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'JCB Prize for Literature' announces its most diverse shortlist in its 5th year_我的网站

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一 | Kolkata, Oct 22 (UNI) In its 5th year, the JCB Prize for Literature Saturday announced its 2022 Shortlist at the Glenburn Penthouse, Kolkata in an intimate gathering of authors, translators and the literary community of the city.

The JCB Prize for Literature is presented each year to a distinguished work of fiction by an Indian author, as selected by the jury.

The Jury Chair, AS Panneerselvan, unveiled the Shortlist at the Kolkata event. The shortlisted novels are translations from five different languages including Urdu, Hindi, Bangla, Malayalam and Nepali, with 2 debut novelists on the list. Following the unveiling, Jayant Kriplani, Paramita Saha and Sandip Roy read passages from the shortlisted titles.

The shortlisted novels are:

1. Imaan by Manoranjan Byapari, translated from the Bengali by Arunava Sinha (Eka)

2. The Paradise of Food by Khalid Jawed, translated from the Urdu by Baran Farooqi (Juggernaut)

3. Valli by Sheela Tomy, translated from the Malayalam by Jayasree Kalathil (Harper Perennial)

4. Tomb of Sand by Geetanjali Shree, translated from the Hindi by Daisy Rockwell (Penguin Random House India)

5. Song of the Soil by Chuden Kabimo, translated from the Nepali by Ajit Baral (Rachna Books)

Commenting on the shortlist, the chair of jury 2022, AS Panneerselvan said “Judging literature is a challenge. From exploring new content and deploying various literary devices, authors constantly try to push the boundary. Every step is crucial and every innovation is precious. However, when the final evaluation happened, these wonders of the mind gave space to the power of the heart, where empathy became the criteria for creating the shortlist. All the novels in the shortlist exemplify the idea of empathy, concern for fellow humans, and in a sense a worldview in which the head does not subsume the heart.”

The JCB Prize titles are present across bookstores in the country and is also available in an online store on Amazon. Pragya Sharma, Director, Media Business, Amazon India said, “We at Amazon are delighted to be associated with the JCB Prize for Literature since its inception. Together, we are committed to nurturing the passion for reading in the country. India is home to many different languages and diverse cultures that produce a plethora of high-quality literature. The JCB Prize has consistently, over the last 5 years, been a trustworthy & prestigious source for recognizing these distinguished works of fiction by Indian writers and Amazon India is excited to bring these gems to readers across the country and beyond.”

With the winner to be decided next month, Mita Kapur, Literary Director, said, "The fact that in the 5th year of the JCB Prize for Literature we have the most diverse shortlist yet, fills us with hope. This is a list that brings forth the many Indians across time and geography. This is truly representative of the spectrum of languages, authors and publishers that make up our industry, but most of all it represents the quality of excellent writing that India has to offer."

Talking about the prize, each of the five shortlisted authors will receive Rs 1 lakh; and if a shortlisted work is a translation, the translator will receive an additional Rs 50,000. The winner of the Rs 25 lakh JCB Prize for Literature will be announced on November 19, 2022. If the winning work is a translation, the translator will receive an additional Rs 10 lakh.

Shortlisted books: Jury comments, Synopses and Author Biographies:

Imaan: Manoranjan Byapari, translated by Arunava Sinha (Eka)

The Jury says: Imaan is a completely novel iteration of the humanist tradition of Bengali literature. It presents a vivid portrait of people from the periphery but is neither voyeuristic nor patronising. Each character has agency no matter how circumscribed their life may be. A raw, deeply authentic and honest story which is also well-paced, poignant and eloquent.

