Pakistani authors Sadia Abbas and Jamil Jan Kochai are making us proud with their works. These authors of Pakistani-origin have been shortlisted for the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature 2019.
Sadia Abbas and Jamil Jan Kochai are two of six authors shortlisted for the DSC Prize. They are the only two authors of Pakistani origin in the nominees.
It was Britain’s London School of Economics and Political Science who broke the news.
Presenting the shortlist of six books for The DSC Prize for South Asian Literature 2019! #DSCPrize2019 pic.twitter.com/LxTEbZdFOu
— The DSC Prize (@thedscprize) November 6, 2019
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Sadia’s novel The Empty Room is set in Karachi in the 1970s amid the rise of political and social unrest in the city.
Congratulations to Sadia Abbas whose novel The Empty Room makes it to the shortlist of the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature 2019.#DSCPrize2019 pic.twitter.com/KrUQaVY8KN
— The DSC Prize (@thedscprize) November 7, 2019
While Jamil’s 99 Nights in Logar tells the story of an Afghan-American boy and his journey in Afghanistan, a country his parents call home. The writer is Pakistani-American himself details the young boy’s journey to self-discovery.
Read the special citation created by the jury for the novel 99 Nights in Logar#DSCPrize2019 @JamilJanKochai pic.twitter.com/OGJuTaQOE3
— The DSC Prize (@thedscprize) November 11, 2019
Getting to know Jamil Jan Kochai and his shortlisted book 99 Nights in Logar.#DSCPrize2019 @JamilJanKochai pic.twitter.com/dRCUw6HA4M
— The DSC Prize (@thedscprize) November 11, 2019
The four other nominees include:
- Amitabha Bagchi’s Half The Night Is Gone,
- Madhuri Vijay’s The Far Field,
- Raj Kamal Jha’s The City and the Sea
- There’s Gunpowder in the Air by Manoranjan Byapari.
The DSC Prize
The founders of the DSC Prize founders, along with jury chair Harish Trivedi and jury member Jeremy Tambling were present at the event when the nominees were announced.
Jury member Jeremy Tambling, DSC Prize co-founder Surina Narula, eminent writer Kate Mosse, Jury Chair Harish Trivedi and Poonam Trivedi at the DSC Prize 2019 shortlist announcement event at the LSE on November 6th#DSCPrize2019 @katemosse @SAsiaLSE pic.twitter.com/vkx06y2I6R
— The DSC Prize (@thedscprize) November 9, 2019
Harish Trivedi, Chair of the Jury Panel for the DSC Prize 2019 announced the shortlist of six novels at the LSE in London on November 6. #DSCPrize2019 pic.twitter.com/LVZ0NXzIpt
— The DSC Prize (@thedscprize) November 8, 2019
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Surina Narula and Manhad Narula founded the DSC Prize to bring South Asian stories to a global audience and celebrate these stories from South Asia.
The DSC Prize is awarded to writers of any ethnicity or nationality writing about South Asia, or South Asian themes such as culture, politics, history, or people. It is awarded annually for an original full-length novel written in English, or translated into English.
Surina Narula , co -founder of the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature talks about her vision for the prize, which is now in
its ninth year#DSCPrize2019 pic.twitter.com/L2J2CYuZVP— The DSC Prize (@thedscprize) November 8, 2019
It’s great to see Pakistani authors bring our stories to that platform. Be it stories about the unrest in Karachi, or issues of cultural identity in today’s Pakistan, we want more of this.