Indian writer Gitanjali Shri has won the International Booker Prize for her novel ‘Sand Tomb’. This was announced Thursday, May 26, by the Irish translator, Frank Wayne, chair of the jury.
The book tells the story of an 80-year-old Indian woman who became deeply depressed after the death of her husband and the deterioration of relations with her daughter. The woman decides to take a trip to Pakistan, which revives in her heart painful memories of the division of the country, and the woman finally finds new sources of joy in her life.
It is noteworthy that “Tomb in the Sand” is the first book translated from Hindi to win the “Booker Prize”. The American writer and translator, Daisy Rockefell, translated the novel into English. The Booker Prize shortlist included six literary works written in Spanish, Korean, Polish, Hindi and Japanese. Among the books nominated for this year’s prize was the Polish writer Olga Tokarczuk’s novel “Jacob’s Books”, which had won the 2018 Booker Prize.