Perumal Murugan’s Poonachi makes it to JCB prize longlist

Describing Poonachi as “funny and warm”, the award jury noted that it forced readers to look at themselves and their contribution to an “unequal world”. “Perumal Murugan is a master story-teller who reflects profoundly on our transactional society and its inequities and struggles. Through the character of the lonely goat, he has written a powerful modern fable,” the jury added.

The jury comprised of film director Deepa Mehta, entrepreneur and scholar Rohan Murthy, astrophysicist and writer Priyamvada Natarajan, novelist Vivek Shanbhag, and author and translator Arshia Sattar.

The translation of the Malayalam book, Jasmine Days by Benyamin, Half the Night is Gone by Amitabha Bagchi, All the Lives We Never Lived by Anuradha Roy, and Latitudes of Longing by Shubhangi Swarup are also part of the list.