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Indian American Suketu Mehta wins Kiriyama Prize
Suketu Mehta will share the 2005 Kiriyama Prize worth $30,000 with Pakistani British writer Nadeem Aslam.
Indian American author Suketu Mehta will share the 2005 Kiriyama Prize worth $30,000 with Pakistani British writer Nadeem Aslam.
Pacific Rim Voices announced Mehta's, "Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found" for non-fiction and Aslam's novel, "Maps for Lost Lovers," for fiction as the winners.
Pacific Rim Voices is an independent non-profit organisation dedicated to celebrating literature that contributes to greater understanding of and among the peoples and nations of the Pacific Rim and South Asia.
Mehta is a fiction writer and journalist based in New York, while Aslam is based in London.
Susan Saidenberg, one of the judges for non-fiction, said, "This (Mehta's 'Maximum City') big, well-written mosaic should be mandatory reading for anyone wishing to understand the giant at the heart of India, as well as every reader who wishes to gain a deeper appreciation of the religious, and political concerns that divide India and her neighbours."
In the book, Mehta returns to Mumbai, the present name for Bombay, the city of his birth, "to find it drastically altered from the city he once knew, in large part as a result of the violence between Hindus and Muslims in 1993.
"To put a human face on the world's third largest city, Mehta skilfully weaves a narrative encompassing his own experiences and impressions together with a series of personal interviews with a variety of Bombay's citizens."
"Eleven years in the making, Aslam's novel is both a moving love story and a sophisticated murder mystery populated by fully realised characters. Set against the backdrop of a poor South Asian enclave in a British city, the story centres on Kaukab, a pious Muslim wife and mother who relies on her faith to ease her feelings of estrangement from her homeland of Pakistan and from her husband and Westernised children," the prize authorities said.
Apart from the winners, other Indian Kiriyama Prize finalists included "The Sari Shop" by Rupa Bajwa and "Seasons Of The Palm" by Perumal Murugan.
The Kiriyama Prize is awarded annually in recognition of outstanding books that promote greater understanding of and among the nations of the Pacific Rim and of the South Asian subcontinent.
Authors from anywhere in the world are eligible, provided their work is written in English or translated into English, and that it relates to the nations of the Pacific Rim or South Asia in a significant way, the prize authorities said.
