The DSC Prize today announced its jury that will over the next few months go through the over 80 entries, and come out first with a longlist and then a shortlist, before the winner is finally announced at the next Jaipur Literature Festival.
Satchidanandan, a remarkable poet, writer and critic who writes and translates in Malayalam, will be the chair of the jury that comprises of a wide mix of personalities from the sub-continent.
Besides Satchidanandan, the panel comprises of Pakistani writer-critic Muneeza Shamsie, Director of the Kathmandu literary jatra Suvani Singh, Irish-Canadian cultural entrepreneur Eleanor O Keeffe and literary entrepreneur Rick Simonson.
The DSC Prize honours writings of South Asian writers or works by authors of any ethnicity on subjects pertaining to the South Asian region, its people, culture and diaspora.
The prize also honours the art of translations, and half the prize money goes to a translator if a translated work wins the prize.
"I am happy that the works under consideration include not only writing in English that is doubtlessly flourishing in Asia today, but also translations from a variety of languages about whose inexhaustible creativity I have never been in doubt," Satchidanandan said.
Only in its third edition, the prize has already become an important fixture on the global literary stage.
According to the organisers, this year, the prize has received over 80 entries from 36 publishers, which is 30 per cent more than what was received last year.
The first two editions of the prize were won by Pakistani author H M Naqvi's 'Home Boy' and Sri Lankan author Shehan Karunatilaka's 'The Legend of Pradeep Mathew'.
