India’s Aravind Adiga wins Booker prize
India’s first time novelist Aravind Adiga on Wednesday won the 50,000 pounds ($87,000) Man Booker Prize 2008 for his novel, The White Tiger.
|
Aravind Adiga poses for photographers after winning the Man Booker Prize 2008 in London.
|
Young Indian writer Aravind Adiga is one of the two first-time novelists on the 2008 Man Booker’s shortlist of six. The other is Australia’s Steve Toltz.
Only two other debut novelists have achieved this in the past – D B C Pierre in 2003 for his novel Vernon God Little and India’s Arundhati Roy in 1997 for The God of Small Things .
33-year-old Adiga, who wanted to be a novelist since he was a boy, was born in Chennai and now lives in Mumbai.
The White Tiger is a “compelling, angry and darkly humorous” novel about a man’s journey from Indian village life to entrepreneurial success. It was described by reviewers as an “unadorned portrait” of Indian scene “from the bottom of the heap”.
Adiga is the fourth Indian born-author to win the prize, joining compatriots Salman Rushdie, Arundhati Roy and Kiran Desai who won the prize in 1981, 1997 and 2006 respectively.
A fifth winner, V S Naipaul is of Indian ancestry. Adiga’s The White Tiger is the ninth winning novel to take its inspiration from India or Indian identity.
Today’s win is a first for publisher Atlantic; although they had books shortlisted for the prize in 2003 with The Good Doctor by Damon Gaigut and in 2004 with Bitter Fruit by Achmat Dangor.
Peter Clarke, Chief Executive of Man Group PLC, presented a cheque of 50,000 pounds to Adiga at a gala dinner in the Guildhall here.
Michael Portillo, Chair of the judges, said “The judges found the decision difficult because the shortlist contained such strong candidates. In the end, The White Tiger prevailed because the judges felt that it shocked and entertained in equal manner.
“The novel undertakes the extraordinarily difficult task of gaining and holding the reader’s sympathy…dealing with pressing social issues and significant global developments with astonishing humour.”
Each of the six shortlisted authors, including the winner, receives 2,500 pounds (USD 4,357) and a designer-bound edition of their book.
The judging panel for the 2008 Man Booker Prize for Fiction comprised: former MP and Cabinet minister Michael Portillo, editor of Granta Alex Clark; novelists Louise Doughty, founder of Ottakar’s bookshops James Heneage and Hardeep Singh Kohli, a TV and radio broadcaster.
Aravind Adiga poses for pictures with his book “The White Tiger”
More News
Indian writer Aravind Adiga on Tuesday won the 2008 Booker Prize, one of the world’s most prestigious literary awards, for his debut novel “The White Tiger”, the judges announced.
The 33-year-old was awarded the 50,000-pound (87,000-dollar, 64,000-euro) prize at a ceremony in London for his tale of a man’s journey from Indian village life to entrepreneurial success.
Chairman of the judges Michael Portillo said the book’s originality in showing “the dark side of India” had set it apart from the others.
“My criteria were ‘does it knock my socks off?’, and this one did,” he said.
Adiga was one of two Indian writers nominated for the award, which is given to the best work of fiction by an author from the Commonwealth or the Republic of Ireland, alongside Amitav Ghosh for “Sea of Poppies.”
The other shortlisted authors were Australia’s Steve Toltz, with “A Fraction of the Whole”, Irishman Sebastian Barry for “The Secret Scripture”, and British writers Linda Grant and Philip Hensher for “The Clothes on Their Backs” and “The Northern Clemency” respectively.
“The White Tiger” follows Balram Halwai, the son of a rickshaw puller who dreams of better things than life as teashop worker and driver.
But when he finally makes it to the bright lights of New Delhi, he is caught between his loyalty to his family and his desire to better himself.
“I would like to dedicate this award to the people of New Delhi,” Adiga said on accepting the prize, adding that 300 years ago it was the most important city on Earth and could become so again.
Portillo said Adiga’s book was chosen because it “shocked and entertained in equal measure”.
“The novel undertakes the extraordinarily difficult task of gaining and holding the reader’s sympathy for a thoroughgoing villain,” he said, adding that it also dealt with pressing social issues with “astonishing humour”.
Adiga, who was born in Madras on October 23, 1974, and now lives in Mumbai, is the fourth Indian-born author to win the Booker Prize since it was set up in 1969, joining compatriots Salman Rushdie, Arundhati Roy and Kiran Desai.
His book is the ninth winning novel to take its inspiration from India or Indian identity.
Adiga is also only the third debut novelist to win after DBC Pierre in 2003, for “Vernon God Little”, and Roy in 1997 for “The God of Small Things”.
Now in its 40th year, the Booker Prize has become one of the most prestigious literary awards in the world. It is open to full-length novels published in the past year and originally written in English.
Winning all but guarantees worldwide readership and a spike in book sales — according to Amazon online retailer, sales of the six shortlisted books rose by an average of 700 percent after the list was announced last month.
