Tomb of Sand, English translation of Ret Samadhi longlisted in Intl Booker List

Team L&M

Tomb of Sand, author Geetanjali Shree’s novel, translated from the Hindi by Daisy Rockwell, has been nominated for this year’s International Booker Prize. This is the first time a translation of a Hindi language book has been nominated for the International Booker Prize. Says its translator Rockwell, “Tomb of Sand is a rich, beautiful, experimental work. It was an honour to work with Geetanjali Shree to create the English translation.”

Tomb of Sand, one of its kind Partition novel, was first published in Hindi as Ret Samadhi in 2018 and Penguin is releasing its English translation in this month. The book earlier bagged the English Pen Award.

The longlist for the 2022 International Booker Prize includes 13 titles. The jury is chaired by Frank Wynne, an Irish literary translator from French and Spanish. The judging panel consists of Merve Emre, Associate Professor of English Literature at the University of Oxford, Zimbabwean lawyer and writer Petina Gappah, translator and author Jeremy Tiang and Viv Groskop, writer, critic, broadcaster and stand-up comedian.

The shortlist of six books will be announced on 7 April 2022.