New Delhi:
Geetanjali Shree, a Delhi-based Hindi novelist and short-story writer, has won the prestigious 2022 International Booker Prize for her book ‘Tomb of Sand.’
It is the first Hindi-language book to win the award. The book was first published in Hindi as ‘Ret Samadhi’ (Rajkamal Prakashan) and has been translated into English by American writer-translator Daisy Rockwell into ‘Tomb of Sand’ (Penguin Random House India).
“This is a bolt from the blue, but what a nice one. I never dreamt of the Booker, I never thought I could. What a huge recognition, I’m amazed, delighted, honoured and humbled,” says the author, who was in disbelief during her acceptance speech,
“There is a melancholy satisfaction in the award going to it. ‘Ret Samadhi/Tomb of Sand’ is an elegy for the world we inhabit, a laughing elegy that retains hope in the face of impending doom. The Booker will surely take it to many more people than it would have reached otherwise, that should do the book no harm.”
The book revolves around the story of an 80-year-old north Indian woman who goes into a depression after her husband dies, but eventually recovers from her depression and insists on travelling to Pakistan to confront the unresolved trauma during the partition.
Geetanjali will be awarded 50,000 pounds, which will be shared between the author and translator.