Anuradha Roy wins the DSC Prize for 'Sleeping on Jupiter'
The announcement of the winner of the much coveted DSC prize for South Asian Literature was announced in Sri Lanka at the Fairway Galle Literary Festival (FGLF) on January 16 at Hall De Galle. At the ceremony, co-founder of the DSC prize, Surina Narula said that she has ‘fallen in love with South Asia’ and that it was her son’s idea that brought about this prize.
The jury panel consisted of Mark Tully, Dennis Walder, Karen Allman, Neloufer de Mel and Syed Manzoorul Islam. Chair of the jury, Mark Tully said “it has been a team effort, a huge pleasure, a huge responsibility and a huge honour to work with such exceptional colleagues. Picking the winner was – if you were a betting man – a neck to neck decision!”
Chief Guest, Honourable Prime Minister, Mr. Ranil Wickramasinghe expressed that it is ‘great to have the GLF back on its feet again’ and that ‘the SAARC members must also take the initiative to organize such awards like this’.
The shortlisted novels for this award were; ‘Family Life’ by Akhil Sharma, ‘Sleeping on Jupiter’ by Anuradha Roy, ‘Hangwoman’ by KR Meera, ‘The Book of Gold Leaves’ by Mirza Waheed, ‘The Lives of Others’ by Neel Mukherjee and ‘She will Build Him a City’ by Raj Kamal Jha.
The winner, Anuradha Roy, said she was ‘stunned’ and joked that she ‘never wins things’ but is always just shortlisted. “I really truly didn’t expect it so when he announced my name I was feeling flabbergasted. I’m really grateful for people like my husband, who is one of my readers, and also my publishers. You need quite a lot of faith because the author always feels uncertain and you need them to tell you to carry on”.
Speaking on the occasion, Mark Tully explained the reason behind the decision, ‘we chose Sleeping on Jupiter because of its elegance, flair and readability. The South Asian setting is described faithfully and evocatively. Among the issues raised are the power of memory and myth, religious hypocrisy, sexuality, abuse and other forms of violence. We believe this novel will be a source of inspiration to other writers”.
The winner of the DSC prize will receive a cash prize of USD 50,000 and the award is open to all international writers writing on the topic of South Asia.
An Interview with Anuradha Roy : Winner of DSC Prize 2016
Award-winning novelist, journalist and publicist, Anuradha Roy is the newly titled winner of the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature in 2016. Her novels ‘An Atlas of Impossible Longing ‘and ‘The Folded Earth’ have been the recipient of several awards and recognition.
Her latest book, ‘Sleeping on Jupiter’ is a story dealing with controversial issues such as love, sexuality, abuse and violence in an Indian setting. The Guardian titled it as a book that ‘lays bare the treacherous hypocrisy of the Indian society’.
An absolutely stunning lady, we met up with Anuradha Roy at Fort Printers in Galle Fort to talk about her novels and her life as a writer.
Previously, you were working as an editor. What made you switch from editing to writing?
Well, my working life started as an editor at the Oxford University Press and after that 15 years ago I started a small publishing house called ‘Permanent Black’ which focuses on South Asian history and politics. As for going from editing to writing, I wouldn’t really call it a switch. I always wrote stories and they even got published when I was 14 which I got paid for and it felt good. So when I was involved in publishing I started doing journalism alongside it and the novels just started to come.
What’s the meaning behind the title ‘Sleeping on Jupiter’?
The book is about people searching for some kind of other reality and it’s not just always an escape. It can be something they are looking for as a different kind of way to live. Jupiter is actually dreamed of by one of the characters in the book who, in a very low moment, wondered ‘what if he was sleeping on Jupiter?’
How distinct are your books from one another?
Each of them is different from each other. I think the first two was a little similar in terms of narrative structure and characterisation but Sleeping on Jupiter was a very compressed short story with jagged edges. It was totally different and was such a leap to the unknown for me.
Were you nervous putting the new book out?
I was a little apprehensive. The narrative structure was something I was experimenting with and it was a whole new thing for me and that was scary.
Because it was such a leap to the unknown, what were your expectations for the book?
I was surprised by the reaction to the book; I never had huge expectations for it. Everybody just wants a few intelligent readers to understand the book as you meant it to be read.
Sleeping on Jupiter talks about many controversial issues. Why was it important for you to bring them into light in this book?
When I wrote this book, I didn’t think ‘oh, I’m going to write a book with these these themes’. The story and the themes were just driven by the character. For example, the homosexual in my story I wanted to make his lover a woman but it just didn’t ring true. When you build on the character they also assume a character of their own.
Your books are very relatable to South Asian cultures. But how is the response from Western countries when it comes to understanding the content in your books?
All three of my books have been published simultaneously in the UK and in India. The international response to all of them has been encouraging. But of course you have the normal cultural confusions with the names and the gender of the character because of the name! But I’ve been surprised as to how much they’ve responded despite these confusions.
What would you say is your most surprising quality?
I do a lot of pottery, painting and designing.
By Panchali Illankoon
Photographs by Pradeep Dilrukshana and Kushan Pathiraja
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0 Comments
Mohan says:
Jan 19, 2016 at 12:00 amMrs. Wickramasinghe looks very classy!