Anuradha Roy wins the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature 2016

January, 20, 2016

~ ‘Sleeping on Jupiter’ by Anuradha Roy emerges as the winner from a shortlist of six to take the coveted US $50,000 DSC Prize

Anuradha Roy has been announced as the winner of the prestigious DSC Prize for South Asian Literature 2016 for her novel, Sleeping on Jupiter at the Fairway Galle Literary Festival in Sri Lanka. In a glittering ceremony, the US $50,000 DSC Prize along with a unique trophy was awarded by Hon. Ranil Wickremesinghe, Prime Minister of Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka to the winner.

The six shortlisted authors and novels in contention for the DSC Prize this year were Akhil Sharma: Family Life (Faber & Faber, UK), Anuradha Roy: Sleeping on Jupiter (Hachette, India), K.R. Meera: Hangwoman (Translated by J Devika; Penguin, India), Mirza Waheed: The Book of Gold Leaves (Viking/Penguin India), Neel Mukherjee: The Lives of Others (Vintage/Penguin Random House, UK) and Raj Kamal Jha: She Will Build Him A City (Bloomsbury, India).

Now in its sixth edition, the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature is an established international literary prize that awards the best work in South Asian fiction writing each year. This year the DSC Prize had received 74 entries with participation from publishers from the South Asian region as well as from countries like the UK, US, Canada, Australia and South Africa amongst others. The DSC Prize for South Asian Literature which is specifically focused on South Asian writing is unique in the sense that it is not ethnicity driven in terms of the author’s origin and is open to any author belonging to any part of the globe as long as the work is based on the South Asian region and its people. The past winners have been from various countries and their work has reflected the importance of South Asian culture and literature.

The DSC Prize for South Asian Literature 2016 was judged by a diverse and distinguished five member jury panel comprising eminent figures drawn from the international literary fraternity who have worked in or around South Asian literature and issues. The jury panel comprised of Mark Tully, Chair of the jury panel and renowned journalist who has commentated on a wide range of issues affecting the South Asian region for over four decades; Dennis Walder, Emeritus Professor of Literature at the Open University, UK, who has authored several articles and books on 19th and 20th century literature; Karen Allman, highly respected book seller and literary coordinator based out of Seattle, USA; Neloufer de Mel, Senior Professor of English at the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka, who has written extensively on society, culture and feminism; and Syed Manzoorul Islam, celebrated Bangladeshi writer, translator, critic and academic.

Photo caption: (Above) Ranil Wickremesinghe, Prime Minister of Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka presents the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature 2016 to Anuradha Roy

[caption id="attachment_16623" align="alignnone" width="675"] Surina Narula - MBE & Co-founder of the DSC Prize; Ranil Wickremesinghe - Prime Minister of Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka; Anuradha Roy - Winner of the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature 2016; Karen Allman - Jury Member and Syed Manzoorul Islam[/caption]