The JCB Prize for Literature – one of India’s most coveted literary awards – has unveiled its jury for 2024. In the 7th year of the prize, the members of the jury are Jerry Pinto, author, translator and poet; Deepthi Sasidharan, art historian and curator; Shaunak Sen, filmmaker and writer; Tridip Suhrud, writer and translator and Aqui Thami, an accomplished artist and academic. Jerry Pinto will be the chair of the jury for 2024.
Each member of the jury specializes in distinct cultural and intellectual art forms, mastering various languages and modes of expression. With their varied perspectives, they unite in their commitment to discover the most distinguished fiction from India this year. The JCB Prize for Literature is supported by JCB India Ltd, a leading manufacturer of earthmoving and construction equipment, and is overseen by the JCB Literature Foundation.
“Over the past six years, The JCB Prize for Literature has encountered readers and enthusiasts from all corners of India, and what stood out is the love that literature is receiving across the country. In its seventh year, the prize once again seeks to discover books that are a true representation of what India is reading today. The jury for this year is multi-faceted and brings spirited energy and commitment to awarding exceptional writing and magnificent stories”, said Mita Kapur, Literary Director of The JCB Prize for Literature.
“Honoured to be asked to chair the jury of the JCB Prize which has now become a significant part of the literary calendar in India. What could be better than discussing books with a group of interesting people for the better part of a year?” said Jerry Pinto, Chair of the 2024 jury.
For more information about the Prize, please visit: www.thejcbprize.org. For updates, look
for @thejcbprize on Instagram.
ABOUT THE JURY
Jerry Pinto (Chair)
Writer, Translator and Poet
Jerry Pinto is a poet, writer, editor and translator. He is the author of Em and the Big Hoom, a novel that won him The Crossword Prize, the Hindu Lit for Life Award, and the Sahitya Akademi Award. In 2016, he was awarded the Windham-Campbell Award for Fiction from Yale, USA. His next novel Murder in Mahim won the Valley of Words Award for Fiction. His third novel The Education of Yuri has been published to near universal acclaim.
He has edited several anthologies including: Bombay Meri Jaan: Writings on Mumbai; Reflected in Water: Writings on Goa; The Greatest Show on Earth: Writing on Bollywood and with Shanta Gokhale, a collection of stories on Bombay-Mumbai, Maya Nagari.
He has translated Daya Pawar’s path-breaking autobiography Baluta, Sachin Kundalkar’s debut novel Cobalt Blue, Mallika Amar Sheikh’s I Want To Destroy Myself among others. He has also written books for children. Anya and Her Baby Brother and My Daddy and the Well were on the Parag Honours List. Jerry has two books of poetry, Asylum and I Want a Poem and Other Poems. He sits on the boards of MelJol which works in the sphere of child rights and the People’s Free Reading Room and Library. He has taught journalism at the postgraduate Social Communications Media course of the Sophia Polytechnic, Mumbai for more than thirty years.
Deepthi Sasidharan
Art Historian and Curator
Deepthi Sasidharan is an art historian, curator, and the founder director of Eka Archiving, a prominent cultural advisory firm specializing in heritage and museum projects throughout India. With a comprehensive background in the field, she collaborates with government bodies, private entities, and corporate clients to deliver tailored solutions for a diverse range of projects and works in heading teams that include architects, designers, planners, conservators and project managers.
Deepthi’s expertise extends to the conceptualization and execution of seminal exhibitions and the establishment of archives. Notable among her projects are the archival initiatives for Kalakshetra in Chennai, City Palace in Udaipur, Mumbai Police, and Tata Trusts in Mumbai. Notable installations include the Chowmahalla Palace exhibitions, the historic Bastion Bungalow museum in Fort Kochi, the Museum of Indian Paper Money in Bengaluru and the Arya Kanya Gurukul Museums, Porbandar. Her commitment to academic excellence is underscored by scholarship stints at Portugal’s Fundacao Oriente and a Fulbright Fellowship at the MET in New York.
A prolific writer, Deepthi has co-authored two significant books, one of them being Treasures of the Deccan (2018). Her passion for the field and dedication to preserving India’s rich cultural heritage make her a sought-after professional in the realm of art history and museum curation.
Shaunak Sen
Filmmaker and Writer
Shaunak Sen is an Academy award nominated filmmaker and writer. His film All That Breathes, received nominations at the 2023 Academy and BAFTA awards. The film won awards at Cannes, Sundance, BFI London, IDA and Cinema Eye, and 24 other film festivals.
