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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Miscreants decamp with 70 kg silver articles from jewellery shop in Bengaluru
Bengaluru (PTI): Unidentified miscreants allegedly broke into a jewellery shop here and decamped with approximately 70 kg of silver articles worth crores of rupees, police said on Friday.
The incident was reported at a jewellery shop near 8th Mile, Havanur, on April 28, they said.
According to police, the accused are suspected to have entered the premises from the rear after breaking open the lock and drilling a hole through the wall of the shop.
The incident came to light at around 7 am on April 28 when shop staff opened the premises and discovered signs of forced entry and extensive damage to the rear section of the building, following which they alerted police authorities.
Preliminary estimates indicate that around 70 kg of silver articles, worth crores, were stolen. Most of the silver items displayed in the cupboards were taken, while valuables kept in the locker remained intact, a senior police officer said.
Police said CCTV cameras inside the shop were not functioning. Efforts are underway to identify the suspects using footage from cameras installed in the vicinity.
The miscreants also allegedly took away the Digital Video Recorder (of CCTV) of an adjacent shop, the officer added.
Investigators are also examining the tools and techniques used to gain access to the shop, suspecting the involvement of a professional gang with prior knowledge of the store layout.
A case has been registered at Bagalagunte Police Station, and further investigation is underway to identify and apprehend the accused, police said.
