Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar (born 1983) is an Indian writer.
Life
Ethnically, Shekhar is a Santhal, one of India's Adivasi groups; this background is reflected in his fiction.[1] His stories are rich in "fine details that add to the deep dimensions" and "open to us a world we have deliberately dismissed" [2] and contain "a surplus of understanding that comes from a kind insider-outsider."[3] Indeed, he characterised his first novel as "the first full-fledged Santhal novel written in English, and published by a mainstream publisher."[4] Born in Ranchi,[5] Shekhar grew up in Ghatshila and Chakulia and went to school in Musabani.[6][7][8] His parents used to work with Hindustan Copper in Ghatshila.[9] By profession, he is a medical doctor and is employed as a medical officer with the government of Jharkhand,[10][11] based in 2017 in Pakur.[12]
Though Shekhar writes primarily in English, he also translates from Santhali to English [13][14][15] and Hindi to English.[16][17]
Works
- The Mysterious Ailment of Rupi Baskey (New Delhi: Aleph Book Company, 2014) Template:ISBN
- The Adivasi Will Not Dance: Stories (New Delhi: Speaking Tiger Books, 2015) Template:ISBN
- Jwala Kumar and the Gift of Fire: Adventures in Champakbagh (featuring illustrations by Krishna Bala Shenoi)[18] (New Delhi: Talking Cub - an imprint of Speaking Tiger - 2018) Template:ISBN[19][20]
- My Father's Garden (New Delhi: Speaking Tiger, 2018) Template:ISBN[21][22]
- Who's There? (featuring illustrations by Anupama Ajinkya Apte) (Chennai: Duckbill Books - an imprint of Penguin Random House India - 2020) Template:ISBN[23]
- Sumi Budhi and Sugi (featuring illustrations by Joanna Mendes) (Bengaluru: Pratham Books, 2020)[24]
Awards
For his debut novel, The Mysterious Ailment of Rupi Baskey, Shekhar won the 2015 Yuva Puraskar,[25][26] was shortlisted for the 2014 Hindu Literary Prize[27] and the 2014 Crossword Book Award,[28] longlisted for the 2016 International Dublin Literary Award,[29] and jointly won the 2015 Muse India Young Writer Award.[30] The Mysterious Ailment of Rupi Baskey was named by The Hindu in December 2019 as one of the ten best fiction books of the decade.[31]
For his second book, The Adivasi Will Not Dance: Stories, Shekhar was shortlisted for the 2016 Hindu Literary Prize.[32]
Jwala Kumar and the Gift of Fire: Adventures in Champakbagh is Shekhar's first book for children.[33] This book features illustrations by Krishna Bala Shenoi.[34] It was shortlisted for a 2019 Neev Book Award in the category Junior Readers[35] and a 2019 Crossword Book Award in the children’s books category.[36]
His fourth book, a novel entitled My Father's Garden, has been called "rich and surprising"[37] and "[packing] more emotion, detail and narrative heft than...books four times its size."[38] My Father's Garden was shortlisted for the JCB Prize for Literature 2019.[39][40]
Controversy
On 11 August 2017, the government of Jharkhand banned The Adivasi Will Not Dance: Stories and summarily suspended Shekhar from his job, on the grounds that the book portrayed Adivasi women and Santhal culture in a bad light.[41] The key complainants appear to have been the ruling party in Jharkhand, the Bharatiya Janata Party; the opposition party, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha; and an academic at Jamia Millia Islamia.[42] The government's actions were widely criticised.[43][44][45][46] The ban on The Adivasi Will Not Dance: Stories was removed in December 2017[47][48] and Shekhar's suspension was removed and he was reinstated into his job in 2018.[49][50]
References
- ↑ Ziya Us Salam, 'A Santhal Suppressed', Frontline (13 October 2017).
- ↑ The tribal world strikes back at Indian writing in English through a doctor(November 30, 2015).
- ↑ Faith in the local(October 17, 2015).
- ↑ Sujit Prasad, '“I Am a Santhal, and My Opinion Too Should Matter,” says Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar', antiserious.com (16 August 2017) [repr. from the Boston Coffee House Magazine 2014].
