3 Indian authors in race for $50,000 literary prize

Three Indian writers are in the running for the $50,000 (about Rs 27,50,000) DSC South Asian literature prize given to the best novel thematically linked to the South Asian region.

Jeet Thayil's "Narcopolis", Uday Prakash's "The Walls of Delhi" and Amitav Ghosh's "River of Smoke" are among the six authors, including a translator, who have been shortlisted for the prize.

Others in the shortlist announced at the May Fair Hotel in London Tuesday evening are Jamil Ahmad (The Wandering Falcon), Tahmima Anam (The Good Muslim) and Mohammed Hanif (Our Lady of Alice Bhatti).

The award is given to authors who write on themes such as culture, politics and history of the region.

The final prize is scheduled to be announced during the Jaipur Literature Festival in January 2013.

"The six shortlisted books from different countries represent the diversity of South Asian fiction in terms of theme as well as idiom," said K Satchidanandan, who chaired the jury for the prize.

"We were looking for works which are thematically fresh, stylistically innovative and are a definitive contribution to novel as a genre. The choice was not easy as we had sixteen outstanding works to choose from but we were unanimous in our final choice," he said.

Muneeza Shamsie, Rick Simonson, Suvani Singh, Eleanor O'Keeffe were the other jury members of the Prize which seeks to reflect the importance of South Asia's rapidly expanding book market.