BackGeetanjali Shree not 1st Indian to win Booker Prize: But, here's why Tomb of Sand is special
Booker Prize and International Booker Prize are 2 different awards. Geetanjali Shree became the first Indian author to win the International Booker Prize
PremiumEven as India continues to rejoice the fact that Geetanjali Shree became the first Indian author to win the International Booker Prize, the news has confused many. From the morning, the netizens have been sharing new reports on social media commenting that Shree is the first Indian writer to win the Booker Prize.
Well, this is not the first Booker for an Indian author, but the first International Booker Prize. They aren't the same awards. Here's all that you need to know:
How Booker Prize and International Booker Prize are different?
International Booker Prize: The International Booker Prize, initially known as Man Booker International Prize, was formed in 2005. Between 2005 and 2015, the award was given every two years to a living author of any nationality for published works in English, or works that have been translated in English.
In 2016, the Man Booker International Prize became an annual event for a single book, translated into English. Novels and collections of short stories were also included. In 2019, Man Booker International Prize was renamed as the International Booker Prize.
Booker Prize: The award was constituted in 1969 and every year, the prize is given best novel written in English and published in the UK.
Until 2014, only novels written by Commonwealth, Irish, and South African citizens were eligible to receive the prize. In 2014, the ambit was widened and any English-language novel was open for consideration for the award.
The basic difference:
International Booker Prize is given to an author for their work written in an international language, then translated into English. Meanwhile, Booker Prize is awarded to a book/novel written in English.
For both, the prize money is £50,000. For the International Booker Prize, the award is shared by the author and the translator.
Indians who won Booker Prize
Till now, five Indians have won the prestigious Booker Prize award.
- VS Naipaul won the award for In a Free State in 1971
- Salman Rushdie for Midnight’s Children in 1981
- Arundhati Roy for The God of Small Things in 1997
- Kiran Desai for The Inheritance of Loss in 2006
- Aravind Adiga for The White Tiger in 2008
Indians nominated for International Booker Prize:
So far, 6 Indians have been nominated for International Booker Prize apart Shree.
- Salman Rushdie in 2007,
- Mahasweta Devi and VS Naipaul in 2009,
- Rohinton Mistry in 2011
- UR Ananthamurthy in 2013
- Amitav Ghosh in 2015
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