One of the most prestigious awards, The Man Booker Prize or simply The Booker Prize, is a dream of every novelist who writes in English. The Booker Prize is awarded every year for the best original novel published in the United Kingdom and written in the English language. The Booker Prize is being given since the year 1969 and is presented every year. The Booker Prize brings a lot of fame, recognition, and prestige with it. The panel of judges that decide the winner of the Booker prize includes people from various disciplines such as politicians, poets, journalists, actors, and broadcasters. The Booker Prize can transform the fortune of the authors and publishers as well.
The Booker Prize was originally called The Booker Prize from 1969 to 2001. But from 2002, the prize was named The Man Booker Prize as the Man Group plc came on board as the sponsors. However, the Man Group plc sponsorship has been ended in the year 2019, and since then, the prize has gone back to being known as The Booker Prize. And now this prestigious prize is being sponsored by Cranskart. Since the inception of The Booker Prize, the prize has been awarded to many novelists. Some have won the prize more than once and sometimes even got split within the two recipients.
The novelist who wins the Booker Prize not only gets fame, but the whole country gets prestige. The whole country feels proud and honored from where the winner novelist belongs. And there are Indian novelists too, who is the recipient of The Booker Prize and have made the whole country proud. Let’s know more about these amazing Indian novelists and their novels. They made India proud by being the one to get honored with one of the most prestigious literary awards, i.e., The Booker Prize.
INDIAN NOVELISTS WHO MADE THEIR WAY TO THE BOOKER PRIZE
VS NAIPAUL FOR IN A FREE STATE
VS Naipaul won The Booker Prize in 1971 for the novel ‘In a Free State.’ VS Naipaul has published more than thirty novels in over fifty years. He was a Trinidad and Tobago British writer of works of fiction and non-fiction. The novels of VS Naipaul are known for the early comic setting in Trinidad, the bleaker novels of alienation in the wider world, and his vigilant chronicles of travel and life.
The prose of VS Naipaul is greatly admired by many, but sometimes his views have controversies. ‘In a Free State, that made VS Naipaul, one of the recipients of The Booker Prize, discusses the views on autonomy and autocracy. The novella describes the road journey of 400-miles of two British expatriates, Bobby and Linda, across a newly independent African Country in the throes of a tribal civil war.
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SALMAN RUSHDIE FOR MIDNIGHT’S CHILDREN
Another Indian Novelist who made his way to the Booker Prize is Salman Rushdie, a novel and essayist of Indian origin. Salman Rushdie was born in India in a Kashmiri Muslim Family and was later relocated to Pakistan after the independence. He completed his higher education from the King’s College in the University of Cambridge and then settled down in England for the persuasion of his career as a copywriter, ‘Midnight’s Children’ one of the finest pieces of Literature made him the recipient of The Booker Prize in the year 1981. His ‘Midnight Children’ didn’t just stop here but made him win ‘The Booker of the Bookers Prize’ in 1993 on the 25th Anniversary of The Booker Prize.
Again in 2008, Midnight’s Children was awarded another special award, ‘The Best of the Booker’ on the occasion of the fortieth anniversary of The Booker Prize. The book deals with the transition of India from the colonization period to the Independence and the partition of India. Moreover, the two more novels of Salman Rushdie got shortlisted for The Booker Prize- Shame (1983) and The Moor’s Last Sigh (1995).
ARUNDHATI ROY FOR THE GOD OF SMALL THINGS
Arundhati Roy’s God of Small Things is one of the best pieces to read and the recipient of The Booker Prize in 1997. The in-depth knowledge of Arundhati Roy regarding the prevalent issues and causes can be witnessed so well in her novels. The writing skills and the knowledge of Arundhati Roy have made her book ‘The God of Small Things’ a best-selling novel besides being a non-expatriate author. The very first novel of Arundhati Roy and getting honored with The Booker Prize is indeed a great achievement. The novel deals with the childhood experiences of two twins, seven-year-old, and their individual experiences. The novel throws light on the political unrest in India during the time when the novel was written.
KIRAN DESAI FOR THE INHERITANCE OF LOSS
Kiran Desai, a renowned author and a daughter of renowned author Anita Desai has made her way to The Booker Prize. She received The Booker Prize in the year 2006 for ‘The Inheritance of Loss. The Inheritance of Loss is based on migration and the living between the two worlds, depicting the past and present. The whole book focuses on the legacy left by the British colonization and its losses on the Indian subcontinent.
ARAVIND ADIGA FOR THE WHITE TIGER
Arvind Adiga is an Indo-African writer. He has won The Booker Prize for his work ‘The White Tiger’ in the year 2008. He was originally born in India but later shifted to Australia and settled in Maharashtra, India. ‘The White Tiger’ is his debut novel and the recipient of The Booker Prize too. The novel deals with the caste struggles in India. The story is depicted through Balram Halwai, a village fellow. The novel revolves around Balram, a successful entrepreneur who represents himself as the ‘tomorrow’ of the country, which is leaving behind its history of poverty