Last year’s winner, “The Gathering” by Anne Enright, has sold more than half a million copies in English language editions.
The other shortlisted authors receive 2,500 pounds and a designer-bound edition of their novel.
Beating predictions by bookies and others, debutant Indian novelist 33-year-old Aravind Adiga’s book “The White Tiger” was on Wednesday declared the winner of the prestigious Man Booker Prize for Fiction for 2008.
Adiga beat favourite Sebastian Barry to take the 50,000 pound ($47,000) prize. The other authors in the shortlist were Amitav Ghosh, Steve Toltz, Linda Grant and Philip Hensher.
Adiga’s novel was described as a “compelling, angry and darkly humorous” novel about a man’s journey from Indian village life to entrepreneurial success. It was described by one reviewer as an “unadorned portrait” of India seen “from the bottom of the heap”. (Watch)
Adiga, who wanted to be a novelist since he was a boy, was born in Madras (now known as Chennai) and now lives in Mumbai.
Some of the reviews for Aravind Adiga’s The White Tiger.
The Independent:
“It explodes the cliches of ornamental prose, the scent of saffron and welcomes an India where call-centre workers tread the same pavement as beggars who burn rubbish for warmth.”
Blog Critic:
“Adiga not only peels the gloss of the economic miracle to expose the rot, he instructs on the way a small minority are able to subjugate the majority.”
The Telegraph:
“Its caricatures are sharp and confident. It is full of barbed wit, if not actually funny. It won’t win prizes for subtlety. But it hasn’t been nominated for those.”
The New Yorker:
“About rural India where education and electricity are scarce, and villagers banter about elections “like eunuchs discussing the Kama Sutra”.
He becomes the fifth Indian author to win the prize, joining V S Naipaul, Salman Rushdie, Arundhati Roy and Kiran Desai who won the prize in 1971, 1981, 1997 and 2006 respectively.
In addition, “The White Tiger” is the ninth winning novel to take its inspiration from India or Indian identity.
His book, “The White Tiger”, has been published by Atlantic Books and has already won rave reviews.
Michael Portillo, chairman of the judges, said: “In many ways it was the perfect novel.
“The judges found the decision difficult because the shortlist contained such strong candidates. In the end, The White Tiger prevailed because the judges felt that it shocked and entertained in equal measure.
“The novel undertakes the extraordinarily difficult task of gaining and holding the reader’s sympathy for a thoroughgoing villain. The book gains from dealing with pressing social issues and significant global developments with astonishing humour.”
Portillo went on to explain that the novel had won overall because of “its originality”. He said that “The White Tiger” presented “a different aspect of India” and was a novel with “enormous literary merit”.
Adiga had been given odds of 7/1 before the ceremony by bookmakers William Hill. Irish writer Barry had been tipped to take the prize at 7/4. The bookmakers’ favourite has not won since Yann Martel in 2002.
Adiga was born on October 23, 1974 and raised partly in Australia. He studied at Columbia and Oxford Universities and is a former correspondent for TIME magazine in India.
His articles have appeared in publications such as the Financial Times, Independent and Sunday Times.
Adiga’s book “The White Tiger”, a tale of two Indias, tells the story of Balram, the son of a rickshaw puller in the heartlands, one of the “faceless” poor left behind by the country’s recent economic boom.
It charts his journey from working in a teashop to entrepreneurial success.
The award, which honours the best fiction written in English by an author from the UK, Ireland or the Commonwealth nations, was handed out at the Guildhall in London.
The win means Adiga can expect an upturn in sales and added recognition.(With NDTV inputs)
( Watch Video)
=====
Aravind Adiga’s Biography
Early life and education
Aravind Adiga was born in Chennai in 1974. He grew up in Mangalore and studied at Canara High School, then at St. Aloysius’ College, where he completed his SSLC in 1990. After emigrating to Sydney, Australia with his family, he studied at James Ruse Agricultural High School. He studied English literature at Columbia University, New York and Magdalen College, Oxford.
Career
Adiga began his journalistic career as a financial journalist, with pieces published in Financial Times, Money and the Wall Street Journal.
His review of previous Booker Winner Peter Carey’s book, Oscar and Lucinda, appeared in The Second Circle, an online literary review.[2]
He was subsequently hired by TIME, where he remained a correspondent for three years before going freelance. During his freelance period, he wrote The White Tiger. He is now based in Mumbai.
Booker
Aravind Adiga’s debut novel, “The White Tiger” won the 2008 Booker Prize after competing with five other novels including “Sea of Poppies” by “Amitav Ghosh“, again an Indian. He is the fourth Indian-born author to win the prize, after Salman Rushdie, Arundhati Roy and Kiran Desai (V. S. Naipaul is of Indian ancestry, but not India-born).
Related posts:
- iPhone 3G very soon expected in India
- India Developing a US$10 Laptop!
- Serial Bomb Blast Rocks New Delhi, India
- XCLUSIVE: Apple iPhone 3G Out in India Next Month
- Get Ready for iPhone, India debut in Aug
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
