By Sophie
It’s May, and that means a trio of big literary prizes has been announced!
First off, the International Booker Prize was announced this past Tuesday. Heart Lamp by Banu Mushtaq was the winner. These 12 stories were translated into English from Kannada (a language spoken in South India) by Deepa Bhasthi. Author and translator share the prize, and the prize money.
Max Porter, chair of the judges this year, stated: “Heart Lamp is something genuinely new for English readers. A radical translation which ruffles language, to create new textures in a plurality of Englishes. It challenges and expands our understanding of translation. These beautiful, busy, life-affirming stories rise from Kannada, interspersed with the extraordinary socio-political richness of other languages and dialects. It speaks of women’s lives, reproductive rights, faith, caste, power and oppression.” The stacked shortlist of other translated literature can be found here.
A little bit earlier in the month, the Pulitzer Prizes were awarded, both in journalism and in books, drama, and music. There are never any shortlists for the Pulitzers, so it’s always anyone’s guess, which makes for both a fun announcement and a mad scramble to have the books in stock as soon as possible (if we didn’t already).
The winning books were: James by Percival Everett (Fiction), Combee: Harriet Tubman, the Combahee River Raid, and Black Freedom During the Civil War by Edda L. Fields-Black and Native Nations: A Millennium in North America by Kathleen DuVal (History), Every Living Thing: The Great and Deadly Race to Know All Life by Jason Roberts (Biography), Feeding Ghosts: A Graphic Memoir by Tessa Hulls (Autobiography), New and Selected Poems by Mary Howe (Poetry), and To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause: The Many Lives of Soviet Dissident Movement by Benjamin Nathans (General Nonfiction). I dare say the Pulitzers are the most prestigious prizes handed out in the US.
And last but not least, the British Book Awards were handed out earlier this month as well. These Nibbies, as they are affectionately called, may not be the most influential literary prizes on offer, but the array of categories is so eclectic that I have to share.
The winners were: James by Percival Everett (Fiction), Faebound by Saara El-Arifi (Pageturner), Hunted by Abir Mukherjee (Crime & Thriller), Butter by Asako Yuzuki (Debut Fiction), Patriot by Alexei Navalny (Non-Fiction: Narrative & Overall Book of the Year), What I Ate in One Year by Stanley Tucci (Non-Fiction: Lifestyle & Illustrated), Poyums by Len Pennie (Discover), Wilding by Isabella Tree (I kid you not with that last name!)(Children’s Non-Fiction), Jonty Gentoo by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler (Children’s Illustrated), and Diary of a Wimpy Kid 19: Hot Mess by Jeff Kinney (Children’s Fiction). And I’ve even left out the author and illustrator of the year, as well as the audiobook categories!
If you want even more prizewinning books, have a look at our highlights list. Also, ABC The Hague has its own Prizewinners section that collects as many of these as can fit.
