ASIAN WRITING
And the winner is ...
R. KRITHIKA
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The Man Asian Literary Prize, which is to be first awarded in 2007, will focus on new writing from Asian countries.
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ASIA is suddenly in the news — whether for economic, political, cinematic or literary reasons. When it comes to the last, however, the focus tends to be largely on writers from the Indian subcontinent. Those from Southeast Asia, Japan and China are only just breaking into the big league.
Macmillan Publishers has launched a new imprint, Picador Asia, to focus on this section of the world. Translations of the works of Su Tong, Jung Chang, Sun Shuyun, Yu Hua and others are have won critical appreciation and opened up a new world to readers in other parts of the world.
A new prize
Promoting the spurt in literature in this region is the Man Asian Literary Prize, which is to be first awarded in 2007. Launched in October the idea is to focus on writing from Asian countries. However the list does not include West Asia. Peter Gordon, Chairman of the Prize, explains, "This is not an `omission'. If `West Asia' were included, wherever one draws the line (e.g. at the Red Sea), it would go through the middle of the Arabic-speaking world, which has its own literary traditions. It did not seem to make a lot of sense, for example, to have Jordan included but a country like Egypt excluded." He also pointed out that many Pacific island nations could also claim to be part of Asia, which could cause more difficulties and so "we felt a strict adherence to geography led to more inconsistencies than a partial adherence would."
Aware that the multiplicity of languages implicit in this could be a problem, the organisers have played safe. The works to be submitted have to be in English. Again given the number of expat authors, who have been in the limelight of late, the organisers have promised to focus on "writers originating and writing from the region". Asked if this would exclude expatriate writers, Gordon says, "This becomes a matter of interpretation... How does one determine whether a work is `rooted' in any given country? This itself becomes a matter of interpretation."
While the eligibility criterion hinges around "citizen" and "resident", Gordon points out, "We recognise that certain writers may have multiple residences or residencies; the intent is to be inclusive when possible. Furthermore, I think it may be useful here to draw a distinction between "expat", which implies that the relocation outside Asia may not be permanent, and "emigrant" which implies that it is. In any event, we would encourage writers to submit."
Fillip to translation
Another positive move is to give a fillip to translation. Many works are not available to a larger readership largely because of the barriers of language. Translations, to a large extent, give us a window into a world that would otherwise be closed. India, in particular, is seeing translations of various novels from regional languages.
But the translated works have a deadline. To quote: "If the work has been previously published in a language other than English, the first publication must be no more than eight years prior to November 1, 2007." However, in many cases, the first publication may not fall within this deadline. In such a situation, would it be relaxed?
Gordon gives two reasons for sticking to the rule. "The philosophical reason is that the Prize is meant to encourage or celebrate "new writing". At some point, the age of original publication means that the work is no longer "new", even if it may be new in English. The practical reason is that, without some restriction, quite old works (from the 1960s or 1970s, say) might be taken out of the archives and translated. Some works from that period may be excellent or even classic, but that is not the point of this prize. So, once again, a line needed to be drawn. We felt keeping everything within this decade seemed a reasonable place to draw the line."
Panel of judges
The judges for the first award are Andre Aciman, the author of The False Papers: Essays on Exile and Memory and Out of Egypt: A Memoir; Adrienne Clarkson, journalist, broadcaster, writer and Governor-General of Canada from 1999-2005 and Nicholas Jose, whose works include Original Face, The Red Thread, The Possession of Amber and Chinese Whispers: Cultural Essays.
The Prize has been initiated and sponsored by the Hong Kong International Literary Festival Limited and the Man Group plc. The Man Group already supports the Man Booker Prize for fiction and the Man Booker International Prize.
Submissions will be accepted till March 31, 2007 and the first long list of 20 candidates is to be announced on June 1, 2007. A shortlist of five is to be announced around October 1 and the final award winner around November 1. The winner gets $10,000 and the translator of the winning work is to get $3,000. For details, see www.manasianliteraryprize.org
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