The DSC Prize for South Asian Literature announced its longlist for 2018 on October 10. The 16 novels on the list, announced in New Delhi, include 4 works of translations and range from books by literary heavyweights like Arundhati Roy and Jeet Thayil (who won the prize in 2013 for his novel Narcopolis) to debut authors such as Deepak Unnikrishnan and Paryaag Akbar.

Currently in its eighth year, the $25,000 literary prize was established in 2010 and is open to authors of any nationality as long as the writing is about South Asia and its people. Historian and academic, Rudrangshu Mukherjee, who is the chair of this year’s jury, said he “encountered touching poignancy, wit and verve and great inventiveness” in this year’s longlist, which ranges across a multitude of themes. The 16 novels in the running for this year’s prize are:

  • All The Lives We Never Lived, Anuradha Roy (Hachette, India)
  • The Ministry Of Utmost Happiness, Arundhati Roy (Alfred Knopf, USA and Hamish Hamilton, Canada)
  • The Saga Of Satisar, Chandrakanta, translated by Ranjana Kaul, (Zubaan Books, India)
  • Temporary People, Deepak Unnikrishnan (Penguin Books, Penguin Random House, India)
  • No Presents Please, Jayant Kaikini, translated by Tejaswini Niranjana (Harper Perennial, HarperCollins India)
  • The Book Of Chocolate Saints, Jeet Thayil (Aleph Book Company, India and Faber & Faber, UK)
  • Home Fire, Kamila Shamsie (Riverhead Books, USA and Bloomsbury, UK)
  • Miss Laila Armed And Dangerous, Manu Joseph (Fourth Estate, HarperCollins, India)
  • Exit West, Mohsin Hamid (Riverhead Books, USA and Hamish Hamilton, Penguin Random House, India)
  • A State Of Freedom, Neel Mukherjee (Chatto & Windus, Vintage, USA and Hamish Hamilton, PenguinRandom House, India)
  • Poonachi, Perumal Murugan, translated by N Kalyan Raman (Context, Westland Publications, India)
  • Leila, Prayaag Akbar (Simon & Schuster, India)
  • Chinatown Days, Rita Chowdhury,  translated by Rita Chowdhury (Macmillan, Pan Macmillan, India)
  • Marriage Of A Thousand Lies, SJ Sindu (Soho Press, USA)
  • Harilal & Sons, Sujit Saraf (Speaking Tiger, India)
  • Night Of Happiness, Tabish Khair (Picador, Pan Macmillan, India)

The shortlist for this year’s prize will be announced on November 14.