Perumal Murugan makes it to Booker longlist 2023

CHENNAI: Tamil writer Perumal Murugan has been selected for the International Booker prize longlist for 2023, the Booker Prize Foundation announced on Tuesday. Murugan makes it to the prestigious list with his 2016 book 'Pyre', translated from Tamil by Aniruddhan Vasudevan. 'Pyre' tells the tale of an inter-caste couple who elope, setting in motion a story of terrifying foreboding.
The 56-year-old is the first Tamil writer to make it to the longlist of 13 works.
The prize jury termed Murugan a "great anatomist of power and, in particular, of the deep, deforming rot of caste hatred and violence".
Murugan, who is 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 great acceptance for 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 over phone.
"Nowadays, the issue of honour killings is being highlighted in novels, stories, cinemas and social media. So, such incidents become news and come into the public domain. It is a very healthy thing (in terms of fighting against the menace).
"Around 10 to 20 years ago, nobody would have known about incidents of honour killings. Now, that is not the situation, and there have been a lot of social changes. I feel that the practice itself will go away in the coming years," Murugan said.
For the 56-year-old former college lecturer, the writings seek to dispel the notion that things are always good in villages, and the novel 'Pyre' has also tried to do the same.
"We assume that people are innocent... that's how it has been registered in common sense. But it is not... Humans, whether they are in rural or urban areas, there will be those with dirt and scams (associated with them)," he said.
Murugan, who lives in Namakkal in Tamil Nadu, is currently working on a new novel and also writing short stories. So far, he has authored 11 novels, 5 collections each of short stories and poetry and non-fictional works.
The other longlisted books are: 'Ninth Building' by Zou Jingzhi and translated by Jeremy Tiang, 'A System So Magnificent It Is Blinding' by Amanda Svensson and translated by Nichola Smalley, 'Still Born' by Guadalupe Nettle and translated by Rosalind Harvey, 'While We Were Dreaming' by Clemens Meyer and translated by Katy Derbyshire, and 'The Birthday Party' by Laurent Mauvignier and translated by Daniel Levin Becker.
'Jimi Hendrix Live in Lviv' by Andrey Kurkov and translated by Rueben Woolley, 'Is Mother Dead' by Vigdis Hjorth and translated by Charlotte Barslund, 'Standing Heavy' by GauZ' and translated by Frank Wynne, 'Time Shelter' by Georgi Gospondinov and translated by Angela Rodel, 'The Gospel According to the New World' by Maryse Conde and translated by Richard Philcox, 'Whale' by Cheon Myeong-kwan and translated by Chi-Young Kim, and 'Boulder' by Eva Baltasar and translated by Julia Sanches also made it to the list.
Complementing the Booker Prize for Fiction, the international prize is awarded every year for a single book that is translated into English and published in the UK or Ireland.
The winner of the award receives a prize of 50,000 pounds, which is split between the author and translator equally. PTI