Why the Tibor Jones South Asia Prize Matters

by Amana Fontanella Khan

South Asia is going through a prolific period of literary self-discovery, comparable to the literary boom in South America of the 1960s. Writers across South Asia are busily mapping out new narrative landscapes that cross unfamiliar terrains of belonging, home and identity after the great tides of colonialism, cold war politics and more recently economic liberalisation and mass migration have washed over the region.

The result is a crop of fresh, genuine voices that are emerging ferociously from the sub-continent. South Asian literature today offers an often dizzying, kaleidoscopic view of tradition and modernity that reflects the great seismic shifts happening in this fascinating part of the world. Novelists here have given the world a host of compelling characters who capture the momentous changes unfurling around them in unforgettable stories and settings. As readers, we find ourselves drawn into the inner conflicts such tumultous times produce in the great literary characters of South Asian fiction and are enriched by inhabiting their world.

Given the vast cultural and historical wealth of South Asia it is little surprise that writers here have risen to the peaks of literary achievement and that local and international readerships have become engrossed by the complex themes and questions the region’s best writers have so successfully explored in their work.

The Tibor Jones South Asia Prize offers literary giants of the future an excellent platform on which to showcase their work. For writers who have yet to be published, this prize represents the opportunity to be read across the world and receive recognition from readers, publishers and critics alike. It is a great honour for me to be part of this inaugural prize and I look forward to getting a glimpse into the great untapped literary potential that the region is brimming with.

I wish all of the contestants the very best of luck!


Written by on for News.