2023 JCB Prize for Literature longlist: Four translations, three debut novels

The 2023 JCB Prize for Literature announced its longlist of ten books on Saturday. Now in its sixth year, the winning author and translator (where applicable) will win a cash prize of Rs 25 lakh and Rs 10 lakh respectively. The shortlist will be announced on October 20.

This year, there are four translations – from Bengali, Hindi, and Tamil – and six books originally written in English. Authors Manoranjan Byapari and Perumal Murugan whose works have been longlisted twice for the Prize, feature for the third time. Author Tanuj Solanki is on the longlist for the second time. Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar, who was longlisted for the Prize as an author in the past, is longlisted as a translator for Hindi writer Manoj Rupda’s book. This is Hansda’s first-ever work of translation. Hindi writer Geet Chaturvedi’s debut novel in translation joins the list – Anita Gopalan, the translator, is also in the longlist for the first time. Debut authors Tejaswini Apte-Rahm and Bikram Sharma are also on the longlist.

Here is the longlist:

1. The Secret of More, Tejaswini Apte-Rahm (Aleph Book Company)

2. The Nemesis, Manoranjan Byapari, translated from the Bengali by V Ramaswamy (Westland Books)

3. The East Indian, Brinda Charry (HarperCollins India)

4. Simsim, Geet Chaturvedi, translated from the Hindi by Anita Gopalan (Penguin Random House India)

5. Fire Bird, Perumal Murugan, translated from the Tamil by Janani Kannan (Penguin Random House India)

6. Everything the Light Touches, Janice Pariat (HarperCollins India)

7. Mansur, Vikramjit Ram (Pan Macmillan India)

8. I Named my Sister Silence, Manoj Rupda, translated from the Hindi by Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar (Westland Book)

9. The Colony of Shadows, Bikram Sharma (Hachette India)

10. Manjhi’s Mayhem, Tanuj Solanki (Penguin Random House India)

The jury comprises author and translator Srinath Perur (Chair); playwright and stage director Mahesh Dattani; author, critic and learning designer Somak Ghoshal; author and surgeon Kavery Nambisan; and journalist and filmmaker Swati Thiyagarajan. While talking about the 2023 longlist, Srinath Perur, said, “...Given the quality of the entries, it felt like we could easily have come up with a solid second longlist. [...]Taken together they represent a fine sampling of the breadth and quality of Indian novels published in English over the last year”.