Kolkata, October 28 (MTNews): The Nepali translation of the novel ‘Song of the Soil’ by Chuden Kabimo has been included in the five shortlisted novels selected from all the Indian languages for ‘JCB Award for Literature 2022’.
Set in the foothill town of Kalimpong in the Himalaya, Song of the Soil is a story that brings alive the story of the revolution for a separate state of Gorkhaland in the late 1980s where a vital question gets asked, “Who, ultimately, wins in a revolution—and who loses?”
According to the Jury, Song of the Soil is a shining example of how one can write about a violent incident without recreating the violence.
“The author blends bildungsroman with a conflict story with great dexterity, bringing out new aspects of both forms. This book is able to make poetry out of brutal situations but does so with honesty, humor, and gentleness,” the Jury said.
Kabimo, born and raised in Kalimpong, India, is an Indian writer writing in the Nepali language. His debut book 1986, a collection of short stories, won the Aashrani Rai Smriti Puraksar, Manipur, in 2017 and the Yuwa Sahitya Akademi Puraskar, in 2018. His novel Faatsung has been translated into three languages— English, Bangla and Hindi (the latter two are due soon) — and published in three countries —India, Nepal and the UK.
Song of the Soil was translated by Ajit Baral who is a writer, translator, editor, publisher, and director of the Nepal Literature Festival. He is also the author of The Lazy Conman and other Stories, Interviews Across Time and Space, and co-author of By the Way: Travels through Nepal’s conflict. He is also the co-editor of an anthology of Nepali short stories in English, New Nepal, New Voices and the editor of First Love, a collection of memoirs. Song of the Soil is his first book-length translation.
The JCB Prize for Literature is presented each year to a distinguished work of fiction by an Indian author, as selected by the jury. The Jury Chair, AS Panneerselvan, unveiled the JCB Prize for Literature 2022 marking its 5th year as its most diverse shortlist at the Glenburn Penthouse, Kolkata.
– Imaan by Manoranjan Byapari, translated from Bengali by Arunava Sinha (Eka)
– The Paradise of Food by Khalid Jawed, translated from Urdu by Baran Farooqi (Juggernaut)
– Valli by Sheela Tomy, translated from Malayalam by JayasreeKalathil (Harper Perennial)
– Tomb of Sand by Geetanjali Shree, translated from Hindi by Daisy Rockwell (Penguin Random House India)
– Song of the Soil by Chuden Kabimo, translated from Nepali by Ajit Baral (Rachna Books)