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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By-election to one seat of Karnataka Legislative Council to be held on July 12
Bengaluru, Jun 18: By-election to one seat of Karnataka Legislative Council, that was vacated by former Chief Minister and now Member of Parliament Jagadish Shettar, will be held on July 12, poll officials said on Tuesday.
The seat fell vacant as Shettar resigned from the MLC seat (elected by Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA)) on January 24. His term was supposed to end in June 2028.
The 68-year-old former state BJP President had quit the the party to join the Congress ahead of the state assembly polls last year after being denied the ticket.
Thereafter, the Congress had made Shettar the MLC.
However, he returned to BJP in January after quitting as MLC, and successfully contested the Lok Sabha polls on the saffron party ticket, and is now an MP from the Belgaum Lok Sabha segment.
Notification for this by-poll will be issued on June 25, and the last date for filing nominations is July two. Scrutiny of nominations will take place on July three and the last date for withdrawal of candidature is July five.
Counting of votes will take place on July 12 at 5 pm.
