'Tomb of Sand' becomes 1st Hindi novel to win International Booker Prize
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New Delhi: Author Geetanjali Shree said wining International Booker Prize for her Hindi novel 'Tomb of Sand' is a huge recognition.
What judges called an "irresistible" novel has become the first book in any Indian language to win GBP 50,000 prize.
At a ceremony in London on Thursday Geetanjali and her translator Daisy Rockwell shared the prize.
'Tomb of Sand', originally 'Ret Samadhi' narrates the life of an 80-year-old woman who is depressed after her husband's death.
The octogenarian overcomes depression, and decides to visit Pakistan to confront her past she left behind.
Author Geetanjali Shree responded that she was 'overwhelmed' with the prize which she called "bolt from the blue".
She said in her acceptance speech that she had never dreamt of the Booker prize and felt 'honoured' and ' humbled'.
The novel, she said, is an elegy for the world we inhabit and she also said the Booker would take the novel to many more people.
The 64-year-old author of three novels was happy as her novel being the first fiction in Hindi to win the award.
Ms. Rockwell, a painter, writer and translator living in Vermont, U.S said the prize is a "love letter to the Hindi language".
Originally published in Hindi in 2018, 'Tomb of Sand' is her first book to be published in the U.K. in August 2021.
The international prize is awarded every year for a single book that is translated into English and published in the U.K. or Ireland.