Upamanyu Chatterjee wins the JCB Prize for Literature

The long wait for the winner of the prestigious JCB Prize for Literature 2024 is over. On the evening of Saturday November 23, 2024 at the award ceremony at JCB headquarters, in Ballabgarh, Haryana, Upamanyu Chatterjee won the award for his book Lorenzo Searches for the Meaning of Life (Speaking Tiger, 304 pages, Rs 699). Chatterjee received a cash prize of Rs 25 lakh. Chatterjee is a retired civil servant and writer, whose other works include English, August: An Indian Story, and The Last Burden.

The winning book mirrors its title, as it is an account of how, after an accident, a young Italian, Lorenzo, searches for his place in the world and what it means. His journey takes him across continents and closer in service to God, and encompasses many extraordinary experiences. On stage, holding his silver trophy, a sculpture titled Mirror Melting by the artist duo Thukral and Tagra, Chatterjee, in a moment of mordant humour, said, “I am actually bereft of words because the letter that we got from JCB pronouncing the longlist was so threatening. It basically said, keep your mouths shut.” He added, “When I was writing it, I thought it was one hell of a boring book, but it seems to have worked.”

The other books on the shortlist were Sanatan by Sharankumar Limbale (translated by Paromita Sengupta), Chronicle of an Hour and a Half by Saharu Nusaiba Kannanari, The One Legged by Sakyajit Bhattacharya (translated by Rituparna Mukherjee), and Maria, Just Maria by Sandhya Mary (translated by Jayasree Kalathil).

The jury for the award, comprised the chair Jerry Pinto, Tridip Suhrud, Deepthi Sasidharan, Shaunak Sen, and Aqui Tham. Speaking to the audience, Pinto said, “Our jury were more lovers than fighters. We would sit together, sometimes in different cities, and listened to each other in a world where listening has become especially rare, and increasingly difficult to do in a world which seems intent on shouting. We all taught each other to read and experience a book in different ways.” Deciding both the longlist and shortlist were painful, he said, like comparing chalk and cheese. “Each book was so different and we wondered how could we pit them against each other.”

But however different, the message was books matter. At the ceremony, Mita Kapur, literary director for the JCB Prize said, “Literature in all its forms has the power to awaken, disrupt and heal. It reflects and shapes how we perceive ourselves and each other. In a space where stories cross boundaries, India’s writers are the voices of their time. Their books are a testimony to the larger narrative that India is writing for herself.” Now in its seventh year, the JCB prize is regarded as one of India’s most prestigious literary awards for fiction. On stage, CEO and MD Deepak Shetty said, “Over the years, JCB has attracted some of the eclectic mix of works and this year has been no different. The emerging trend of writing in written languages has prompted publishers to create specialised imprints in different languages and has also created an increased interest in regional literature. Publishers play a key role in supporting and promoting high quality translations.”

Speaking to Open Pinto disclosed that while the process for selecting the books started nine months ago, the winner of the shortlist had been decided that very morning. “What I like about is the inclusivity, what I hate about it is the inclusivity. They allow vanity publishers to send, everyone can send. Boxes keep arriving at your house. And you’re reading in sync because every week you have to discuss these books. However, my jury rocked it.” The process was exhaustive. “It was very drilled down. I have seen reviews which were less detailed than the short notes passed around in our WhatsApp group. It was like being back in college with a vengeance, because there was required reading after decades of reading as you chose.” But there was a real joy in being back in a space where talking about books was important, rather than just part of a cocktail conversation.  The jurors’ delved into structure and worldbuilding and character, nuance, idiom, dialogue. “The shortlist was more difficult than the longlist. The shortlist is down to five. And you realise no one is following any expectations agenda.”

Fellow juror, filmmaker and writer Shaunak Sen collaborated, “We were ploughing through this list. It was fun, but it was undeniably work.”

Juror Deepthi Sasidharan, a historian and curator explained her reasons for the final choice. “I’m a historian, and his book had an extraordinary detail of research and this huge historic sweep of the sort of geographies it was set in. It flits continents; it moves across timelines; it’s reflective of our times.” The fact it described one man’s quest to find meaning in faith, was for her the important consideration. “Faith has been so externalised in our times, and we have forgotten that is a very personal thing.”

Pinto concurred, “The book simultaneously is both really small, its ambit is the centre which is a man’s soul. And it is large because it is about the journey of faith that we all take part in, whether we are atheists or religious. Faith underpins everything we do. But it is the faith, of one man quietly asking what is the meaning of life, and what is my meaning?”

Chatterjee’s book, added Sen, entirely devotes itself to spiritual pyrotechnics of complete surrender and structures of belief and the cracks in it over time. “These are things that are not easy to talk about in a non-cliched manner, and this book is able to plumb depths that are not easy.”

Although JCB is facing some controversy due to being linked to demolitions in Palestine and India, there was no mention of it in the ceremony, which was devoted to discussions of literature.

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Antara Raghavan

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