The first book is always special. And the Shakti Bhatt First Book Prize, constituted in 2008, has made it more so in India. A prize for works by South Asian writers across genres, it has had winners like Nilanjana Roy for her novel The Wildings, Mridula Koshy for her short story collection If It Is Sweet, and Samanth Subramanian for his travelogue Following Fish. Last year’s winner was Pakistani novelist Bilal Tanweer, who won for The Scatter Here Is Too Great. This year’s shortlist has been curated by author and translator Arshia Sattar, and poet and author Jeet Thayil.
The judges who will pick the winner for a November announcement are writers Samhita Arni, Mohammed Hanif, and Krys Lee. What are the titles they choosing from? Here’s a guide.
The Devourers, Indra Das
This is a historical fantasy, set across time and geography from Shah Jahan’s Agra to modern South Calcutta and the Sunderbans. It tells the story of three European werewolves who entered India at the zenith of Mughal rule, and the echoes of their actions down the centuries. The story is told through three narrative voices, one of whom is a mysterious gentleman who befriends a young, mild mannered Bengali professor of history. The other two narrators are Fenrir, one of the werewolves, and Cyrah, a denizen of Mumtazabad in the seventeenth century.
Fire Under Ash, Saskya Jain
This novel, set in New Delhi and New York, speaks from the perspectives of three characters. They are Ashwin, a privileged young man from Delhi, Lallan, who’s from Patna and travels to Delhi to study, and Meera, Ashwin’s sister, based in New York and grappling with a difficult engagement to a workaholic. Ashwin and Lallan form a friendship, and share a deep infatuation for Mallika, a young musician. A pivotal event painfully brings home the vast inequalities between Ashwin and Lallan’s social and economic circumstances.
The Farthest Field, Raghu Karnad
This book tells a history of the role of Indian troops by the British Empire in the Second World War through the telling the stories of members of the author’s own family. The three related protagonists, Karnad’s grandfather and two great uncles, enlisted in the colonial forces even as India was scaling up its struggle for independence. The narrative follows their experiences through the course of the war: Ganny, a doctor, is recruited by the Indian Medical Service, Manek is a part of the new Indian Air Force, and the engineer Bobby joins the infantry.
The Seasons of Trouble, Rohini Mohan
This nonfiction narrative is set in the aftermath of the Sri Lankan civil war, and told through the stories of three characters. Two of these are Sarva, a man secretly detained by state forces after being falsely charged, and his determined mother Indra, who doggedly searches for him. The third is Mugil, a former LTTE child soldier, who deserts and escapes in order to protect her family by taking them to refugee camps. Mohan explores how Sarva and Mugil cope after the war ends: he by leaving the country, and she, by returning to her childhood village.
The Vanished Path, Bharath Murthy
This is a travelogue in manga-style comic form, in which Murthy travels with his wife along the Buddhist pilgrimage circuit that connects the sites that marked Gautam Buddha’s life. They include Lumbini, Sarnath and Bodh Gaya, among others, up and down the gangetic plains of ancient Magadh, now spread out across Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Nepal. Interspersed with the travelogue is Murthy and his companion’s new exploration of Buddhism and the Buddha’s teachings.
The Golden Pigeon, Shahid Siddiqui
This work of historical magic realism tells the story of twins Shiraz and Aijaz, separated in the aftermath of the India-Pakistan partition. Shiraz grows up in Chandni Chowk in Old Delhi, and Aijaz in Lahore. Shiraz, the narrator of the story, falls in love with Anuradha, who is from an influential Hindu family, and this leads to him being falsely implicated for the murder of her uncle. Emperor Babur, yearning to undo the Partition, is an important character and plays a significant role in the twins’ lives.
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The judges who will pick the winner for a November announcement are writers Samhita Arni, Mohammed Hanif, and Krys Lee. What are the titles they choosing from? Here’s a guide.
The Devourers, Indra Das
This is a historical fantasy, set across time and geography from Shah Jahan’s Agra to modern South Calcutta and the Sunderbans. It tells the story of three European werewolves who entered India at the zenith of Mughal rule, and the echoes of their actions down the centuries. The story is told through three narrative voices, one of whom is a mysterious gentleman who befriends a young, mild mannered Bengali professor of history. The other two narrators are Fenrir, one of the werewolves, and Cyrah, a denizen of Mumtazabad in the seventeenth century.
Fire Under Ash, Saskya Jain
This novel, set in New Delhi and New York, speaks from the perspectives of three characters. They are Ashwin, a privileged young man from Delhi, Lallan, who’s from Patna and travels to Delhi to study, and Meera, Ashwin’s sister, based in New York and grappling with a difficult engagement to a workaholic. Ashwin and Lallan form a friendship, and share a deep infatuation for Mallika, a young musician. A pivotal event painfully brings home the vast inequalities between Ashwin and Lallan’s social and economic circumstances.
The Farthest Field, Raghu Karnad
This book tells a history of the role of Indian troops by the British Empire in the Second World War through the telling the stories of members of the author’s own family. The three related protagonists, Karnad’s grandfather and two great uncles, enlisted in the colonial forces even as India was scaling up its struggle for independence. The narrative follows their experiences through the course of the war: Ganny, a doctor, is recruited by the Indian Medical Service, Manek is a part of the new Indian Air Force, and the engineer Bobby joins the infantry.
The Seasons of Trouble, Rohini Mohan
This nonfiction narrative is set in the aftermath of the Sri Lankan civil war, and told through the stories of three characters. Two of these are Sarva, a man secretly detained by state forces after being falsely charged, and his determined mother Indra, who doggedly searches for him. The third is Mugil, a former LTTE child soldier, who deserts and escapes in order to protect her family by taking them to refugee camps. Mohan explores how Sarva and Mugil cope after the war ends: he by leaving the country, and she, by returning to her childhood village.
The Vanished Path, Bharath Murthy
This is a travelogue in manga-style comic form, in which Murthy travels with his wife along the Buddhist pilgrimage circuit that connects the sites that marked Gautam Buddha’s life. They include Lumbini, Sarnath and Bodh Gaya, among others, up and down the gangetic plains of ancient Magadh, now spread out across Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Nepal. Interspersed with the travelogue is Murthy and his companion’s new exploration of Buddhism and the Buddha’s teachings.
The Golden Pigeon, Shahid Siddiqui
This work of historical magic realism tells the story of twins Shiraz and Aijaz, separated in the aftermath of the India-Pakistan partition. Shiraz grows up in Chandni Chowk in Old Delhi, and Aijaz in Lahore. Shiraz, the narrator of the story, falls in love with Anuradha, who is from an influential Hindu family, and this leads to him being falsely implicated for the murder of her uncle. Emperor Babur, yearning to undo the Partition, is an important character and plays a significant role in the twins’ lives.