November 15, 2018
Pakistani authors Kamila Shamsie and Mohsin Hamid have been shortlisted for the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature 2018.
Shamsie’s Home Fire and Hamid’s Exit West will compete with four other authors' works for the coveted $25,000 prize which honours South Asian fiction writing.
According to the DSC, this year’s nominees “poignantly bring alive a wide spectrum of themes and emotions that are so relevant in contemporary South Asian life.”
The other authors that made the shortlist include Jayant Kaikini for her book No Presents Please, Manu Joseph for Miss Laila Armed And Dangerous, Neel Mukherjee for A State Of Freedom, and Sujit Saraf for Harilal & Sons.
Following the announcement of the shortlisted entries, the jury will convene again to select the winning author, ahead of the final award ceremony to be held at the Tata Steel Kolkata Literary Meet in Kolkata, India from January 22 to 27, 2019.
Past winners of the DSC Prize have been H M Naqvi, winner of the inaugural edition, Shehan Karunatilaka of Sri Lanka, Jeet Thayil and Cyrus Mistry from India, American author of Indian origin Jhumpa Lahiri, Anuradha Roy from India, and Anuk Arudpragasam of Sri Lanka.