Geetanjali Shree Creates History, Here Are Booker Nods To Authors Of Indian Origin So Far

Ret Samadhi creates history by becoming the first book in any Indian language to receive the Booker Prize. Written by Delhi-based writer Geetanjali Shree, this book was translated as Tomb Of Sand by Daisy Rockwell.

Geetanjali Shree is a novelist and a short story writer who hails from Delhi, India. Her Booker-winning novel is a story of an eighty-year-old woman caught in the throes of depression after the death of her husband. Divided into 3 sections, this book also explores a mother-daughter relationship, as the daughter grows up into a conventional woman and the mother, ages backwards in mind, much like a free, rule-defying teenager.

''Tomb Of Sand is an elegy for the world we inhabit, lasting energy that retains hope in the face of impending doom. The Booker will surely take it to many more people than it would have reached otherwise,” Geetanjali Shree stated in her acceptance speech. With this Indian book creating history, let's take a look at all the other Indian origin authors who've won and been nominated for this prestigious prize.

 Geetanjali Shree Tomb Of Sand And Other Booker Nods For Authors of Indian Origin So Far:

1. V.S. Naipaul: Nobel Prize-winning author of Indian origin, won the Booker Prize for In A Free State a book based on political themes, and the colonial and post-colonial renaissance in 1971.
2. Salman Rushdie: This book was nominated for and won the Booker Prize in 1981. Midnight's Children talk about Indian Independence and British colonialism in India.
3. Anita Desai: Nominated for the Booker prize thrice, for the first time in 1984 Anita Desai is a Humanities professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She is a Sahitya Academy Award winner. Her books Clear Light Of Day, Fasting, Feasting and In Custody were nominated for the Booker Prize.
4. Arundhati Roy: Her book The God of Small Things was nominated and announced the winner of the Booker Prize in 1997. Roy's novel explores the family drama, class relations and cultural tensions, set against the backdrop of the social discrimination in Kerala during the author's childhood.
5. Kiran Desai: Nominated and won in 2006, The Inheritance of Loss is the author's second novel. This book written over the course of seven years deals with migration and the struggle with the sense of belonging.
6. Indra Sinha: Animal’s People was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2007.  Sinha is a well-known British copywriter based in London.
7. Aravind Adiga: Adiga's White Tiger won the Booker Prize in 2008. The novel depicts class struggle in India seen from a global perspective. The narrator belongs to a small village in India.
8. Amitav Ghosh: Nominated for the Booker Prize in 2008, for his book Sea Of Poppies. Ghosh became the second Indian author to be nominated along with Aravind Adiga in the same year.
9. Jeet Thayil: Nominated for the Booker Prize in 2012 for Narcopolis. The story is set in 1970s Old Bombay. Based on his own experiences of being a drug addict, the author wrote the book over the course of 4 years.
10. Jhumpa Lahiri: This American author of Indian origin was nominated for the Booker Prize in 2013 for her book The Lowland. Lahiri is best known for her The Namesake which was also adapted into a movie by filmmaker Mira Nair. She is also popular for her short stories collection called Interpreter Of Maladies.

Suggested Reading: Who Is Geetanjali Shree? First Indian Languages Author To Win International Booker Prize