Indian writer Anuradha Roy has won the prestigious $50,000 DSC Prize for South Asian Literature for her novel ‘Sleeping on Jupiter’ at the Galle Literary Festival in Sri Lanka. Ms Roy was awarded the prize and a unique trophy by Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe at a glittering ceremony this evening.

 Shortlisted Authors 

The six shortlisted authors in contention for this year’s prize were UK-based Indian-origin author Akhil Sharma for “Family Life”, KR Meera’s “Hangwoman” (Translated by   Devika), Mirza Waheed’s “The Book of Gold Leaves”, Neel Mukherjee’s “The Lives of Others” and “Raj Kamal Jha: She Will Build Him A City.”

While presenting the trophy to the winner, Mr Wickremesinghe commented on the importance of South Asian literature and the crucial role it can play to improve the lives of the people living in the region. Now in its sixth edition, the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature is an established international literary prize that awards the best work in South Asian fiction writing each year.

This year prize had received 74 entries with participation from publishers across the South Asian region and from countries like the UK, US, Canada, Australia and South Africa amongst others.

 Past Winners 

The past five winners of the prize include Jhumpa Lahiri (The Lowland), Cyrus Mistry (Chronicle of a Corpse Bearer) Jeet Thayil (Narcopolis), Shehan Karunatilaka (Chinaman) and HM Naqvi (Home Boy).  Each of these winners has gone on to be published internationally.

 Did You Know??? 

Ms Roy is an award-winning novelist, journalist and editor. Her first novel, ‘An Atlas of Impossible Longing’ has been translated into fifteen languages across the world.