Malayali author Benyamin bags India's richest book prize

The south Indian literary master Benyamin was awarded India's most valuable literature prize for his novel Jasmine Days. The story follows a young woman caught up in the Arab Spring protests of 2011.
Funded by the British construction giant JCB, the award of 25 lakh INR and a trophy was conferred upon Benyamin at a gala event in New Delhi on Wednesday, October 24. An additional 5 lakh INR was awarded to Shahnaz Habib, who translated the book from Malayalam into English.

Bestselling author and the chair of the 2018 JCB Prize for Literature judging panel Vivek Shanbhag commented, "The courage shown by Benyamin in 'Jasmine Days' in examining some of the most important conflicts of our times is exceptional". It is a "brilliant and intense novel", added Shanbagh.

Originally written in Malayalam, Benyamin’s book Jasmine Days has been translated by Shahnaz Habib. The author himself described the book as a "metaphor for the world today, full of fanatics."

The prize organizers expect the award to increase accessibility to literary fiction across various vernacular languages and give people the opportunity to think outside their so-called "linguistic ghettos". India has 22 official languages and a host of other unrecognised tongues and dialects.

Rana Dasgupta, author and literary director of JCB Prize for Literature, said, “We live in frantic times and translation is one of the things that can bring us together." He added that the true success of the prize would be measured by how it can drive more readers into buying books.

Drawing its inspiration from the Man Booker Prize, the JCB award is a prestigious annual award for Indian books translated or written in English.

Submissions for the award commenced in March 2018, and 42 different publishers had nominated their books. The JCB literature prize had a jury of five literary giants from India.