Synopsis: Imaan entered Central Jail as an infant—in the arms of Zahura Bibi, his mother, who was charged with the murder of his father and who died when he was six. He left twenty years later, having spent his time thus far shuttling between a juvenile home and prison. With no home to return to, Imaan ends up at the Jadavpur railway station, becoming a ragpicker on the advice of a consummate pickpocket. The folk of the railside—rickshaw-pullers, scrap dealers, tea-stall owners, those who sell corpses for a little bit of money—welcome him into their fold, but the world of the free still baffles him. Life on the platform is disillusioning and far more frightening than the jail he knew so well. This free world too is a prison, like the one he came from, only disconcertingly large. But no one went hungry in jail. And everyone had a roof over their heads. Unable to cope in this odd world, Imaan wishes to return to the security of a prison cell. He is told that, while there is only one door out of prison, there are a thousand through which to return. Imaan—whose name means honesty, conscience—is he up to the task? Written in Manoranjan Byapari’s inimitable style, where irony and wry humour are never too far from bitter truths, this new novel is a searing exploration of the lives of the faceless millions who get by in our towns and cities, making it through one day at a time.

Author: Manoranjan Byapari was born in the mid-fifties in Barishal. After he migrated to West Bengal at the age of three, he lived in two refugee camps before he moved away at the age of fourteen to work. At twenty-four, he became politically active with the Naxals after meeting famous labour activist Shankar Guha Niyogi. It was in prison that Byapari taught himself to read and write. Later, when he was working as a rickshaw puller, he had a chance encounter with Mahasweta Devi who asked him to contribute to her journal Bartika. He has since then published eight novels, four volumes of memoirs and over fifty short stories. His essay Is there Dalit writing in Bangla which was translated into English by Meenakshi Mukerjee for Economic and Political Weekly launched him into mainstream prominence. He worked until recently as a cook with the Helen Keller Institute for the Deaf and Blind in West Bengal.

He won the 2019 Hindu Prize For Non-Fiction for his biography Itibritte Chandal Jiban translated into English as Interrogating My Chandal Life: An Autobiography of a Dalit.

Translator: Arunava Sinha translates Bengali fiction and nonfiction into English. Fifty-one of his translations have been published so far. Twice the winner of the Crossword translation award for Sankar’s Chowringhee (2007) and Anita Agnihotri’s Seventeen (2011), respectively, he has also won the Muse India translation award (2013) for Buddhadeva Bose’s When The Time Is Right. He has been nominated for the Independent Foreign Fiction prize and the Best Translated Book award in the US. He is a recipient of an English PEN translation grant for Sangeeta Bandyopadhyay's The Yogini. Besides India, his translations have been published in the UK, the US, and in several European and Asian countries. He has conducted workshops at the British Centre for Literary Translation, UEA; University of Chicago; Dhaka Translation Centre; and Jadavpur University. He is an associate professor of practice in the Creative Writing department at Ashoka University.

