Indian Women Writers Celebrate Geetanjali Shree's Historic Booker Win

One person's victory becomes hope for the sisterhood. This is what Geetanjali Shree's International Booker Prize means for the community of Indian women writers who choose to express themselves through regional language. It opens up an avenue which was previously restricted to writings in English.

Not only was it Shree's first win at the International Booker Prize, but it was also the first time that a book of any Indian language won the prize. The book Tomb of Sand has been translated into English by Daisy Rockwell. They won the prestigious award yesterday in London.

Geetanjali Shree was completely overwhelmed by the win. The Delhi-based writer, while accepting the award said that it came as a "bolt from the blue." She was endowed with prize money of GBP 50,000, which is approximately Rs 49,00,000. The author will share it with the translator Rockwell.

Suggested Reading: Geetanjali Shree Wins International Booker Prize For First Hindi-Language Work

Tomb Of Sand Wins International Booker Prize

Shree's book is set in North India and follows the life of an 80-year-old woman. While giving the acceptance speech, Shree said that she had never dreamt of receiving the Booker Prize and that she is "amazed, delighted, honoured and humbled" by the recognition.

This dream coming true on an international avenue has given hope to many others in India. International recognition of an Indian Woman is a huge source of motivation for the Indian women writers. SheThePeople spoke to several well-known women authors in India to know what this win means to them.

"When the brown dadi of 80 takes on global centre stage, we know she has transcended many a thing," said author, poet and screenwriter Rochelle Potkar to SheThePeople. Adding, "We have a story not just of India, but of every woman brown, black, white, and yellow, hidden in the creases of her wrinkles."

Like Potkar, many Indian authors feel that this win can be an example set for the regional and English writers from India that global writers are awaiting their work.

"The Booker going to an Indian, to an Indian woman, to an Indian woman translated from Hindi - these are three wins masquerading as one. We always knew our literature, especially that penned by women, was extraordinary, rich with history and experience, just quivering to be translated. Tomb of Sand proves it," shared author Shinie Antony who is also the Curator of Women Writer's Prize by SheThePeople.

"This win means so much for us in every way. For literature. For women's literature. For Indian literature. Not to overlook, also for regional literature and subsequent translations which expose the work to a larger audience, to wider global readers," said journalist turned author Kavita Kane. Kane is a well known mythological fiction writer.

Kala Ramesh, founder and Director of Triveni Haikai India, feels that it is a win that will open floodgates for talent in India. "...is going to be the magic wand for all the rich literature in other Indian languages too," she added.

Not only is the win a prompter for regional writers, according to author Yamini Pustake Bhalerao, but it is also a boost to their self-esteem. "It will boost the self-esteem of many emerging writers who see their ethnicity and lack of command over the English language as a hindrance that keeps their work from reaching the global readership," said Bhalerao.

This victory of Shree and Rockwell has meant different things to different people. For some, it is a win for the legions of regional writers who slogged their creative minds and exist despite English-language dominance in literature market, to others it is a time to pause and think about the possibility of reading in their regional language.

Author Sudha Menon who is the founder of the writing workshop series Get Writing and Writing With Women regrets not learning to read her own mother tongue Malayalam. "I have forever regretted not learning to read my own mother tongue Malayalam because that has robbed me of the chance to enjoy the amazing work of master wordsmiths from Kerala." She applauded Shree's work and planned on celebrating her work by reading it in the language she wrote.

Author Tanushree Podder shares, "The Booker prize for Geetanjali Shree’s Tomb of Sand has focused the spotlight on Indian literature. It is a historic win, especially for the women writers in India."

A Win For Women Writers And Translators

Author Jahnavi Barua was delighted to hear Shree's big win at an international forum for literature. "A historic moment for India and an inspiration to all of us writing from the region," she said. Her book Undertow was Longlisted for JCB Prize for Literature.

For the poet, author and translator Saba Mahmood Bashir, Shree and Rockwell winning the Booker is huge. "It marks a day for celebration-not only Hindi literature but also for different Indian literatures in translation. As a woman translator myself, I take pride in the award and send warm wishes to the author and translator," she said.

For author Anukrti Upadhyay who has successfully published her works both in Hindi and English, it is "A moment of momentous pride for all readers, writers and book lovers to have the remarkable Ret-Samadhi awarded the international Booker in its masterfully translated avatar, Tomb of Sand. Geetanjali Shree’s fearless experimentation with language, form and story is deserving the honour. I hope the award attracts more readers to read in their primary languages and to explore works of translation. The world is varied, imagination unlimited. The homogeneity of narratives should end."

Gitanjali Shree's win touches upon many India's with pre-partition memories, post-partition reconciliation, gender sensitivity and also the raw 'native' directness of the original Hindi narrative. For me this is a tremendous work to immerse in and learn from. Heartiest congratulations to Gitanjali Shree and Daisy Rockwell, said Koral Dasgupta who is an author, speaker  and entrepreneur.

"It is a wonderful day for Indian literature, which, to partially borrow the motto of Sahitya Akademi, is "in many languages". I am delighted for Gitanjali Shree, whose novels are extraordinary, her translator Daisy Rockwell - whose work I admire - their editors and publishers across languages, and also for Kanishka Gupta, Rockwell's literary agent. I am going to celebrate today by buying five translated novels written by women set in places I know little about!" said author Devapriya Roy who is also a Senior Writing Fellow at Ashoka University.

Shinjini Kumar, co-founder Indian Novels Collective, shared "It is the most delightful news because there are so many barriers being broken here. Translations have been the most important and most common way of accessing worlds that are different from ours but they have rarely been given the importance they deserve as a medium of creativity. It is actually a fairly difficult task to bring a book from a different language alive to an audience that is not native to that language and culture. Daisy is of course a phenomenal translator. We have been privileged to have her as our first translator for Usha Priyamvada’s book. And that this honour is for a work written in Hindi by a formidable woman writer like Geetanjali Shree is really exciting. Its a major celebration day for us."

"Telling stories is a powerful way to communicate your thoughts and ideas. And the language of the story is not as important as the story itself. Geetanjali Shree’s Booker is a testimony to this. Further, we have this notion, misguided of course, that any thing written outside of English is somehow inferior. We even used to call other Indian languages ‘vernacular’! Kudos to Geetanjali for busting this myth as well," shared author Sonu Bhasin.