India’s most expensive literary award, JCB Prize for Literature, discontinued

The news comes after the cancellation of the JCB Literature Foundation’s licence “issued to it under section 8(5) of the companies Act, 2013”. According to a notice, dated March 12, on the JCB Prize website, the foundation had sent an application to the Registrar of companies, Delhi & Haryana at Delhi for revocation of the licence. “The company will be required to add the word ‘Private Limited’ to its name in place of ‘Foundation’,” the notice said. The literary award was given by the ‘foundation’, which was established with the purpose of promoting “the art of literature in India”.

Established in 2018, the JCB Prize for Literature, besides carrying a hefty cash prize, was a pioneer in celebrating Indian fiction, particularly translations. Out of the seven editions, the prize went to works of translations five times — ‘Jasmine Days’ by Benyamin in 2018, translated from Malayalam by Shahnaz Habib; ‘Moustache’ by S Hareesh in 2020, translated from Malayalam by Jayasree Kalathil; ‘Delhi: A Soliloquy’ by M Mukundan in 2021, translated from Malayalam by Fathima EV and Nandakumar K; ‘The Paradise of Food’ in 2022 by Khalid Jawed, translated from Urdu by Baran Farooqui and ‘Fire Bird’ by Perumal Murugan in 2023, translated from Tamil by Janani Kannan. The 2019 awardee was ‘The Far Field’ by Madhuri Vijay.

Murugan, who waited half a decade before winning the prize — he was on the JCB shortlist in 2018 for ‘Poonachi’ and then 2019 for ‘A Lonely Harvest’ and ‘Trial by Silence’— said he was saddened by the news. “It is sad for Indian literature, especially in Indian languages. The JCB Prize celebrated Indian languages and awarded works of translations. It was a huge award. Besides giving Rs 25 lakh to the writer, the translator also received Rs 10 lakh. They clearly considered Indian languages important. Malayalam works have won twice and Tamil and Urdu once,” said the writer, who is best known for his novel ‘Madhorubhagan’, translated in English as ‘One Part Woman’.

When Mukundan found out about the news, he was hoping that it would be a hoax. Thanks to the JCB Prize for Literature, he said, regional writers were able to “transcend the borders of languages”. “Earlier, we were only regional writers. The award made us Indian writers. Its discontinuation is the saddest thing to happen. Before it, those writing in regional languages were sidelined. Only those writing in English were considered Indian. Salman Rushdie’s anthology of Indian writing (‘Mirrorwork: 50 Years of Indian Writing, 1947-1997’; published in 1997) did not have a single regional name. All were writers in English. Regional writers benefited the most from this award,” he said.

Jawed, the 2022 winner of the prize and a professor of Urdu at Delhi’s Jamia Millia Islamia, has urged for a review of this decision to shut down the award. “This is a great loss to Indian writing and translating because the recognition a writer gains by JCB prize is an incredible achievement indeed among world writers. Otherwise, Indian writing would have been invisible in the sphere of world literature. I think this decision must be reviewed with regard to the socio-political scenario of India and politics of language prevalent in India,” he said.

The JCB Prize for Literature was arguably the most captivating annual literary awards in the country. “It’s been one of the highlights of the year ever since it was set up and having a book on the list was something we celebrated. Both Rana (Dasgupta, founding literary director of the prize) and Mita brought so much thought and planning to it year after year, assembling excellent juries and driving publicity for the books,” says Karthika VK of Westland that published Mukundan’s 2021 winning entry under the imprint Eka.

While for established writers like Chatterjee, it was an addition to the long list of accolades, for Murugan and Mukundan — renowned among regional audiences — the award made their stories accessible to national and international readers. It was, however, equally significant in the way it brought lesser-known and new Indian writers — both in English and other languages — to the forefront, through a comprehensive longlist of 10 books put out by an accomplished jury that has had names such as Deepa Mehta (film director), Vivek Shanbagh (novelist and playwright), Pradip Krishen (filmmaker and environmentalist), Arvind Subramanian (economist), Janice Pariat (author) and J Devika (historian and translator). Writers like Manoranjan Byapari, Sahara Nusaiba Kannanari, Sandhya Mary, Manoj Rupda, Sheela Tomy, Daribha Lyndem and Dharini Bhaskar were put on India’s literary map simply by virtue of being shortlisted for the award.

“The award inspired better writing in regional languages and we had something to look forward to every year. Now we will be back to being regional writers,” rued Mukundan.