Kannada writer Vivek Shanbhag’s novel Ghachar Ghochar has been named as one of the finalists in the fiction category of the 2017 Los Angeles Times Book Prize. The novel, translated into English by Srinath Perur, was originally published in India in 2016 and the following year in the US. One of the most acclaimed novels to come out of India in recent years, Ghachar Ghochar tells the story of the complications arising from the social and financial ascent of a lower middle-class Kannadiga family in Bengaluru. Described as a “masterclass in crafting” by The Guardian, the novel has also earned fulsome praise for Shanbhag, who was described as “India’s Chekov” by writer Suketu Mehta.
Shanbagh is joined on the fiction shortlist by, among others, Mohsin Hamid for Exit West and Jesmyn Ward for Sing, Unburied, Sing. His is the only novel in translation on the shortlist.
Established in 1980, the Los Angeles Times Book Award is given out in ten categories – Fiction, Current Interest, Young Adult Literature, Poetry, Mystery/Thriller, Biography, History, Science and Technology, Graphic Novel/Comic, and First Fiction. All winning authors receive a citation and a cash prize of $1,000. Other prominent finalists for this year’s prize include Ta-Nehisi Coates in the “Current Interest” category, Joyce Carol Oates for her novel A Book of American Martyrs and Angie Thomas for her searing Young Adult novel The Hate U Give.
The winning titles and authors will be announced in Los Angeles on April 20.
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