Salman Rushdie & Amitav Ghosh in 2008 Man Booker Prize list
The novels by two India-born writers, Salman Rushdie and Amitav Ghosh have been named in a long list of 13 books for the 2008 Man Booker Prize for Fiction announced recently. Rushdie has been entered for "The Enchantress of Florence", described by some critics as his best since the much-decorated "Midnight's Children", whereas Ghosh won an entry for his acclaimed "Sea of Poppies". The long list, often referred to as the Man Booker Dozen was chosen from 112 entries. The titles are: "The White Tiger" by Aravind Adiga;
"Girl in a Blue Dress" by Gaynor Arnold; "The Secret Scripture" by Sebastian Barry; "From A to X" by John Berger; "The Lost Dog" by Michelle de Kretser; "Sea of Poppies" by Amitav Ghosh; "The Clothes on Their Backs" by Linda Grant;
"A Case of Exploding Mangoes" by Mohammed Hanif; "The Northern Clemency" by Philip Hensher; "Netherland" by Joseph O'Neill; "The Enchantress of Florence" by Salman Rushdie; "Child 44" by Tom Rob Smith; and "A Fraction of the Whole" by Steve Toltz.
Chair of judges, former British minister Michael Portillo, commented: "The judges are pleased with the geographical balance of the long list with writers from Pakistan, India, Australia, Ireland and the UK."
"We also are happy with the interesting mix of books, five first novels and two novels by former winners. The list covers an extraordinary variety of writing. Still two qualities emerge this year: large scale narrative and the striking use of humor." The judging panel for the 2008 Man Booker Prize for Fiction includes: Michael Portillo (chair), former MP and cabinet minister, Alex Clark, editor of Granta; Louise Doughty, novelist; James Heneage, founder of Ottakar's bookshops and Hardeep Singh Kohli, TV and radio broadcaster. The 2008 shortlist will be unveiled Sep 9 and the winner will be announced Oct 14. Salman Rushdie is an Indian-born English novelist and critic, famous for fantastical novels about the post-colonial relationship between cultures of the East and West. Raised in India and Pakistan, he was educated in England and emigrated there in 1965. A graduate of Cambridge University (1968), Rushdie worked as an actor and in advertising until the success of his second novel, Midnight's Children (1981, Booker Prize), which allowed him to work as a writer full-time. That novel cemented Rushdie's literary fame but he became even more famous for the controversy stirred by his 1988 novel The Satanic Verses.
Rushdie's depiction of Muhammad and other Islamic figures in the book offended some members of Islam and the novel was banned in India soon after its publication. Iran's political and religious leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa on 14 February 1989 declaring that Muslims should kill Rushdie for defaming Muhammad and insulting Islam. The order was not rescinded by Iran until 1998 and Rushdie for many years avoided the public and had police protection when he traveled. After the publication of his novel, The Moor's Last Sigh (1995, Whitbread Prize), he became a public figure once again and has since published novels, story collections and essays that challenge cultural conventions of both the East and the West.
Despite decades of sharp criticism of the British government, Rushdie was made a Knight Bachelor in June of 2007 and is now referred to as Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie. The announcement of his knighthood rekindled the ire of strident Islamic groups in Iran, Pakistan and Malaysia. His other novels include Shame (1983), The Ground Beneath Her Feet (1999) and Shalimar the Clown (2005). Amitav Ghosh is one of India's best-known writers. His books include The Circle of Reason, The Shadow Lines, In An Antique Land, Dancing in Cambodia, The Calcutta Chromosome, The Glass Palace, Incendiary Circumstances and The Hungry Tide. His most recent novel, Sea of Poppies, is the first volume of the Ibis Trilogy.
Amitav Ghosh was born in Calcutta in 1956. He studied in Dehra Dun, New Delhi, Alexandria and Oxford and his first job was at the Indian Express newspaper in New Delhi. He earned a doctorate at Oxford before he wrote his first novel, which was published in 1986.
The Circle of Reason won the Prix Medicis Etranger, one of France's top literary awards and The Shadow Lines won the Sahitya Akademi Award and the Ananda Puraskar. The Calcutta Chromosome won the Arthur C. Clarke Award for 1997 and The Glass Palace won the Grand Prize for Fiction at the Frankfurt International e-Book Awards in 2001.
The Hungry Tide won the Hutch Crossword Book Prize in 2006. In 2007 Amitav Ghosh was awarded the Grinzane Cavour Prize in Turin, Italy. Amitav Ghosh has written for many publications, including the Hindu, The New Yorker and Granta and he has served on the juries of several international film festivals, including Locarno and Venice. He has taught at many universities in India and the USA including Delhi University, Columbia, the City University of New York and Harvard. He no longer teaches and is currently writing the next volume of the Ibis Trilogy. He is married to the writer, Deborah Baker and has two children, Lila and Nayan. He divides his time between Kolkata, Goa and Brooklyn.
BY LAVANYA GARIKINA
