Indian author Gitanjali Shree’s novel ‘Tomb of Sand’, translated from Hindi to English, has been awarded the prestigious 2022 International Booker Prize. Originally this novel was written in Hindi with the title ‘Reet Samadhi’, which has been translated into English by Daisy Rockwell. This is the first Indian novel to have been awarded this award.
Geetanjali Shree said during this time that “I had never dreamed of a Booker Prize. I had never thought of that, but this is what I got. I feel happy and honored.”
The Booker Prize list included 13 works on the long list, along with ‘Tomb of Sand’, which have been translated into English from 11 different languages. Geetanjali has received the Booker Prize along with a prize money of 50,000 British pounds, which will be divided between the author and translator.
The international award-winning novel tells the story of an 80-year-old woman who falls into depression after the death of her husband. All of a sudden she comes out of depression one day and reaches Pakistan to face her past which her family had left there at the time of partition.
It is worth mentioning that ‘Ret Samadhi’ is the fifth novel of Gitanjali Shree. He first entered the world of writing by writing the novel ‘My’. Apart from this, his second novel ‘Hamara Shahar Us Baras’ was written which focused on communalism and the circumstances of the 90s. Then came his fourth novel titled ‘Tirohit’ which discussed homosexuality and then ‘Blank Space’ and then he wrote the novel ‘Sand Samadhi’ which was launched sometime back. Let us tell you, this novel is published in Hindi by Rajkamal Prakashan.
Geetanjali Shree was born in Mainpuri, Uttar Pradesh. She currently lives in Delhi, she has written many stories along with novels. His novels have been translated into English as well as French, German, Serbian and Korean languages.