This week, our editors on the ground are bringing news of book fairs, prestigious awards, and new mediums for well-loved texts. Suhasini Patni takes us through the JCB Literary Prize longlist, David Boyd introduces a new adaptation of Banana Yoshimoto, and Eva Wissting welcomes back the revitalised, in-person edition of the Gothenburg Book Fair. Read on to find out more!
Suhasini Patni, Editor-at-Large, reporting from India
August and September have been the months of literary awards in India. The fourth iteration of the JCB Literary Prize, known as India’s most “valuable literary prize” has announced its longlist; the panel of judges—“author and translator Sara Rai—who will act as chair, 2018 JCB Prize-winner Shahnaz Habib, designer and art historian Dr. Annapurna Garimella, journalist and editor Prem Panicker, and writer and podcaster Amit Verma”—have chosen mainly debut novels for the longlist.
There are also three novels in translation, all from Malayalam. Notably, the prize last year went to Moustache, written by S. Hareesh and translated from Malayalam by Jayasree Kalathil. The books on the longlist are: Delhi: A Soliloquy, written by M Mukundan (translated by Fathima EV and Nandakumar M), Anti-Clock by VJ James (translated by Ministhy S), and The Man Who Leant to Fly but Could Not Land by Thachom Poyil Rajeevan (translated by PJ Mathew).
Delhi: A Soliloquy was the winner of Ezhuthachan Puraskaram, the highest literary award given by the government of Kerala. The book is set during the 60s-80s and follows the lives of Malayalis living in Delhi, exploring how the daily existence of migrants are full of disruption and longing. While the capital undergoes a war with China, the Emergency, and the anti-Sikh riots, the families struggle to earn money to send back home. “Delhi’s underbelly is laden with squalor and misery. I wanted to talk about these dark sides of the city,” said the author. But the loneliness and alienation of migration is captured through a discussion on language.
She didn’t know Hindi, and no one spoke Malayalam. For a few months, she had to live without language. For the first time in her life, she understood what it meant to be isolated.
The New India Foundation also announced its longlist for the fourth edition of the Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay NIF Book Prize, celebrating excellence in non-fiction writing. The foundation is also currently accepting translation fellows for work in non-fiction. The mentors for this fellowship include writers like Ayesha Kidwai, Vivek Shanbag, and Rana Safvi among many others.
The Gordon Graham Prize for Naga Literature also announced its shortlist in late August. According to the Kohima Education Trust, “the award is for a published book, fiction or non-fiction, which recognizes and rewards the knowledge-keepers and idea-givers of Naga society and to encourage reading and writing in the Naga community.” Last year, Easterine Kire bagged the prize in the fiction category for her novel When the River Sleeps. There are four books in the shortlist for the fiction category.
David Boyd, Editor-at-Large, reporting from Japan
A film adaptation of Banana Yoshimoto’s Moonlight Shadow was released in Japan on September 10. The film was directed by Edmund Yeo (Malu) and stars Nana Komatsu. Yoshimoto debuted as a novelist in 1987 with Kitchen; the following year, she published Moonlight Shadow, which was originally written while she was studying at Nihon University. The story won the sixteenth Kyōka Izumi Prize in 1988.
Yeo’s Moonlight Shadow builds on Yoshimoto’s story of love and loss, adding new scenes and characters. But ultimately, the director says, the film remains true to the story that inspired it. Yoshimoto has been very supportive of Yeo’s film, calling it a “masterpiece” on social media.
The English translation of Moonlight Shadow by Megan Backus was published as a companion story in Kitchen (1993).
On September 15, Fuji TV on Demand aired the first episode of The Heike Story (Heike monogatari). The animated series, which is directed by Naoko Yamada (K-On!), focuses on a psychic orphan who calls herself Biwa. Yamada’s Heike Story is based on Hideo Furukawa’s 2016 translation of The Tale of the Heike, which was published as part of the thirty-volume Collected Works of Japanese Literature (Nihon bungaku zenshū), edited by Natsuki Ikezawa. The collection also contains modern translations by novelists Mieko Kawakami (Ichiyō Higuchi’s Growing Up [Takekurabe]) and Hiromi Kawakami (Tales of Ise [Ise monogatari]), among others.
When Furukawa completed his translation of The Tale of the Heike, he wrote a new story rooted in the same world, called The Tale of the Heike: The Inu-oh Chapters (Heike monogatari Inu-ō no maki). Furukawa’s tale of friendship between a cursed dancer and a blind biwa priest has recently been adapted as an animated film (Inu-oh) directed by Masaaki Yuasa (The Night is Short, Walk on Girl [Yoru wa mijikashi aruke yo otome]). Yuasa’s adaptation, which features music by Yoshihide Ōtomo, premiered at the Venice International Film Festival earlier this month. Inu-oh will be shown in theaters in 2022.
Eva Wissting, Editor-at-Large, reporting from Sweden
This weekend, Sweden’s biggest annual book event, the Gothenburg Book Fair, is back after being forced to move online last year as a consequence of the pandemic. Each year has its own themes; this time, they are Democracy, Nordic Literature, and the Importance of Reading. Since 1985, the book fair has become increasingly popular with programming specifically tailored not just for the publishing industry, but also for librarians and teachers, as well as readers among the general public. During its four days, about a third of its 85,000 visitors are tradespeople and professionals, while two thirds are simply book lovers who come to listen to readings, author talks, and interviews—or to browse or shop on the exhibition floor.
Last time the fair was held as an in-person event in 2019, there were almost eight hundred exhibitors from twenty-three countries and over three hundred seminars with guests of thirty-eight different nationalities. This year, however, the usually crowded exhibition floor—which normally offers several thousands of readings and other programming—will be missing, as adjustments remain to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Instead, the Swedish Exhibition and Congress Centre in Gothenburg will host large TV studios with room for live audiences during interviews, panels, and author talks, along with online viewers through Book Fair Play. Seminars are offered online with subtitles in English, French, German, Spanish, and Arabic, and they are available until the end of the year. Book Fair Play was developed last year, when the fair was held entirely online, but this year the program is a hybrid with a mix of on-site and online programming. The development of Book Fair Play and its online accessibility proved successful in that it managed to reach a new audience: 25% of last year’s viewers had never visited the book fair in person before.
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