Geetanjali Shree isn’t the first Indian to win the Booker: Difference between Booker and International Booker Prize

India woke up on Friday morning to the news of renowned Hindi author Geetanjali Shree winning the International Booker Prize for 2022 for her book Tomb of Sand. Certainly a splendid news and a proud moment for the country, however, people on social media as well as some news reports commended Shree for being the first Indian to win a Booker Prize. While congratulations and accolades are in order for Shree and her book’s translator, Daisy Rockwell, she is not the first Indian to win a Booker Prize. She is, in fact, the first Indian to win an International Booker Prize. But, aren’t they the same thing? They are not, and we explain why: Geetanjali Shree’s big moment On Friday, Hindi author Geetanjali Shree became the first Indian author to win the International Booker Prize for 2022 for her book Tomb of Sand. Her book is also the first Indian-language book to be recognised by the award. Also read: Translator Daisy Rockwell on ‘Tomb of Sand’, first Hindi book to win International Booker Prize Originally written as Ret Samadhi in Hindi in 2018, Shree’s novel has been translated to English by American translator Daisy Rockwell. It is for this translated version of Ret Samadhi that Shree and Rockwell have won the prestigious award. What is the International Booker Prize and how is it different from the Booker Prize? The International Booker Prize was constituted in 2005 to complement the Booker Prize. It was initially named the Man Booker International Prize until 2019 when it got its current name, the International Booker Prize. The inaugural Man Booker International Prize was the culmination of many years of discussion about a possible new global prize. Under the Man Group from 2005 until 2015, the award was given every two years to a living author of any nationality for a body of work published in English or generally available in English translation. It rewarded one author’s “continued creativity, development and overall contribution to fiction on the world stage”, and was a recognition of the writer’s body of work rather than any one title. In 2016, the Man Booker International Prize evolved into an annual award for a single book, translated into English and published in the UK. Having joined forces with the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize, both novels and collections of short stories became eligible. The Booker Prize, however, has a different set of rules. Termed the Booker Prize from 1969 to 2001, the award was known as the Man Booker from 2002 until 2019, when the Man Group ended their sponsorship. From 2019, the award went back to being called the Booker Prize. The prize is given each year for the best novel written in English and published in the UK. Until 2014, only novels written by Commonwealth, Irish, and South African citizens were eligible to receive the prize. In 2014, the ambit was widened and any English-language novel was open for consideration for the award. To sum it up, currently the International Booker Prize is given to an author for a work of fiction written in an international language, translated into English, and published in the UK. The Booker Prize is given to a work of fiction written in English and published in the UK. Both the awards have prize money of £50,000. For the International Booker Prize, the prize money is shared between the author and the translator. Indians in the race for the International Booker Prize Even though Geetanjali Shree is the first Indian to win the International Booker Prize, she isn’t the first to have been in the race. Since its beginning in 2005, the International Booker Prize has nominated works by Indian or Indian-origin authors. Starting from Salman Rushdie in 2007, Mahasweta Devi and Trinidad-born VS Naipaul in 2009, Rohinton Mistry in 2011, UR Ananthamurthy in 2013, and Amitav Ghosh in 2015 have been nominated for the coveted award. It was only after 2015 that the Booker Prize Foundation decided to award the prize to single works of fiction translated into English from any international languages. Since the change in rules, no Indian author has made it to the nominations, making Geetanjali Shree’s feat even more remarkable. Indians in the race for the Booker Prize India has performed better when it comes to the Booker Prize as almost every year an Indian author in English makes it to the long or shortlist. There have been five Indians who have won the prestigious award since its inception in 1969, including Trinidad-born VS Naipaul. Naipaul was the third recipient of the award in 1971 for his book In a Free State. After him, Salman Rushdie for Midnight’s Children in 1981, Arundhati Roy for The God of Small Things in 1997, Kiran Desai for The Inheritance of Loss in 2006, and Aravind Adiga for The White Tiger in 2008 have won the award. In 1993, to mark the prize’s 25th anniversary, a Booker of Bookers Prize was given to Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children. To commemorate the 40th anniversary of the award, the Best of Booker award was announced in 2008. Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children again won the prize, chosen by a public vote. With inputs from agencies Read all the Latest News , Trending News ,  Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.