Geetanjali shree

Geetanjali Shree is an Indian novelist and short-story writer who is well known for her Hindi-language novel ‘Ret Samadhi’ (2018), which was translated into English as ‘Tomb of Sand’ by Daisy Rockwell. Shree rose to prominence in 2022 when ‘Tomb of Sand’ won the prestigious International Booker Prize. Contents • • • • • • • • • • • Wiki/Biography Geetanjali Pandey [1] age 65 years; as of 2022) in Mainpuri, Uttar Pradesh, India. Her family hails from Ghazipur District, Gondaur village, Uttar Pradesh. Her zodiac sign is Gemini. Shree spent her childhood in different towns in Uttar Pradesh, as her civil servant father was often transferred. Shree did her schooling in the local English-medium schools of UP, but her Hindi speaking household in the backdrop of UP saturated her in the Hindi Language. Geetanjali Shree was a voracious reader since childhood, and she grew up reading various Hindi novels like Panchatantra, Chandamama, Parag, and Nandan. Interaction with prolific Hindi and Urdu writers like Sumitranandan Pant, Firaq Gorakhpuri, and Mahadevi Verma while growing up in Allahabad developed Shree’s interest in Hindi literature. Additionally, Shree was friends with Munshi Premchand’s granddaughter; Premchand was a celebrated Indian writer who is known for his contribution to Hindi literature. While recalling Premchand’s household in an interview, she said, My very close friendship with Munshi Premchand’s granddaughter and close links from my childhood on with her entire fam...

Indian writer Tomb of Sand, a vibrant novel with a boundary-crossing octogenarian heroine. Originally written in Hindi, it’s the first book in any Indian language to win the high-profile award, which recognises fiction from around the world that has been translated into English. The $63,000 prize money will be split between Shree, who lives in New Delhi and Rockwell, who is resident in Vermont. Originally published as Ret Samadhi in 2018 , the novel tells the story of an Indian woman who, at the age of 80, slips into depression after her husband’s death and travels to Pakistan to confront, as the book’s blurb describes, “the unresolved trauma of her teenage experiences of Partition, and re-evaluating what it means to be a mother, a daughter, a woman, a feminist". 'Tomb of Sand' by Geetanjali Shree has been translated to English from the original publication 'Ret Samadhi' from 2018. The work was hailed by Booker judges to be “an urgent yet engaging protest against the destructive impact of borders, whether between religions, countries, or genders". Translator Frank Wynne, chairman of the judging panel, said the judges “overwhelmingly” chose Tomb of Sand after “a very passionate debate” and called it "an extraordinarily exuberant and incredibly playful book.” “It manages to take issues of great seriousness — bereavement, loss, death — and conjure up an extraordinary choir, almost a cacophony, of voices,” he said. “It is extraordinarily fun and it is extraordinarily funny.” T...

“A tale tells itself. It can be complete, but also incomplete, the way all tales are.” With these opening lines, Geetanjali Shree provides the key to embracing her ever-sprawling and stunningly powerful novel. ALSO READ We read the story of Ma, the 80-year-old at its heart, from the perspectives of various characters — humans, birds, butterflies, even doors; some of them we get to know so well that we start seeing in them facets of ourselves and of those in our intimate circle; a few of them come and then leave swiftly after having said their parts, with us learning not much about them and not caring. We get despatches from the future to aid in the telling of the tale; and we have an ancient Buddha statue to remind us of stories that are almost as old as time. ALSO READ By the novel’s end, the various strands of this tale come together, with Ma’s caper across the border into Pakistan looping back to the opening pages. Thereafter, the last pages of Shree’s novel are unnumbered, like the spare candle on a birthday cake perhaps, for no story ever stops growing. As for the clues in the opening pages, by the time we have finished this shapeshifting novel, they feel a lifetime ago and a universe away. All of human history, literature, art, thought, politics have been at the service of this tale that’s telling itself — and while it may often appear that Shree is playing with words for the sake of word play, and that her digressions are asides, in the end nothing turns out to be s...

