Benyamin's Malayalam novel 'Jasmine Days' has made it to the shortlist of the inaugural edition of the Rs 25 lakh JCB Prize for Literature. The winner will be declared on October 24,
Jasmine Days was published in Malayalam in 2014 as 'Mullappoo Niramulla Pakalukal'. It was translated into English by Shahnaz Habib.
The jury said the selected novels, in their themes and settings, share an ambition to reveal undiscovered worlds through powerfully drawn scenes and characters. The other four shortlisted novels are 'Half The Night Is Gone' by Amitabha Bagchi, 'Poonachi' by Perumal Murugan (translated from Tamil by N Kalyan Raman), 'All the Lives We Never Lived' by Anuradha Roy and 'Latitudes of Longing' by debutante Shubhangi Swarup.
Authors of the five shortlisted novels will each receive Rs 1 lakh and their translators will receive Rs 50,000. The translator of the winning novel will receive an additional Rs 5 lakh.
