Indians dominate DSC Prize Longlist

Works of 13 Indian authors, including a writer duo, figure in the longlist of 16 titles for the 2012 DSC Prize for South Asian Literature announced today.

Manhad Narula, Ira Pande and Surina Narula at the
announcement of the DSC Prize

The longlist for the USD 50,000 award was chosen from 52 entries which were reviewed by a five-member jury comprising chairperson Ira Pande, Alastair Niven (UK), Fakrul Alam (Bangladesh), Faiza S Khan (Pakistan) and Marie Brenner (US).

The longlisted books include an interesting mix of established as well debut novelists, along with three translated entries, the jury said.

Among the prominent Indian authors longlisted for their works are Manu Joseph (Serious Men), Usha K R (Monkey-man), Tabish Khair (The Thing About Thugs) and Kishwar Desai (Witness the Night).

Commenting on the longlist, Pande said, "This list is an interesting mix of 16 titles chosen after a careful consideration of various styles, languages and subject matter. It reflects the best of the South Asian literary tradition - a wide landscape of rural and urban life, intricate rituals of story-telling and an indication of its evolving form.

"This is the East, seen as it is by some of the most promising novelists of Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and India, and as it appears to those who live elsewhere."

Full report here Outlook

DSC Prize 2012 Longlist on Wednesday

India's biggest literary prize in monetary value, the DSC Prize 2012 Longlist will be announced in Delhi on Wednesday, September 14.

The Longlist will be announced by Ira Pande, Chair of the Jury. In the spirit of promoting South Asian writing we will also be presenting a discussion on "The Question of Identity: South Asian Fiction in Perspective" by Namita Gokhale, Tarun Tejpal and Sanjoy Roy.

Pakistani writer HM Naqvi won the big prize last year for his novel, Homeboy.

Review: A Tangled Web

review 

A Tangled Web: Jammu and Kashmir
Ira Pande
HarperCollins India
Rs. 699
Pp 304
ISBN: 9789350291542

About the book:
Founded in the mid-nineteenth century, the state of Jammu and Kashmir brought together areas that are culturally, linguistically and geographically diverse: Jammu, Kashmir, Ladakh, Gilgit–Balkistan and what is now Pakistan Occupied Kashmir. It is in this genesis, perhaps, that the seeds of the current unrest lie. And the key to peace in this volatile region is in an understanding of this diversity. A Tangled Web: Jammu and Kashmir attempts to do that by tracing the journey of the land from being paradise on Earth to a paradise lost.

The essays here familiarize the reader with the conflicting views on history, politics and autonomy pertaining to the region, and examine the various political, cultural, economic and social issues at play. Also included are features that voice the concerns of ordinary men and women who have borne the brunt of decades of unrest; as well as commentaries on the beauty, art and food typical of the area; and photo features that capture the ethereal and unique essence of a troubled Eden.
As analysts and politicians, academics and artists try to make sense of an increasingly volatile situation, A Tangled Web offers an insightful perspective on what is undoubtedly an area of great strategic and geopolitical significance.

Reviews:
Valley of masks Pioneer
The Jammu & Kashmir issue has been with India since Independence. It would be an understatement to say that it is a very complex problem. It has many dimensions — political, economic, regional, ethnic, religious and, most importantly, foreign. Notwithstanding four military invasions by Pakistan and many well-intentioned and not so well-intentioned efforts by the so-called international community and the Indian Government, the problem has not only remained unresolved but, over the period, has only become more complex. The tangle needs to be unravelled and as the title of the book suggests, it is yet another effort to do so. Not an easy task by any means!

It must be said to the credit of the editor, Ira Pande, that she has done the best that could be done given the difficulty of putting together in a book form these many contributions from authors who have their biased views. If the object of the book was to give the reader better understanding of the complexities involved, I am afraid that has not been achieved. Instead, after reading the book, an average reader is likely to become more confused.

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Kashmir’s literary harvest

This year has seen a blossoming of English-language narratives on Kashmir, many from a generation that has never known peace

Last August, as droves of rock-hurling boys and young men rallied on the streets of Srinagar, essayist Pankaj Mishra wrote in The Guardian that “apart from the youth on the streets, there are also those with their noses in books...”, a generation, he wrote, that will soon “make its way into the world with its private traumas. Life under political oppression has begun to yield, in the slow bitter way it does, a rich intellectual and artistic harvest.”

Mishra’s words appear to have been borne out by the minor boom in English-language writing by and about Kashmiris. This includes Sanjay Kak’s anthology, Until my Freedom Has Come, in which the film-maker has compiled writing, mostly from the Internet, produced by Kashmiris last summer. India International Centre chief editor Ira Pande’s A Tangled Web: Jammu & Kashmir is an anthology that seeks to provide fresh ways of looking not just at Kashmir, but Jammu also.

The new crop of Kashmir books is a diverse lot. Published last year was Luv Puri’s scholarly Across the LoC, and soon to follow are My Kashmir, by former civil servant Wajahat Habibullah, and a book of Amit Mehra’s photographs. Also forthcoming are reporter Rahul Pandita’s memoir of growing up as a Hindu in Kashmir, and Sonia Jabbar’s book of reportage from the state.

Likewise, works in translation are beginning to trickle out. Prisoner No. 100, Anjum Zamarud Habib’s jail memoir, was published in translation from Urdu this year. First-time translator Sahba Husain said she has had other offers to translate Urdu works, but passed in favour of writing a non-fiction book based on her activism in Kashmir.

Full report here Mint