2022 International Man Booker Prize

May 30, 2022

Indian writer Geetanjali Shree along with American translator Daisy Rockwell has won the 2022 International Booker Prize for the book titled “Tomb of Sand.” This book has been originally written in Hindi and is the first book in any Indian language to have won this high-profile award. This award recognizes fiction from across the world that has been translated into the English language. This award carries prize money of 50,000-pound ($63,000) which will be split between Rockwell and Shree.

What is the book about?

The original name of the book is “Ret Samadhi.” This book narrates the story of an 80-year-old woman experiencing a deep depression after her husband passes away. Eventually, the lead character overcomes her depression and decides to visit Pakistan to face the past that she left behind during the 1947 partition. The book written by Shree beat five other finalists including Argentina’s Claudia Piñeiro, Polish Nobel literature laureate Olga Tokarczuk, and Bora Chung, a South Korean author to be awarded this prize at a ceremony that was held in London.

What is the International Booker Prize?

The International Booker Prize is awarded annually to a translated work of fiction that has been published in Ireland or the U.K. This award is run alongside the Booker Prize which is awarded for English-language fiction. The prize is one of the two literary awards that is handed out by the Booker Prize Foundation, a charity whose goal is to promote the value and art of literature for the benefit of the public as well as to acknowledge the often-unacknowledged work of the many literary translators. In 2005, the International Booker Prize began with the name Man Booker International Prize and was given biennially till 2015. Since 2016 it is being awarded annually. The prize carries an award of 50,000 pounds that is divided equally between the translator and the author. Also, each shortlisted translator and author also receive 2,500 pounds.

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