The highly prestigious JCB Prize for Literature 2024 has announced its' ten novel Longlist. The Longlist features an equal number of books originally written in English and translated into English from other Indian languages. This year Longlist has four debut works; two of which are translated works.
The jury was chaired by author, translator, and poet Jerry Pinto, and includes scholar and translator Tridip Suhrud; art historian and curator Deepthi Sasidharan; filmmaker and writer Shaunak Sen; and artist Aqui Thami.
The Longlisted Novels are:
Chronicle of an Hour and a Half by Saharu Nusaiba Kannanari
Of Mothers and Other Perishables by Radhika Oberoi
Lorenzo Searches for the Meaning of Life by Upamanyu Chatterjee
The Distaste of the Earth by Kynpham Singh Nongkynrih
Talashnama: The Quest by Ismail Darbesh, translated from the Bengali by V Ramaswamy
Maria, Just Maria by Sandhya Ramesh, translated from the Malayalam by Jayasree Kalathil
Sanatan by Sharankumar Limbale, translated from the Marathi by Paromita Sengupta
Leaf, Water and Flow by Avadhoot Dongare, translated from the Marathi by Nadeem Khan
The One Legged by Sakyajit Bhattacharya, translated from the Bengali by Rituparna Mukherjee
The shortlist of five books will be announced on October 23, and the winner, on November 23. The winner will receive a cash prize of Rs 25 lakh. If a translated work is chosen as the winner, the translator will receive an additional Rs 10 lakh. Moreover, each of the five shortlisted authors will be awarded Rs 1 lakh, with an additional Rs 50,000 awarded to the translator if the shortlisted work is a translation.
