JCB Prize For Literature Has Prominent Women Authors In Its Longlist

Indian women authors are mirrors of our society. They reflect the conditions of the society and jot down the freedom and revolution that is required from a woman’s point of view and they also highlight the gender discrimination that is prevalent. It is therefore important that women authors in India are recognised and encouraged to voice women’s perspective. JCB Prize for literature, the second edition of the richest award for Indian writing has released the longlist of nominated authors, which includes four women authors and six male authors. The list of the finalists will be declared on October 4 in Delhi and the final winner will be revealed in an awards ceremony on November 2, also in Delhi.

The four women writers in the longlist are Amrita Mahale for Milk Teeth, Mukta Sathe for A Patchwork Family, Madhuri Vijay for The Far Field and  Sharanya Manivannan for The Queen of Jasmine Country​.

Key Takeaways:

• JCB Prize for Literature has released the longlist for 2019- four women and six male authors.
• The list of the finalists will be declared on October 4 in Delhi.
• The final winner will be revealed in an awards ceremony on November 2, in Delhi.

The four women writers in the longlist are Amrita Mahale for Milk Teeth, Mukta Sathe for A Patchwork Family, Madhuri Vijay for The Far Field and  Sharanya Manivannan for The Queen of Jasmine Country​.

Amrita Mahale

With her debut novel, Milk Teeth, Amrita Mahal is all set to begin a wonderful journey in her writing. She is also a full-time aerospace engineer who had always wanted to become a writer. She continued with her day job and wrote Milk Teeth after work and on holidays. She also opted for the writer’s residency at Sangam House to write her book without distractions. Though Milk Teeth had received many rejections before, it is now an acclaimed and widely read book nominated for JCB prize 2019.

Mukta Sathe

According to Speaking Tiger Books, “Mukta Sathe is a young lawyer who has worked in Mumbai and Pune. She has written several articles for law journals. She is interested in travel, constitutional law, literature and sports, and is also a cat lover. She lives in her hometown, Pune.”  A Patchwork Family is her first novel which has made an entry in the JCB prize 2019 nominations.

Madhuri Vijay

Born and brought up in Bengaluru, Madhuri Vijay is the recipient of a Pushcart Prize.  Her writing has appeared in Best American Non-Required Reading, Narrative Magazine and Salon, among other publications. She has been nominated in JCB prize 2019 for her debut novel The Far Field.

The list of the finalists will be declared on October 4 in Delhi and the final winner will be revealed in an awards ceremony on November 2, also in Delhi.

Sharanya Manivannan

 Sharanya Manivannan was born in India and brought up in Sri Lanka and currently lives in Chennai. She is the author of five books: a novel, The Queen of Jasmine Country (HarperCollins India, 2018), a short story collection, The High Priestess Never Marries (HarperCollins India, 2016), two books of poetry, Witchcraft (Bullfighter Books, 2008) and The Altar of the Only World (HarperCollins India, 2017); and a picture book for children, The Ammuchi Puchi (Lantana Publishing, 2016 & Puffin India, 2018). Interestingly, her first and the only novel till now has been nominated for the JCB prize 2019. She also runs a column ‘The Venus Flytrap’ that appears in the New Indian Express. Manivannan has also written and performed a poem at the Commonwealth Day Observance at Westminister Abbey in 2015. Currently, she is working on her second novel, Constellation of Scars, among other poetry, fiction and illustration projects.

Rudrani Kumari is an intern with SheThePeople.TV

Image credit: Livemint

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