UNI SY。

9月12日0时至24时，31个省（自治区、直辖市）和新疆生产建设兵团报告新增本土确诊病例188例，含39例由无症状感染者转为确诊病例。新增本土无症状感染者727例。成都新增病例已降至50例以下9月13日下午，据成都市举行的疫情防控工作新闻发布会介绍，9月12日0时至24时，成都新增本土确诊病例18例，另有11例既往通报的无症状感染者转确诊，新增本土无症状感染者26例。成都新增感染者人数自8月26日开始呈现上升趋势，8月29日到达峰值后逐步下降，从9月8日开始每日新增病例都在100例以下，近两天新增病例已降至50例以下，疫情形势整体向好。发布会表示，9月6日成都发布社会面清零攻坚行动通告，实行分区分类分级管理。成都市社会面清零攻坚行动稳步推进，青白江、新津、都江堰、彭州、邛崃、崇州、大邑7个区（市）县作为第一批次于9月7日恢复了正常生产生活秩序；之后，又先后根据疫情形势，成都东部新区、温江区、蒲江县，四川天府新区、成都高新区西区、郫都区（不含团结街道）、简阳市、金堂县也逐步恢复了正常生产生活秩序。从9月1日以来，成都已顺利进行11轮全员核酸检测。总体来看，虽然成都目前新增报告病例数呈波动下降趋势，但每日仍有社会面检出病例，全市防控措施仍不能松懈。发布会介绍，本轮疫情自8月29日以来，每日新增病例不断下降，总体疫情形势向好发展。贵阳新增感染者人数仍处高位9月13日，据贵阳贵安新冠肺炎疫情防控新闻发布会介绍，9月12日0时至24时，贵阳全市新增新冠肺炎无症状感染者118例，累计报告确诊病例16例，无症状感染者475例，已解除医学隔离观察8例。当前，贵阳市新增新冠肺炎阳性感染者人数还处在高位运行，疫情防控形势依然严峻复杂，正处在吃劲的关键时期。为严防疫情传播，切实保障在校人员健康安全，9月12日，乌当区将贵阳乐湾国际实验学校在校学生全部转运至贵州饭店、世纪金源酒店进行集中隔离健康监测，校内其他相关人员，在乌当区隔离酒店进行集中隔离健康监测，所有人员安全顺利进入酒店。三亚解除部分片区临时静态管理9月13日，据三亚市新型冠状病毒肺炎疫情防控工作指挥部新闻发布会介绍，9月12日0时至24时，三亚新增阳性感染者1例，为无症状感染者且在隔离管控中发现，社会面未发现阳性感染者。自9月5日起，已连续8天未在社会面发现阳性感染者，每日新增感染者数量均为个位数，疫情已经得到有效控制。9月13日，三亚市新型冠状病毒肺炎疫情防控工作指挥部发布通告，自2022年9月13日12时起，解除中心城区内部分片区临时静态管理。

二 | 在管控措施上，恢复农业等生产活动，开放超市、商场、理发店、餐馆（不开放堂食）等经营场所，开放室外公共场所，准予快递、外卖运营，私家车、出租车、网约车等正常通行。暂不开放影院、酒吧、KTV、网吧、棋牌室等室内密闭经营场所，暂不开放农贸市场，暂不开放渔业生产。保留社区（村、居）进出卡口，人员凭48小时内核酸阴性证明、扫地点码、测温在片区内通行。人员、车辆不出三亚、不跨片区。三河市昨日开展为期4天静默管理9月13日，三河市应对新型冠状病毒感染的肺炎疫情防控工作领导小组办公室发布通告，2022年9月13日6时起，对三河全域开展为期4天的静默管理，并连续开展4轮全员核酸检测。通告称，保持区域相对静止。

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四 | 做到非必要不流动。

五 | 全市实行静默管理，各村街、居民小区只保留1个出入口，由村委会（社区）和责任单位实行24小时值班值守，居民除特殊情况外一律不得外出，确有应急就医需求的，可及时联系所在村街（社区）。各级机关事业单位、医疗机构除承担疫情防控任务的人员外，其他人员一律居家办公。暂停有关经营活动。全市除民生保障、物资保供等维护社会基本运行和核心功能的单位外，其他经营场所一律暂停开放或经营。大庆近3日新增病例数逐渐下降9月13日，据大庆市政府新闻办疫情防控新闻发布会介绍，9月12日0时至24时，大庆市新增本土无症状感染者18例，当日治愈出院和解除医学观察89例。

六 | 大庆市近3日新增病例数逐渐下降。对于近期大庆高校学生何时能够返校的问题，发布会介绍，当前，大庆市疫情防控形势严峻复杂，萨尔图区（高新区）、让胡路区、龙凤区目前仍实施静态管理措施。随着高校陆续开学，部分学生需要离庆返校入学。省、市指挥部高度重视学生离庆返校工作，安排教育部门成立工作专班，开通服务热线，及时掌握学生需求情况，对主城区大学生居住地分布、就读省内外高校情况进行排查统计，积极与省教育厅、省内外各高校对接，了解掌握学生返校地疫情防控相关政策和入学要求。