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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Another North Goa nightclub sealed; Kejriwal says corruption led to fire tragedy
Panaji (PTI): As part of a crackdown against tourist establishments violating laws and safety norms in the aftermath of the Arpora fire tragedy, Goa authorities on Saturday sealed a renowned club at Vagator and revoked the fire department NOC of another club.
Cafe CO2 Goa, located on a cliff overlooking the Arabian Sea at Vagator beach in North Goa, was sealed. The move came two days after Goya Club, also in Vagator, was shut down for alleged violations of rules.
Elsewhere, campaigning for local body polls, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal said the fire incident at Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub at Arpora, which claimed 25 lives on December 6, happened because the BJP government in the state was corrupt.
An inspection of Cafe CO2 Goa by a state government-appointed team revealed that the establishment, with a seating capacity of 250, did not possess a no-objection certificate (NOC) of the Fire and Emergency Services Department. The club, which sits atop Ozrant Cliff, also did not have structural stability, the team found.
The Fire and Emergency Services on Saturday also revoked the NOC issued to Diaz Pool Club and Bar at Anjuna as the fire extinguishers installed in the establishment were found to be inadequate, said divisional fire officer Shripad Gawas.
A notice was issued to Nitin Wadhwa, the partner of the club, he said in the order.
Campaigning at Chimbel village near Panaji in support of his party's Zilla Panchayat election candidate, Aam Aadmi Party leader Kejriwal said the nightclub fire at Arpora happened because of the "corruption of the Pramod Sawant-led state government."
"Why this fire incident happened? I read in the newspapers that the nightclub had no occupancy certificate, no building licence, no excise licence, no construction licence or trade licence. The entire club was illegal but still it was going on," he said.
"How could it go on? Couldn't Pramod Sawant or anyone else see it? I was told that hafta (bribe) was being paid," the former Delhi chief minister said.
A person can not work without bribing officials in the coastal state, Kejriwal said, alleging that officers, MLAs and even ministers are accepting bribes.
