University of Birmingham alumnus UR Ananthamurthy has been shortlisted for the fifth Man Booker International Prize, which recognises one writer for his or her achievement in fiction.
Born in 1932, UR Ananthamurthy is the only Indian amongst the finalists of the prestigious literary prize announced at the DSC Jaipur Literature Festival last week.
Considered to be one of the most important voices of "new movement" in the Kannada language, Ananthamurthy has written five novels, eight short story collections and three poetry collections that have been translated into other languages in India, as well as in Europe.
The author received his doctorate from the University of Birmingham in 1966, having previously completed a Master of Arts in English literature at the Univesity of Mysore.
Best known for his 1966 novel Samskara, the author was also shortlisted for the DSC Prize for South Asian literature in 2012 for his novel Bharatipura (published in English in 2010).
Other finalists of the 2013 Man Booker International Prize include Aharon Appelfeld (Israel), Lydia Davis (USA), Intizar Husain (Pakistan), Yan Lianke (China), Marie Ndiaye (France), Josip Novakovich (Canada), Marilynne Robinson (USA), Vladimir Sorokin (Russia) and Peter Stamm (Switzerland).
Worth £60,000, the Man Booker International Prize prize is awarded every two years to a living author who has published fiction either originally in English or whose work is generally available in translation in the English language. The winner is chosen solely at the discretion of the judging panel and there are no submissions from publishers.
Announcing the list, Chair of the judging panel Sir Christopher Ricks commented: ‘Each is the author of a substantial body of published work, whether novels or short stories, either written in or translated into English. Some of these men and women are in their eighties, the youngest in their forties and fifties. They write in ways that are astonishingly different.”
The Man Booker International Prize is different from the annual Man Booker Prize for Fiction. In seeking out literary excellence, the judges consider a writer's body of work rather than a single novel.
The winner will be announced on 22 May 2013 at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
For media enquiries, please contact: Catherine Byerley, International Media Relations Manager, University of Birmingham on +44 (0) 121 414 8254, Email: c.j.byerley@bham.ac.uk