3 min readApr 11, 2023 05:58 PM IST
First published on: Apr 11, 2023 at 05:58 PM IST
The JCB Prize for Literature, one of the most coveted fiction awards in India, has announced the jury for its sixth edition in 2023: Srinath Perur, chair, author and translator; Mahesh Dattani, playwright, and stage director; Somak Ghoshal, critic and learning designer; Kavery Nambisan, author and surgeon; and Swati Thiyagarajan, conservation journalist and filmmaker. The longlist of 10 books will be announced in September, the shortlist of five in October, and the winner in November. The winning author will be awarded Rs 25 lakh (and the translator Rs 10 lakh, if applicable) and each shortlisted author will be awarded Rs one lakh (and the translator Rs 50,000, if applicable).
Mita Kapur, Literary Director of the JCB Prize for Literature, said, “Last year… was the first time our jury put forth a shortlist that were all translations. India speaks and reads in so many languages, and the books that are submitted for the JCB Prize are a true representation of the many Indias that reside within one. The 2023 jury brings together immense experience from a diverse range of backgrounds, languages, artforms and mediums of expression.”
The Paradise of Food (Source: JCB Prize)
Perur said, “[This jury] represents an opportunity to celebrate books that speak to our times, and bring to notice books that may have been unfairly overlooked. I particularly appreciate the Prize’s efforts at encouraging publishers to send in translations. It ensures that the field truly represents the range of Indian novels brought out in English over the past year.”
Last year’s winner, Khalid Jawed’s Paradise of Food (Rs 799, Juggernaut Books), translated by Baran Farooqi, was an unorthodox examination of the power and family dynamics that congregate in a kitchen, upending its conventional depiction as a site of love and bonding in favour of the violence, disgust and rot that hangs like a miasma over vegetables that can go bad, meat that was once living, and cooking tools that can double as murder weapons.
Previous winners include Jasmine Days by Benyamin, translated from the Malayalam by Shahnaz Habib (2018); The Far Field by Madhuri Vijay (2019); Moustache by S. Hareesh, translated from the Malayalam by Jayasree Kalathil (2020); Delhi: A Soliloquy by M.Mukundan, translated from the Malayalam by Fathima E.V. and Nandakumar K. (2021).
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(Left to Right) Kavery Nambisan, Mahesh Dattani, Srinath Perur, Swati Thiyagarajan and Somak Ghoshal (Source: JCB Prize) 
The Paradise of Food (Source: JCB Prize)
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