Geetanjali Shree’s Ret Samadhi, translated into English by Daisy Rockwell as Tomb of Sand, has won the International Booker Prize 2022. It is the first ever Hindi novel, and the first from India as well as South Asia, to win the award, which is given to translated works of fiction published in the UK and Ireland. The £50,000 prize will be shared equally between the author and the translator. The announcement was made on Thursday night in London.

No work of fiction from India or South Asia, in any of the languages of this region, has been either longlisted or shortlisted for the prize in its current version.

The shortlist, spanning six languages – Korean, Norwegian, Japanese, Spanish, Hindi and Polish – comprised the following books:

  • Heaven, Mieko Kawakami, translated from the Japanese by Sam Bett and David Boyd.
  • Elena Knows, Claudia Piñeiro, translated from the Spanish by Frances Riddle.
  • A New Name: Septology VI-VII, Jon Fosse, translated from the Norwegian by Damion Searls.
  • Tomb of Sand, Geetanjali Shree, translated from the Hindi by Daisy Rockwell.
  • The Books of Jacob, Olga Tokarczuk, translated from the Polish by Jennifer Croft.
  • Cursed Bunny, Bora Chung, translated from the Korean by Anton Hur.