumal Murugan, translated from the Tamil by Aniruddhan Vasudevan (Penguin Random House India, 2018).
• My Father’s Garden ​by Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar (Speaking Tiger Publishing Private Limited, 2018).
• The Far Field by Madhuri Vijay (HarperCollins India, 2019).

Talking about the shortlist, the chair of the 2019 jury, Pradip Krishen, said, ““Bringing voices from across the country, these novels address the many specific difficulties of living a life in Indian society. With a  combination of lyricism and humour, the five novelists portray characters who are at odds with their – very different – worlds.”

Rana Dasgupta, the Literary Director​ of the awards,​ added: “These five books transport us to very different parts of  India, and give us access to very different kinds of life. Each of them is imbued by the spirit of its moment, which is perhaps why the shortlist has such an unsettled, turbulent flavour. But literature contains wisdom too, and the deep sense of justice in these books reminds us why, whatever our reality, we continue to care, hope and strive.”

Each of the shortlisted writers will get ₹1 lakh. If a shortlisted work is a translation, the translator will receive ₹50,000. The winner of the prize will receive​ ₹25 lakh. If the winning work is a translation, the translator will get ₹10 lakh.

Last year, the JCB Prize for Literature was awarded to Jasmine Days by Benyamin, translated from Malayalam by Shahnaz Habib.

Here’s the jury’s rundown of the books that made the 2019 shortlist.

• Ib’s Endless Search for Satisfaction ​by Roshan Ali

Ib is a strange young man who is alienated by the rhythms of modern life and finds little in his circumstances that is worth redemption. Stuck between his mentally ill father, timid mother, and a domineering grandfather who intends to push Ib into a life of convention, Ib retreats to his imagination. As he drops out of college, follows a wise man to the Himalayas, and spends an inordinate amount of time in his favourite pub, he tries to make sense of the world around him.

This is Roshan Ali’s debut novel. Powered by the rhythmic influences of Saul Bellow, this novel is a wry look at Ib’s nihilistic tendencies and the lies we tell ourselves to navigate contemporary life.

• There’s Gunpowder in the Air ​by Manoranjan Byapari, translated from Bengali by Arunava Sinha
  (Westland Publications, 2018) 

The only thorn in the flesh of newly appointed jailer Bireshwar Mukherjee, a formidable man with a  spotless twenty-five-year record are the inhabitants of Cell No. 12, the prison within a prison, which houses five Naxals, —  fiery young men dedicated to demolishing class society. When Bhagoban “Bhogai” Sardar, a thief who has committed a petty crime, returns to jail, where he feels at home, Bireshwar Mukherjee has an idea. Bhagoban will secretly function as his pair of eyes on the inmates of Cell No. 12 and detect their nefarious plans. Slowly, however, Bhagoban gets drawn to the empathy of these strange young men. As the Naxals plan a daring escape that will either win them freedom or cost them their lives, he has to make a decision about a purpose that’s bigger than him.  

Published in 2013 as​ Batashe Baruder Gondho in Bangla,​Gunpowder in the Air is a darkly comic indictment of the Indian prison system as well as a deeply empathetic historical document of Naxalism in West Bengal. 

• The Lonely Harvest by Perumal Murugan​ and Trial by Silence by Perumal Murugan. Both novels translated from Tamil by Aniruddhan Vasudevan
  (Penguin Random House India, 2018)

At the end of Perumal Murugan’s trailblazing novel​ One Part Woman ​ , readers are left on a cliffhanger as  Kali and Ponna’s intense love for each other is torn to shreds. What is going to happen next to this beloved couple?

In​ A Lonely Harvest ​ –— one of two inventive sequels that picks up the story right where​ One Part Woman ends –—  Ponna returns from the temple festival to find that Kali has killed himself in despair. Devastated that he would punish her so cruelly, but constantly haunted by memories of the happiness she once shared with Kali, Ponna must now learn to face the world alone.  

In ​Trial by Silence, the other sequel, ​Kali is determined to punish Ponna for what he believes is an absolute betrayal. But Ponna is equally upset at being forced to atone for something that was not her fault. In the wake of the temple festival, both must now confront harsh new uncertainties in their once idyllic life together. 

• My Father’s Garden ​by​ ​Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar
  (Speaking Tiger Publishing Private Limited, 2018)

The novel, narrated in the first person by an unnamed medical student and doctor by an unnamed medical student and doctor, is divided into three sections. The opening section, ‘“Lover’”, finds him studying medicine in Jamshedpur. After a string of affairs, he discovers an all-consuming, unrequited passion for Samir, a junior at the college. In ‘“Friend’”, the young doctor, escaping heartbreak, finds relief in Pakur where he meets Bada Babu only to uncover a sordid tale of apathy and exploitation. And in ‘“Father’”, he takes refuge in his parents’ home in Ghatshila and wonders if his father’s obsessive gardening has anything to do with the choices his son has made.

• The Far Field ​ by Madhuri Vijay
  (HarperCollins India, 2019)

In the wake of her mother’s death, Shalini, a privileged and restless young woman from Bengaluru, sets out for a remote Himalayan village in the troubled northern region of Kashmir. Certain that the loss of her mother is somehow connected to the decade-old disappearance of Bashir Ahmed, a charming Kashmiri salesman who frequented her childhood home, she is determined to confront him. But upon her arrival, Shalini is brought face to face with Kashmir’s politics, as well as the tangled history of the local family that takes her in. Soon, all the novel’s characters — Riyaz, Amina, Bashir Ahmed, Shalini’s father — arrive at a moment of crisis and decision, where they must change something vital about their lives or perish. In the end, Shalini herself is forced to make a series of choices that could hold dangerous repercussions for the very people she has come to love.