Tamil author Perumal Murugan's novel 'Pyre' longlisted for International Booker Prize 2023

Tamil author Perumal Murugan's novel 'Pyre' is among 13 books from across Asia, Africa, Europe, and Latin America to make it to the longlist of the International Booker Prize 2023, announced by the Booker Prize Foundation on Tuesday.

Murugan, 56, whose 2016 book has been translated from Tamil by Aniruddhan Vasudevan, has become the first Tamil writer to make it to the longlist of 13 works.

‘Pyre’ tells the tale of an intercaste couple who elope, setting in motion a story of terrifying foreboding.

The coveted literary prize, won last year by Geetanjali Shree and translator Daisy Rockwell for the first-ever Hindi novel 'Tomb of Sand', is awarded annually for a work of fiction written originally in any language, translated into English and published in the UK or Ireland.

The £50,000 prize money is shared between the writer and translator of the winning work, which will be declared this year on May 23.

“Just a few minutes ago someone broke the news to me. I am very happy, and this is a great acceptance of my writing... 'Pyre' deals with honour killing, which is a very big problem in our country, I hope more people get to know about this issue after this recognition," said Murugan, who is based in Salem, Tamil Nadu.

The Tamil Nadu-born author, scholar and poet has written 10 novels, five collections of short stories and four anthologies of poetry. He won the Sahitya Akademi's Translation Prize for his novel 'Madhorubhagan', translated by Vasudevan as 'One Part Woman'.

“Perumal Murugan is a great anatomist of power and, in particular, of the deep, deforming rot of caste hatred and violence. With flashes of fable, his novel tells a story specific and universal: how flammable are fear and the distrust of others,” Booker's prize judging panel noted.