Cities of Sleep (2016), his first feature-length documentary, was shown at various major international film festivals and won 6 international awards. Shaunak has received grants from Sundance, Tribeca, IDFA – Amsterdam amongst others. He has received the Pro Helvetia residency in Switzerland, the Sarai-CSDS grant, the Charles Wallace grant as visiting scholar at Cambridge University. Shaunak holds a PhD and has published in journals including Bioscope and Widescreen. He is currently an visiting Fellow in the Max Planck Institute, Berlin.
Tridip Suhrud
Scholar, Writer and Translator
Tridip Suhrud is a scholar, writer, translator who works on the Gandhian intellectual tradition. He was the Director and Chief Editor of the Sabarmati Ashram Preservation and Memorial Trust (2012-2017), where he curated the world’s largest digital archives on the life and works of M K Gandhi, the Gandhi Heritage Portal. He is the author, editor, translator of 38 books in three languages – Gujarati, English, Hindi. They include the bilingual critical edition of Hind Swaraj (co-editor and co-translator Suresh Sharma, 2010), English translation of Narayan Desai’s four volume biography of Gandhi, My Life is My Message (2009), English translation of the four -volume epic Gujarati novel Sarasvatichandra (2015) and critical edition of Gandhi’s autobiography An Autobiography or The Story of My Experiments with Truth (2018) in two languages: English and Gujarati. His most recent work is Scorching Love (2022) with Gopalkrishna Gandhi. He has received the Katha Award (1999) Sahitya Akademi Award for translation (English, 2010) and the inaugural Niranjan Bhagat Memorial Award for his work in Gujarati (2019).
Tridip Suhrud is currently working on the testimonies of the peasants of Champaran, three volumes of the possible eight volume project Thumb Printed have been published. He is Professor and Provost, CEPT University, Director of Lalbhai Dalpatbhai Institute of Indology, Ahmedabad and serves as Chairman of the Governing Council of MICA.
Aqui Thami
Artist and Academic
Aqui Thami is a Thangmi woman of the Kiratimma first peoples of the Himalayas. She uses social exchanges and develops safe spaces to position art as a medium of healing in community. Aqui’s interdisciplinary practice ranges across ceremonial interventions, performances, drawings, zine-making, fly posting, and public intervention, brought together by participant involvement; most of her work is self-funded and realised in collaboration.
Sister Library (@sister.library) founded by Aqui is an evolving art work that engages in the in-depth reflection on the visual and reading culture of our times. It is also the first traveling, community owned and community run feminist library of South Asia. Aqui also collaboratively runs Bombay Underground, an artist collective that hosted South Asia’s first Zine Fest, Bombay Zine Fest, and is central to the underground publishing scene, and Dharavi Art Room, a space for children and women in Dharavi to explore creatively.
NOTES TO EDITORS
ABOUT THE JCB PRIZE FOR LITERATURE
The JCB Prize for Literature was set up in 2018 to enhance the prestige of literary achievement in India and create greater visibility for contemporary Indian writing. The prize encourages translations and aims to introduce new audiences to works of Indian literature written in languages other than their own. It is funded by JCB India and administered by the JCB Literature Foundation.
For information about the Prize, please visit: www.thejcbprize.org. For updates, look for @thejcbprize on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
ABOUT THE JCB LITERATURE FOUNDATION
The JCB Literature Foundation, a not-for-profit company registered under Section 8 of the Indian Companies Act, is single-handedly responsible for running the Prize. mIn 2018, JCB India established the JCB Literature Foundation, whose purpose is to promote the art of literature in India, and whose principal activity is to administer The JCB Prize for Literature. A leading global manufacturer of earthmoving and construction equipment, the company has been active in India since 1979. JCB’s desire to create an enduring cultural legacy in India is based on this substantial and long-standing involvement in the country’s social and economic life.
2023 WINNER
Fire Bird by Perumal Murugan, translated from the Tamil by Janani Kannan
2022 WINNER
The Paradise of Food by Khalid Jawed, translated from the Urdu by Baran Farooqi
2021 WINNER
Delhi: A Soliloquy by M. Mukundan, translated from the Malayalam by Fathima E.V. and Nandakumar K
2020 WINNER
Moustache by S. Hareesh, translated from the Malayalam by Jayasree Kalathil
2019 WINNER
The Far Field by Madhuri Vijay
2018 WINNER
Jasmine Days by Benyamin, translated from the Malayalam by Shahnaz Habib
KEY 2024 DATES
Announcement of longlist (of ten): September 2024
Announcement of shortlist (of five): October 2024
Awards ceremony: November 2024
