Indian author wins prize

Colombo, January 16 

Indian writer Anuradha Roy today won the prestigious $50,000 DSC Prize for South Asian Literature for her novel 'Sleeping on Jupiter' at the Galle Literary Festival in Sri Lanka.

Roy was awarded the prize and a unique trophy by Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe at a glittering ceremony this evening. The six shortlisted authors in contention for this year's prize were UK-based Indian-origin author Akhil Sharma for "Family Life",  K R Meera's "Hangwoman" (Translated by J Devika), Mirza Waheed's "The Book of Gold Leaves", Neel Mukherjee's "The Lives of Others" and "Raj Kamal Jha: She Will Build Him A City."

Mark Tully, the chair of the judging panel described Roy's novel as having described "the South Asia setting faithfully and evocatively." "It raises many issues succinctly and with commendable economy of words," Tully said. — PTI