Perumal Murugan’s Pyre makes it to International Booker prize longlist

As per the announcement by Booker Prize Foundation on Tuesday, Tamil writer Perumal Murugan has made it to the International Booker prize longlist.

Pyre, 2016 book translated to English by Aniruddhan Vasudevan, made it to the list. The book follows the love story of an inter-caste couple. 

After Hindi writer Geetanjali Shree became the first Indian writer to win the award, Murugan is the first Tamil writer to make it to the list.

The prize jury termed Murugan a “great anatomist of power and, in particular, of the deep, deforming rot of caste hatred and violence”.

“Just a few minutes back someone broke the news to me. I am very happy, and this is great acceptance for my writing…. ‘Pyre’ deals with honour killing. Honour killing is a very big problem in our country, I hope more people get to know about this issue after this recognition,” Murugan told news agency PTI.

The other titles include: A System So Magnificent It Is Blinding by Amanda Svensson and translated by Nichola Smalley, Still Born by Guadalupe Nettle and translated by Rosalind Harvey, Ninth Building by Zou Jingzhi and translated by Jeremy Tiang, While We Were Dreaming by Clemens Meyer and translated by Katy Derbyshire, and The Birthday Party by Laurent Mauvignier and translated by Daniel Levin Becker.

Is Mother Dead by Vigdis Hjorth and translated by Charlotte Barslund, Standing Heavy by GauZ’ and translated by Frank Wynne, Jimi Hendrix Live in Lviv by Andrey Kurkov and translated by Rueben Woolley, Time Shelter by Georgi Gospondinov and translated by Angela Rodel, The Gospel According to the New World by Maryse Conde and translated by Richard Philcox, Whale by Cheon Myeong-kwan and translated by Chi-Young Kim, and Boulder by Eva Baltasar and translated by Julia Sanches also made it to the list.

“What was very rewarding about this experience was reading books from all over the world, with an extraordinary variety of form and content. Each of the judges had different tastes and that is what we have tried to reflect in this list,” Le la Slimani, chair of the International Booker Prize 2023 judges, said in a statement.

The list, she said, is a celebration of the power of language and of authors who wanted to push formal enquiry as far as possible.

“We wanted to celebrate literary ambition, panache, originality and of course, through this, the talent of translators who have been able to convey all of this with great skill,” she said.

(With inputs from PTI)