Who is Geetanjali Shree, whose novel Tomb of Sand won International Booker Prize?

New Delhi: Geetanjali Shree, a Delhi-based Hindi novelist, has become the first Indian to win the International Booker Prize for her novel 'Ret Samadhi'. The prize is awarded to the best translated work of fiction across the world. The English version of the novel is titled 'Tomb of Sand'. This is the first book translated from Hindi to English to have won the award.

"We are delighted to announce that the winner of the #2022InternationalBooker Prize is ‘Tomb of Sand’ by Geetanjali Shree, translated from Hindi to English by
@shreedaisy and published by @tiltedaxispress," the Booker Prize tweeted from its handle. 

The winners of the International Booker Prize get a cash reward of £50,000, same as the Booker Prize, awarded to the best original English Fiction. 

The Tomb of Sand, a story set in the Partition era, narrates the ordeal of a elderly woman after the death of her husband.

Who is Geetanjali Shree?

Geetanjali Shree, aged 65, lives in New Delhi. She has written numerous short stories and five novels. SHe had written a novel Mai in 2000 which was shortlisted for the Crossword Book Award. She had written her first story, Bel Patra, in 1987. It was published in the famous literary magazine Hans. Mai had been a literary success for her as the novel was translated into several languages, including English, Urdu, Serbian and Korean. Nita Kumar had won the Sahitya Akademi Translation Prize for the translation of Mai to English. 

Shree is known for choosing hard-hitting subjects for her novels. Her second novel, Hamara Shahar Us Baras was loosely set on Babri demolition. Her fourth novel Khali Jagah, published in 2006, was translated into English by Nivedita Menon. Ret Samadhi, originally published in 2018, was translated by Daisy Rockwell.