The news came in a few days ago that this year’s Man Booker Prize has been awarded to Shehan Karunatilaka, the Sri Lankan author of The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida, which explores the civil war in his country. It appears to be a good time for South Asian writing for just a few months ago, the International Booker Prize (which is for translated fiction) was awarded to Gitanjali Shree for Tomb of Sand, which was Ret ki Samadhi in the Hindi original, and speaks, inter alia, of the tragic unfolding of the Partition and how it affected millions of lives.
There are lessons here for both writers and publishers to be found in these awards. These can be found in the names of the publishers who published both these books. Shehan’s book was published by little-known Sort of Books, a London-based indie publisher. Tomb of Sand too did not find a big mainstream publisher and was published by relatively unknown Tilted Axis Books, a non-profit British publishing house.
Every writer first approaches the big publishing houses and then if after trying for several months or even years he is still unsuccessful in securing a deal, he settles for a lesser-known publishing house. It can be fairly assumed that the publishers who eventually took out their books were not either Shehan’s or Gitanjali Shree’s first choice.
The clear implication of this is that publishers are cowards, not only in Sri Lanka and India but also in the United Kingdom. Big publishing houses such as Harper Collins and Penguin do have a literary section that considers literary fiction for publication aside from commercial fiction. However, the editors in these sections clearly slipped up in ignoring these two gems. Now that these books have won major awards, the big publishing houses will eagerly queue up to partner with the small publishers who will not have the network or infrastructure to promote these books globally.
Shehan’s case is a little more complex. It is easy to understand his mistrust of the selection process of big publishing houses. Chinaman: The Legend of Pradeep Mathew, his very first novel, garnered for him the Commonwealth Prize but was, amazingly enough, self-published. It was fortunate for him that the prize did not disqualify self-published work which is the case with some other awards. Not only did it win him the Commonwealth Prize but also the DSC Prize and the Gratiaen Prize.
Every artist craves a degree of validation from the outside world, which may take the form of sales, reviews, and awards, and writers are no exception. The Booker, be it the Man Booker or the International Booker, is one of the most respected literary awards in the world, and can catapult a hitherto unknown writer to international literary stardom. Lesser awards often follow, and for the authors and publishers there is the additional possibility of a web series or movies being made that are based on these books.
The Indian author Kiran Desai who won the Man Booker Prize in 2006 for The Inheritance of Loss, observed in an interview that there was an extraordinary amount of chance in her winning the award. She was not being modest here, simply honest.
In Shehan’s case the irony is that his book was already published two years earlier by Penguin India under the title Chats with the Dead. However, even being published by as illustrious name as Penguin India does not mean that your book has been published ‘internationally.’ The Man Booker can only be awarded to a book that has been published in the UK, and therefore his book in its Penguin India avatar could not have been considered eligible for the prize. It was important for Shehan that his book be published internationally, but since Penguin was not willing to do that, for whatever reasons, he had to find someone else. Many authors would have given up but kudos to Shehan for his persistence for had he not persisted the book would not have been published in the UK in a further edited version. He could have all too easily given up, for in a sense his book was already published in India. But then if it had not been published in the UK it could not have won the Man Booker. Now of course Penguin India has partnered with Tilted Axis Books, the small UK publisher, to launch the newer version of the book in India!
What are the lessons here for publishers? The lesson for big publishers is to improve their manuscript evaluation or assessment process, and not think only of profits. The lesson for indie presses is to keep a look out for excellent work that may have been ignored by the big publishers. Together with their authors Tilted Axis Books and Sort of Books have also now become famous in publishing circles.
What are the lessons for authors if any? The lesson for authors is to not take a rejection by the big publishers too much to heart. Somehow publishing houses cannot get their act together and every so often brilliant writing slips through their hands. Shehan knew deep down that both he and his book deserved better and his decision to look for someone, even a small press, in the UK who would publish it was one of the smartest decisions he made, if not the smartest.
Are there any lessons for India? As India gains in status and prestige around the world it must also start to institute international awards that acknowledge excellent work and artistic endeavours done across the world, be it in the world of cinema, architecture, plays or fiction. We will need to have to have a jury for these awards composed of Indian and international experts. If curated properly, such awards can also eventually command such prestige that the world will wait for them, just like they do presently for the Booker.
The writer is the prolific author of 35 books across multiple genres. He has worked for the United Nations for over two decades across three continents in numerous countries.