Some people are not flesh and blood, but fully made up of stories.

Moustache
S. Hareesh

ABOUT The AUTHORS. Hareesh

S. Hareesh is the author of three short-story collections: Adam, which received the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award, Rasavidyayude Charithram, and Appan. He is also a recipient of the Geetha Hiranyan Endowment, the Thomas Mundassery Prize, and the V.P. Sivakumar Memorial Prize. Hareesh is also the author of two screenplays - for the film Aedan, which received the Kerala State Award for best screenplay in 2017, and for the 2019 film Jallikattu, which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival and won a silver peacock at the International Film Festival of India. Hareesh works in the revenue department, and hails from Neendoor in Kottayam district, Kerala.

Jayasree Kalathil

ABOUT THE TRANSLATORJayasree Kalathil

Jayasree Kalathil shared the JCB Prize for Literature in 2020 with S. Hareesh for her translation of his novel, Moustache. She received the Crossword Book Award for Indian Language Translation in 2019 for her translation of N. Prabhakaran's Diary of a Malayali Madman, which was also longlisted for the Mathrubhumi Book of the Year Award. She is the author of The Sackclothman, a children's novel that has been translated into Malayalam, Telugu and Hindi. Her other translations include Theeyoor Chronicles by N. Prabhakaran and Adam by S. Hareesh.

The 2020 SHORTLIST

The 2020 LONGLIST

Explore the books

The Machine is Learning

The Machine is Learning

By Tanuj Solanki

In Search of Heer

In Search of Heer

By Manjul Bajaj

Undertow

Undertow

By Jahnavi Barua

A Burning

A Burning

By Megha Majumdar

A Ballad of Remittent Fever

A Ballad of Remittent Fever

By Ashoke Mukhopadhay
Translated by Arunava Sinha

Chosen Spirits

Chosen Spirits

By Samit Basu

These, Our Bodies, Possessed by Light

These, Our Bodies, Possessed by Light

By Dharini Bhaskar

Prelude to a Riot

Prelude to a Riot

By Annie Zaidi

Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line

Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line

By Deepa Anappara

Moustache

Moustache

By S. Hareesh
Translated by Jayasree Kalathil

THE 2020 JURY

A distinguished jury from diverse backgrounds brings forth the Longlist, Shortlist and Winner of the JCB Prize for Literature, year on year.

Tejaswini Niranjana

Tejaswini Niranjana

Academician and Author (Chair)

Tejaswini Niranjana (Chair) is currently Professor and Head, Department of Cultural Studies, Lingnan University, Hong Kong, and Visiting Professor with the School of Arts and Sciences, Ahmedabad University, India. She is the author of Siting Translation: History, Post-structuralism and the Colonial Context, as well as Mobilizing India: Women, Music and Migration between India and Trinidad. Her collection of essays in Chinese, Nationalism Refigured, was re-issued in 2019. Tejaswini Niranjana's translation of Jayant Kaikini's No Presents Please was jointly awarded the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature. Her translation of MK Indira's Phaniyamma won the Central Sahitya Akademi Award for best translation into English.

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Aruni Kashyap

Aruni Kashyap

Author and Translator

Aruni Kashyap writes and translates in both English and Assamese. His books include His Father’s Disease and Other Stories, The House With a Thousand Stories, and Noikhon Etia Duroit. His poetry collection, There is No Good Time for Bad News, was a finalist for the 2018 Marsh Hawk Press Poetry Prize and the 2018 Four Way Books Levis Award in Poetry. Aruni won the Charles Wallace India Trust Scholarship for Creative Writing to the University of Edinburgh, and has penned short stories, poems, and essays for the Oxford Anthology of Writings from Northeast, The Kenyon Review, The New York Times, and The Guardian UK, amongst others.

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Ramu Ramanathan

Ramu Ramanathan

Playwright and Director

Ramu Ramanathan is a playwright and director based in Mumbai. He has scripted notable plays such as Cotton 56, Polyester 84; Comrade Kumbhakarna; and Mahadevbhai. Eight of his plays have been anthologised in the book 3, Sakina Manzil And Other Plays. He is also the author of the poetry collection My Encounters with a Peacock and co-editor of Babri Masjid, 25 Years On… Ramanathan writes on theatre and culture in newspapers and periodicals. He has been associated with the printing industry for three decades as a journalist. He is the editor of PrintWeek and WhatPackaging? magazines.

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Deepika Sorabjee

Deepika Sorabjee

Doctor and Film Critic

Deepika Sorabjee heads the Arts & Culture portfolio at Tata Trusts, and serves as the Trusts representative on the Board of Trustees at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastru Sanghralaya, Mumbai. Deepika received her MBBS degree from Grant Medical College and the Sir JJ Group of Hospitals before pursuing her passion for the arts. She has been an independent writer on contemporary art and the city since 2009. In 2012-2014 she was a selector for the International Competition section for the Mumbai Film Festival (MAMI). Deepika is also one of the Founder Trustees of the Mumbai Art Room.

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