The much anticipated longlist for the US $25,000 DSC Prize for South Asian Literature 2018 was announced recently by eminent historian and academic Rudrangshu Mukherjee, who is the chair of the jury panel for the distinguished prize.

As many as 16 novels, including four translated works, are in contention for the coveted prize.

The list includes four works translated from Assamese, Kannada, Tamil and Hindi. The list features six women authors and three women translators. Two outstanding debut novels find place alongside the works of several established writers.

A five-member international jury panel diligently went through 88 eligible entries at this year’s DSC Prize to arrive at this year’s longlist of 16 novels which they feel represent the best works of fiction related to the South Asian region.

Here is a list of the books in contention for the prize:

Anuradha Roy: All The Lives We Never Lived (Hachette, India)

Arundhati Roy: The Ministry Of Utmost Happiness (Alfred Knopf, USA and Hamish Hamilton, Canada)

Chandrakanta: The Saga Of Satisar (Translated by Ranjana Kaul, Zubaan Books, India)

Deepak Unnikrishnan: Temporary People (Penguin Books, Penguin Random House, India)

Jayant Kaikini: No Presents Please (Translated by Tejaswini Niranjana, Harper Perennial, HarperCollins India)

Jeet Thayil: The Book Of Chocolate Saints (Aleph Book Company India and Faber & Faber, UK)

Kamila Shamsie: Home Fin (River-head Books, USA and Bloomsbury, UK)

Manu Joseph: Miss Laila Armed And Dangerous (Fourth Estate, Harper – Collins, India)

Mohsin Hamid: Exit West (River-head Books, USA and Hamish Hamilton, Penguin Random House, India)

Neel Mukherjee: A State Of Freedom (Chatto & Windus, Vintage, USA and Hamish Hamilton, Penguin Random House, India)

Perumal Murugan: Poonachi (Translated by N Kalyan Raman, Context, Westland Publications, India)

Prayaag Alcbar: Leila (Simon & Schuster, India)

Rita Chowdhury: Chinatown Days (Translated by Rita Chowdhury, MacmilIan, Pan Macmillan, India)

SJ Sindu: Marriage Of A Thousand Lies (Soho Press, USA)

Sujit Saraf: Harilal & Sons (Speaking Tiger, India)

Tabish Khair: Night Of Happiness (Picador, Pan Macmillan, India)

The US $25,000 DSC Prize for South Asian Literature which was instituted by Surina Narula and Manhad Narulain 2010, is one of the most prestigious international literary awards specifically focussed on South Asian writing.

The unique and coveted prize, which is organised by the South Asian Literature Prize & Events Trust, is open to authors of any ethnicity or nationality as long as the writing is about South Asia and its people. It also encourages writing in regional languages and translations and the prize money is equally shared between the author and the translator in case a translated entry wins.

Now in its eight year, the DSC Prize has been successful in bringing South Asian writing to a larger global audience through rewarding and showcasing the achievements of the authors writing about this region.

Past winners of the DSC Prize have been HM Naqvi of Pakistan, Shehan Karunatilaka of Sri Lanka, Jeet Thayil and Cyrusl Astry from India, American author of Indian origin Jhumpa Lahiri, and Anuradha Roy from India. Anuk Arudpragasam of Sri Lanka won the prize last year.