The Sri Lankan debut novelist, Shehan Karunatilaka, has won the $50,000 DSC Prize for South Asian Literature 2012 for his book Chinaman (Random House, India / Jonathan Cape, UK).

The novel explores cricket as a metaphor to uncover a lost life and a lost history and skilfully uses sport and the notion of fair play to look at Sri Lanka in a fresh and exciting way.

The Prize was awarded to Shehan Karunatilaka at a memorable ceremony at the DSC Jaipur Literature Festival, one of the biggest literary festivals in the region and attended by eminent literary figures, renowned authors, members of the media and a diverse literary audience.

A total of six authors were part of the shortlist for the DSC Prize 2012, announced at the closing ceremony of the DSC South Asian Literature Festival in London. The other shortlisted authors were U.R. Ananthamurthy: Bharathipura (Oxford University Press, India, Translated by Susheela Punitha), Chandrakanta: A Street in Srinagar (Zubaan Books, India, Translated by Manisha Chaudhry), Usha K.R: Monkey-man (Penguin/Penguin India), Tabish Khair: The Thing About Thugs (Fourth Estate/HarperCollins-India), and Kavery Nambisan: The Story that Must Not Be Told (Viking/Penguin India)

The DSC Prize was judged by a distinguished Jury chaired by Ira Pande along with Dr. Alastair Niven, Dr. Fakrul Alam , Faiza S Khan and Marie Brenner.

Commenting on the occasion Ira Pande, jury chairperson said:

“The jury unanimously chose this year’s winner. While this fact in itself is a historic one for book juries are notorious for spirited battles over lists and winners, let me add that this year’s winner is also important for several other reasons. The winning title is a brilliant narration of all that is both great and sad about South Asia and in that sense it brings a world to the reader that needs to be seen outside this region. No longer are novelists who write of violence, breakdown of communities and the old way of life able to speak the whole truth about our world.

“The speech rhythms of smaller towns and indigent characters, so seldom seen and heard, are brought alive by a writer who handles character and speech with consummate ease. That world has long needed a suitable metaphor and he has discovered it: cricket. Set in Sri Lanka, as an epic search for a lost player, Chinaman by Shehan Karunatilake is both a portrait of a lost way of life and a glimpse into the future this vast and vivid region is fated to occupy.”

Read SALF’s review of Chinaman and an exclusive interview with the author.

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