Mamoni Raisom in race for Crossword Award
NEW DELHI, Jan 21 Writer Indira Goswami may have drawn criticism from
several political quarters of late for her inability to bring the ULFA forward
for talks, but her writings continue to bring laurels as she has been
shortlisted for a Hutch Crossword Book Award, billed as Indias answer to the
Booker. Goswamis The Man from Chinnamasta, translated into English by Prashant
Goswami from her Assamese work Chinnamastar Manuhto, along with In a Forest, a
Deer by CS Lakshmi and M Mukundans Kesavan s Lamentations are the three
novels shortlisted in the Indian Language Fiction Translation category. The
awards will be given away on February 21 in Mumbai.
Talking to PTI over phone from Guwahati, Indira said the shortlisting is a big
boost for Assamese translators.
There was this notion that Assamese translators cannot make it to the big
league but Prashants effort negates that, she said.
Goswami wrote The Man from Chinnamasta to protest against the sacrifices at the
Kamakhya temple. The temple is considered to be the greatest shrine of mystic
Shaktism, one of the main religions of the state during the medieval period.
Goswami said rituals are like diseases that affect the society. This book
deals with various aspects of rituals carried out at the temple including
animal sacrifice, she said.
The novel, published by Katha, was released at the Frankfurt Book Fair in
October last year.
Translator Prashant said, this was his first major effort.
Though I have written short stories and articles, this is my first translation
of a well-known book and I am excited that it has been received so well, said
Prashant, who is an engineer by profession.
In the English fiction category novels like Vikram Chandras Sacred Games and
The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai are on the shortlist. Fali S Narimans
Indias Legal System: Can it be Saved? and Two Lives by Vikram Seth are among
those that figure in the English Non-Fiction shortlist.
Each award will carry a cash prize of Rs 3 lakhs, a trophy and a citation. In
case of Indian Language Fiction Translation category, the author and the
translator share the prize money equally.
According to the promoters, the awards recognise and reward the best of Indian
writing and ensure that works of merit reach a wider audience.
Past winners include I. Allan Sealy for The Everest Hotel, Vikram Seth for An
Equal Music, Amitav Ghosh for The Hungry Tide and Salman Rushdie for Shalimar
the Clown. PTI
The Assam Tribune,22.01.2007
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