26 July 2008

Recognising Indian authors

“The Man Booker Prize promotes the finest in fiction by rewarding the very best book of the year. The prize is the world’s most important literary award and has the power to transform the fortunes of authors and even publishers.”

Authors of Indian origin who have won the Man Booker Prize are Salman Rushdie (1981 – Midnight’s Children), Arundhati Roy (1997 – The God of Small Thins), and Kiran Desai (2006 – The Inheritance of Loss). There is also V S Naipaul (1971 – In A Free State) – for those of you who consider V S Naipaul to be an author of Indian origin. Salman Rushdie, of course, won the 'Best of the Booker' this year.

Would any of these authors have won the Man Booker Prize if they had written their books in an Indian vernacular language? I think not.

What encouragement can we provide Indian writers to write in their own vernacular languages? How can we transform their fortunes (as The Man Booker Prize promises) by recognising and rewarding their talent?

[Citation: Quote from The Man Booker Prize website.]

3 comments:

gypsy said...

I agree quite with the point expressed...

Indian authors need to be appreciated when they write in Indian languages and not only that the level of Indian authors 'trying' to write in english isn't at pas if we leave exceptions like Roy, Rushdie, Desai...

Biswajit said...

Thank you 'd sinner!!!' for visiting my blog and writing in your comments. I'm glad to learn that you share my views. The talent of Indian regional language writers really need to be appreciated by the world.

I'm quite taken in by the number of blogs you contribute to. Didn't get time to read them all last night, but I shall do so when I can.

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