Interview with Geetanjali Shree In her 2022 International Booker Prize-winning novel, Tomb of Sand, Geetanjali Shree writes, ‘Anything worth doing transcends borders.’ It is a sentiment that encapsulates the novel, which has gone on to establish itself as a paradigm of experimental South Asian literature. Originally published as Ret Samadhi in 2018 in Shree’s native language, Hindi, Daisy Rockwell’s translation brings this story about family and loss to an Anglophone audience. Since her 1993 breakout novel, Mai, which follows three generations of women within the same family, Shree has tirelessly explored what it means to be a woman in Indian society, penning five novels and several short stories which traverse the nuances of intersectional womanhood. Tomb of Sand is no different. At the heart of the story is an octogenarian matriarch, referred to simply by the Hindi designation for mother – Ma. The novel begins at a glacial pace, reflecting Ma’s bedridden inertia as she mourns the death of her husband. She eventually reawakens, both physically and in terms of her outlook on life. In her acceptance of modernity, Ma seems to age in reverse, breaking with tradition as she takes up residence with her daughter, instead of her son. Her newfound freedom is reflected in her friendship with Rosie/Raza, a hijra, and it is this bond which acts as a catalyst for the novel’s grand odyssey: Ma’s return to the Pakistan of her youth. The traumatic legacy of India and Pakistan’s Partition...

Geetanjali Shree, who has been a prominent figure in the world of Hindi literature with her five novels, two short collections, and a biography of Munshi Premchand, made history when her novel Ret Samadhi, translated into English as Tomb of Sand by Daisy Rockwell, won the 2022 International Booker Prize for Translated Fiction on May 26. Author Geetanjali Shree, winner of the International Booker Prize 2022. (Sanjeev Verma/HT PHOTO) The Booker website states: “ Tomb of Sand is the first book originally written in any Indian language to win the International Booker Prize, and the first novel translated from Hindi to be recognized by the award.” The novel is epic in its scale, narrating the story of an 80-year-old Partition survivor who makes the journey from India to Pakistan to revisit her roots, and paying tribute to the finest Partition writers from the subcontinent including Krishna Sobti, Bhisham Sahni, Balwant Singh, Joginder Pal, Saadat Hasan Manto, Rahi Masoom Raza, Intizar Hussain, Khushwant Singh, and Rajinder Singh Bedi. The prize money of £50,000 will be shared equally by the author and the translator. The novel that has been called “the finest single work of fiction from around the world which has been translated into English and published in the UK and Ireland” was first published in Hindi in 2018 by Rajkamal Prakashan. Rockwell’s English translation was published in 2021 by Tilted Axis Press, a non-profit publisher in the UK. Winner of the International Booker...

A glimpse into the life and consciousness of women of three generations and of the men around them, in a North Indian middle class family. Written in a deceptively simple style, the novel weaves a web of images and events around Mai, the mother, as seen through the eyes of the daughter. The translation from Hindi is followed by a discussion of the many nuances of 'mother', the relationship of fiction to social science, and the question of translation. Geetanjali Shree गीताजंली क्ष्री (She was known as Geentanjali Pandey, and she took her mother's first name Shree as her last name) (born 1957) is a Hindi novelist and short story writer based in New Delhi, India. She is the author of several short stories and three novels. Mai was short listed for the Crossword Book Award in 2001. She has also written a critical work on Premchand. Her first story, Bel Patra (1987) was published in the literary magazine Hans and was followed by a collection of short stories Anugoonj (1991) The English translation of her novel Mai catapulted her into fame. The novel is about three generations of women and the men around them, in a North Indian middle-class family. Mai is translated into Serbian, Korean and German. It has been translated into English by Nita Kumar, who was awarded the Sahitya Akademi award for the translation. It has been also translated into Urdu by Bashir Unwan with preface by Intizar Hussain. Furthermore, it has been translated into other languages: into French by Annie Mont...

It was an immensely proud moment for India after author Geetanjali Shree’s novel Tomb of Sand on Thursday became the first Hindi language work of fiction to be shortlisted for the International Booker Prize. The book which has been translated into English by Daisy Rockwell and described by the judges as a “loud and irresistible novel”, will be pit against five other titles from around the world for the prestigious 50,000 pounds literary prize, which is split evenly between the author and translator. The author who was overwhelmed to receive a nomination shared her emotions in a statement and said, “It is recognition of a very special kind. When a work appeals to unknown people sitting in faraway places, then it must have the ability to transcend its specific cultural context and touch the universal and the human.” Indian author Geetanjali Shree’s novel shortlisted for Booker Prize Meru Gokhale, who is the publisher at The Penguin Press Group, took to Twitter and congratulated the author along with the translator for the brilliant translation. “‘Ret Samadhi’ or 'Tomb of Sand': A Hindi novel has been selected for the International Booker Prize shortlist for the first time! Congratulations to its author Geetanjali Shree and to @shreedaisy for the brilliant translation.” ‘Ret Samadhi’ or 'Tomb of Sand': A Hindi novel has been selected for the International Booker Prize shortlist for the first time! Congratulations to its author Geetanjali Shree and to The other five books and ...

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