- ↑ Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar is a dedicated doctor and writer(January 18, 2015).
- ↑ Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar, 'Not just one', The Hindu Business Line (24 July 2015)
- ↑ Ghatsila: A nostalgist's map(April 23, 2016).
- ↑ Black(April–June 2018).
- ↑ Playing with Fire: Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar on his first children's book(September 2, 2018).
- ↑ The tribal world strikes back at Indian writing in English through a doctor(November 30, 2015).
- ↑ Sudipta Datta, 'Who is Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar, fighting a ban', The Hindu (19 August 2017).
- ↑ Ziya Us Salam, 'A Santhal Suppressed', Frontline (13 October 2017).
- ↑ Eight melancholic, introspective poems by Parimal Hansda on being a Santhal today(August 20, 2017).
- ↑ Memories of the Kirta Dangra.
- ↑ Memories of the Kirta Dangra (Santhali).
- ↑ I am from the Earth(September 16, 2017).
- ↑ Baba, Crows and Black Smoke(August 2, 2018).
- ↑ Jwala Kumar and the Gift of Fire: Adventures in Champakbagh.
- ↑ Jwala Kumar and the Gift of Fire.
- ↑ New Indian Kids’ and YA Books in August 2018(July 21, 2018).
- ↑ 'Those accusing me of objectifying women were all bullying women'(April 1, 2018).
- ↑ My Father's Garden.
- ↑ Who’s There?.
- ↑ Sumi Budhi and Sugi.
- ↑ List of Yuva Puraskar winners (2011-2017).
- ↑ Sudipta Datta, 'Who is Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar, fighting a ban', The Hindu (19 August 2017).
- ↑ Here's the shortlist(October 5, 2014).
- ↑ Meet the contenders: the Crossword Book Award 2014 shortlists for fiction and non-fiction(April 4, 2015).
- ↑ The Mysterious Ailment of Rupi Baskey.
- ↑ Shahnaz Bashir’s The Half Mother declared winner of Muse India award(December 21, 2015).
- ↑ Best fiction books of the decade(December 28, 2019).
- ↑ Shortlist for The Hindu Prize 2016 announced(October 16, 2016).
- ↑ Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar on writing his first children's book, depicting small-town India in fiction(August 9, 2018).
- ↑ Jwala Kumar and the Gift of Fire: Adventures in Champakbagh.
- ↑ Neev Literature Festival 2019 Book Awards.
- ↑ Crossword Book Award: Women writers sweep fiction shortlist.
- ↑ 'My Father's Garden by Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar: Something rich and surprising(February 2, 2019).
- ↑ The Simple Prose of My Father's Garden Cuts Like a Knife(February 7, 2019).
- ↑ JCB Prize 2019 shortlist: An acknowledgement that Indian fiction is now raw, brutal and angry(October 4, 2019).
- ↑ Madhuri Vijay’s debut novel ‘The Far Field’ wins 2019 JCB prize for Literature(November 3, 2019).
- ↑ Sudipta Datta, 'Who is Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar, fighting a ban', The Hindu (19 August 2017).
- ↑ Ziya Us Salam, 'A Santhal Suppressed', Frontline (13 October 2017).
- ↑ Sanjay Srivastava, 'What the ban on The Adivasi Will Not Dance tells us about India’s political life', Hindustan Times (14 August 2017).
- ↑ Ruchir Joshi, 'The reader will not dance', The Hindu (13 August 2017).
- ↑ 'Dubbed 'porn', book on tribals banned in Jharkhand', The Times of India (13 August 2017).
- ↑ 'Writers, Activists Condemn Banning of ‘The Adivasi Will Not Dance’ in Jharkhand', The Wire (29 August 2017).
- ↑ Four months after ban, Jharkhand finds nothing objectionable in Hansda Shekhar’s book on Adivasis(December 13, 2017).
- ↑ Jharkhand: Govt finds nothing objectionable in Santhal writer’s book, ban could be lifted(December 14, 2017).
- ↑ Suspension on Writer Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar Revoked(August 17, 2018).
- ↑ Playing with Fire: Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar on his first children's book(September 2, 2018).