Ganeshananthan’s novel on Tamil war wins prestigious Women’s Prize for Fiction
V V Ganeshananthan, an American writer of Sri Lankan origin, was awarded the prestigious Women’s Prize for Fiction for her novel ‘Brotherless Night’, a novel on Sri Lankan civil war, at a public ceremony at Bedford Square Gardens in London on Thursday.
Published in 2023, the novel is about Shashi, a Sri Lankan Tamil teenager who dreams of becoming a doctor. However, her plans are disrupted when her 4 brothers are caught in the coils of Sri Lankan Civil war. Befriended by a medical professor while working in a field hospital for wounded Tigers, she goes on a dangerous journey to document the atrocities committed during the conflict. “ ‘Brotherless Night’ vividly and compassionately centres itself around erased and marginalised stories – Tamil women, students, teachers, ordinary civilians – exploring the moral nuances of violence and terrorism against a backdrop of oppression and exile”, reads the prize citation for Ganeshananthan’s work by the awarding committee.
‘Love Marriage’, Ganeshananthan’s debut novel was named the best book of 2008 by the Washington Post. A graduate of Harvard College, she did her MA in arts and culture journalism at Columbia University. She was a Mary Ellen von der Heyden Fellow in fiction at the American Academy in Berlin in 2017, where she started working on ‘Brotherless Night’, her second novel. She drew on a decade of her research on the Sinhala-Tamil war, spearheaded by Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). As a member of the Sri Lankan diaspora, she relied on her experiences as well to write the novel. A fruit of 20 years relentless struggle, ‘Brotherless Night’ was selected winner among four other novels which were shortlisted for the award.
One of Britain's most prestigious literary honors, the Women's Prize for Fiction is conferred on a female author of any nationality for the best original novel in English published in United Kingdom. The Women's Prize Trust which gives the award started the Women's Prize for Non-Fiction this year. The maiden award was granted to the Canadian activist-writer Naomi Klein for 'Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World', a book on the absurdities and dangers of social media.
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Cong takes swipe at PM over India not being part of US-led 'Pax Silica' grouping
New Delh (PTI) The Congress on Saturday said it is perhaps not very surprising that India is not part of a US-led strategic initiative to build a secure silicon supply chain, given the "sharp downturn" in the Trump-Modi ties, and asserted that it would have been to "our advantage if we had been part of this group".
Congress general secretary in charge of communications Jairam Ramesh took a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying the news of India not being part of the group comes after the PM had enthusiastically posted on social media about a telephone call with his "once-upon-a-time good friend and a recipient of many hugs in Ahmedabad, Houston, and Washington DC".
In a lengthy post on X, Ramesh said, "According to some news reports, the US has excluded India from a nine-nation initiative it has launched to reduce Chinese control on high-tech supply chains. The agreement is called Pax Silica, clearly as a counter to Pax Sinica. The nations included (for the moment at least) are the US, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Australia."
"Given the sharp downturn in the Trump-Modi ties since May 10th, 2025, it is perhaps not very surprising that India has not been included. Undoubtedly, it would have been to our advantage if we had been part of this group."
"This news comes a day after the PM had enthusiastically posted on his telephone call with his once-upon-a-time good friend and a recipient of many hugs in Ahmedabad, Houston, and Washington DC," the Congress leader asserted.
The new US-led strategic initiative, rooted in deep cooperation with trusted allies, has been launched to build a secure and innovation-driven silicon supply chain.
According to the US State Department, the initiative called 'Pax Silica' aims to reduce coercive dependencies, protect the materials and capabilities foundational to artificial intelligence (AI), and ensure aligned nations can develop and deploy transformative technologies at scale.
The initiative includes Japan, South Korea, Singapore, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Australia. With the exception of India, all other QUAD countries -- Japan, Australia and the US -- are part of the new initiative.
New Delhi will host the India-AI Impact Summit 2026 on February 19-20, focusing on the principles of 'People, Planet, and Progress'. The summit, announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the France AI Action Summit, will be the first-ever global AI summit hosted in the Global South.
Prime Minister Modi and US President Trump on Thursday discussed ways to sustain momentum in the bilateral economic partnership in a phone conversation amid signs of the two sides inching closer to firming up a much-awaited trade deal.
The phone call between the two leaders came on a day Indian and American negotiators concluded two-day talks on the proposed bilateral trade agreement that is expected to provide relief to India from the Trump administration's whopping 50 per cent tariffs on Indian goods.
In a social media post, Modi had described the conversation as "warm and engaging".
"We reviewed the progress in our bilateral relations and discussed regional and international developments. India and the US will continue to work together for global peace, stability and prosperity," Modi had said without making any reference to trade ties.
