DSC Prize for South Asian Literature 2017: Aravind Adiga, Perumal Murugan among nominees; see full list

The DSC Prize for South Asian Literature, instituted in 2010, has since been on the forefront in recognising South Asian writers and acknowledging their best works through a process of an esteemed jury-panel selection. The DSC Prize carries an award of $25,000 for the best South Asian literary work. This year, at the Oxford bookstore in New Delhi, the long list for 2017’s top contenders was unveiled. The list of 13 novels selected this year, “includes some well known authors as well as new novelists who are making a mark on the South Asian literary canvas. The long list of 13 novels also includes translations as well as works of authors based in different countries all of which bring in diverse perspectives and raise relevant issues,” quotes the  official website, dscprize.com. [caption id=“attachment_3930147” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  Selection Day by Arvind Adiga, Pyre by Perumal Murugan and The Ceaseless Chatter of Demons by Ashok Ferrey are part of the long list of DSC Prize this year. Image via Twitter[/caption] Here is the list, as mentioned in the official website: • Anjali Joseph: The Living (Fourth Estate, HarperCollins, UK) • Anosh Irani: The Parcel (Fourth Estate, HarperCollins, India & Knopf Random House Canada) • Anuk Arudpragasam: The Story of a Brief Marriage (Granta Books, UK) • Aravind Adiga: Selection Day (Fourth Estate, HarperCollins, India) • Ashok Ferrey: The Ceaseless Chatter of Demons (Penguin Books, Penguin Random House, India) • Hirsh Sawhney: South Haven (Akashic Books, USA and HarperCollins, India) • Karan Mahajan: The Association of Small Bombs (Chatto & Windus, UK & Viking, USA & Fourth Estate, HarperCollins India) • K.R. Meera: The Poison of Love (Translated by Ministhy S, Hamish Hamilton, Penguin Random House, India) • Omar Shahid Hamid: The Party Worker (Pan Macmillan, India) • Perumal Murugan: Pyre (Translated by Aniruddhan Vasudevan, Hamish Hamilton, Penguin Random House, India) • Sarvat Hasin: This Wide Night (Hamish Hamilton, Penguin Random House, India) • Shahbano Bilgrami: Those Children (HarperCollins, India) • Stephen Alter: In the Jungles of the Night (Aleph Book Company, India) The esteemed jury of the award, this year, included the likes of, Ritu Menon, Jury Chair and writer, Valentine Cunningham, Professor Emeritus of English language and Literature at Oxford University, UK, Steven Bernstein, American screenwriter/director/author, Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, journalist, and Senath Walter Perera, Senior Professor in English, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka. According to the website, the jury selected the top 13 out of 60 entries this year. The jury is reported to now shortlist 5-6 novels out of the top 13 and declare the list on 27 September at London School of Economics & Political Science in London. Finally, the jury is slated to deliberate upon the final name and then declare the top honour on 18 November  during the Dhaka Literary Festival in a special award ceremony.