Khalid Jawed’s The Paradise of Food, translated into English from Urdu by Baran Farooqi, wins the 2022 JCB Prize for Literature

Congratulations Khalid Jawed and Baran Farooqi! The 2022 #JCBPrize goes to The Paradise of Food @juggernautbooks pic.twitter.com/eM64SNK06W

— The JCB Prize for Literature (@TheJCBPrize) November 19, 2022

The jury consisted of journalist and editor AS Panneerselvan, (Chair); author Amitabha Bagchi; author and academician Rakhee Balaram; translator, historian and academician, J Devika; and author Janice Pariat. Pannerrsalvan said, “Literature is sometimes a window and sometimes a mirror…We get into literary silos, but such prizes help you break them. Such new narratives challenge ideas of what constitutes modern literature. It’s a polyphony that gets due importance due to translation languages, which have no hierarchy among each other. Its intrinsic value is helping people retain hope.”

Mita Kapur, literary director, JCB Prize for Literature said, “There is a wealth of storytelling tradition across India. The JCB Prize for Literature reflects that and is not bound by any one language, creating a level playing field between English and translated works… It has helped us break barriers and create connections with people we can’t talk to.”

Other works in the shortlist announced on October 21 were Tomb of Sand (Penguin Random House India) by Geetanjali Shree, translated from Hindi by Daisy Rockwell; Song of the Soil by Chuden Kabimo (Rachna Books India; FinePrint, Nepal), translated from Nepali by Ajit Baral ; Imaan (Aleph Books) by Manoranjan Byapari, translated from Bengali by Arunava Sinha and Valli (Harper Perennial) by Sheela Tomy, translated from the Malayalam.