Geetanjali Shree's winning moments at International Booker Prize ceremony- In Pics

The story of the novel is set in northern India as an 80-year-old woman slips into a deep depression after the death of her husband, then resurfaces to gain a new lease on life. To her family's consternation, she insists on travelling to Pakistan, simultaneously confronting the unresolved trauma of her teenage experiences of Partition, and re-evaluating what it means to be a mother, a daughter, a woman, a feminist.

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With three novels and several story collections, 64-year-old Shree's work has been translated into several languages including English, French, German, Serbian, and Korean and has received and been shortlisted for a number of awards and fellowships. 'Tomb of Sand' is one of her first books to be published in the UK. 

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Shree's book was translated into English by Daisy Rockwell who is a painter, writer, and translator living in Vermont, US. She joined Shree on stage to receive her award for translating the novel she described as a "love letter to the Hindi language".

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The sister prize of the Booker Prize, the International Booker Prize is given is awarded for a book translated into English and published in the United Kingdom or Ireland. Shree received prize worth GBP 50,000 and shared with the book's English translator, Daisy Rockwell for Tomb of Sand.

This year the judges considered 135 books and for the first time in 2022, all shortlisted authors and translators will each receive 2,500 pounds, an increase from 1,000 pounds in previous years, bringing the total value of the prize to 80,000 pounds.

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Shree's novel was chosen from a shortlist of six books, the others being: 'Cursed Bunny' by Bora Chung, translated by Anton Hur from Korean; 'A New Name: Septology VI-VII' by Jon Fosse, translated by Damion Searls from Norwegian; 'Heaven' by Mieko Kawakami, translated by Samuel Bett and David Boyd from Japanese; 'Elena Knows' by Claudia Pineiro, translated by Frances Riddle from Spanish; and 'The Books of Jacob' by Olga Tokarczuk, translated by Jennifer Croft from Polish.

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"I never dreamt of the Booker, I never thought I could. What a huge recognition, I'm amazed, delighted, honoured and humbled," said Shree, in her acceptance speech. "There is a melancholy satisfaction in the award going to it."

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