Tamil novel 'Pyre' longlisted for International Booker Prize

London/Delhi: Indian author Perumal Murugan's Tamil novel 'Pyre' is among 13 books from across Asia, Africa, Europe and Latin America to make it to the longlist of the International Booker Prize 2023, announced by the Booker Prize Foundation here on Tuesday. Murugan, 56, makes it to the prestigious list with his 2016 book "Pyre", translated from Tamil by Aniruddhan Vasudevan, becoming the first Tamil writer to make it to the longlist of 13 works. "Pyre", tells the tale of an intercaste couple who elope, setting in motion a story of terrifying foreboding.

The coveted literary prize, won last year by Geetanjali Shree and translator Daisy Rockwell for the first-ever Hindi novel 'Tomb of Sand', is awarded annually for a work of fiction written originally in any language, translated into English and published in the UK or Ireland. The GBP 50,000 prize money is shared between the writer and translator of the winning work, which will be declared this year on May 23. Murugan, based in Salem in Tamil Nadu, described "Pyre" as a very important book of his.

"Just a few minutes back someone broke the news to me. I am very happy, and this is a great acceptance of my writing... 'Pyre' deals with honour killing. Honour killing is a very big problem in our country, I hope more people get to know about this issue after this recognition," Murugan told PTI over the phone.

The Tamil Nadu-born author, scholar and poet has written 10 novels, five collections of short stories and four anthologies of poetry. He won the Sahitya Akademi's Translation Prize for his novel 'Madhorubhagan', translated by Vasudevan as 'One Part Woman'.

"Perumal Murugan is a great anatomist of power and, in particular, of the deep, deforming rot of caste hatred and violence. With flashes of fable, his novel tells a story specific and universal: how flammable are fear and the distrust of others," Booker's prize judging panel noted. In 2015, Murugan declared himself "dead" and announced his retirement from writing following protests, litigation and the burning of this later award-winning work. At a court case in 2016 centred on the book, the judge ruled, "Let the author be resurrected to what he is best at. Write."

For Murugan, the statement was both "a command and a benediction" to resume writing, the Booker Prize judges note. The 13 Booker longlisted works originate in 12 countries and are translated from 11 languages. The subject matter covered includes the elements of Indian melodrama, Korean fairy tale, French horror, Caribbean gospel and Scandinavian saga.

"What was very rewarding about this experience was reading books from all over the world, with an extraordinary variety of form and content. Each of the judges had different tastes, and that is what we have tried to reflect in this list," said French-Moroccan novelist Leïla Slimani, the Chair of judges for the International Booker Prize 2023.