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FOUR Indian authors have found a place in the long list of the prestigious Man Asian Literary Prize 2008. All four Indians authors were published by Penguin, a statement from the publisher said Thursday. The long list of the prize was announced July 22 and there are 21 writers on this list this year. The Man Asian Literary Prize, sponsored by the Man Group which sponsors the Booker Prize as well, is open to works of fiction in English (original or in translation) written by a living person of Asian origin that have not been published at the time of submission. The nominated books that feature on this year’s long list are The Lost Flamingoes of Bombay by Siddharth Dhanvant Shanghvi, The Last Pretence by Sarayu Srivatsa, The Story That Must Not Be Told by Kavery Nambisan and Neti, Neti by Anjum Hasan. Shanghvi’s first novel The Last Song of Dusk in 2004 was much acclaimed. It won the Betty Trask Award and the Premio Grinzane Cavour, and was nominated for the IMPAC Prize. An affair between a married older woman and a young photographer takes centrestage in The Lost Flamingoes of Bombay, a sharp examination of modern India’s perverse fascination with celebrity, the tension between public morality and private desire, and all the awful things done in the name of love. This title will be brought out by Penguin in December. The long list was chosen from submissions received from all over Asia and the largest number of submissions were from India. The prize received submissions from well-established as well as first-time authors, and entries included translated works as well as works originally in English. The judging panel for the prize include Adrienne Clarkson, former governor general of Canada (chair), Nicholas Jose, writer and scholar and Pankaj Mishra, acclaimed Indian writer. The shortlist will be announced in October 2008, and the winner will be announced in November at an awards ceremony in Hong Kong. — IANS
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