JCB Prize for Literature 2024 Longlist: Bookmark these titles for your next reading

The covers of shortlisted titles

Since 2018, the JCB Literature Foundation has awarded a literature prize to an Indian author whose new work of fiction has made a mark in contemporary writing. Last year, Tamil writer Perumal Murugan won it with translator Janani Kannan for Fire Bird. The shortlist and winning entry for this year will be announced in October. The award has a prize money of Rs 25 lakh.

>> A Chronicle of an Hour and a Half: In Saharu Nusaiba Kannanari's book, Vaiga, situated in the foothills of the Western Ghats, is witnessing one of the worst storms in years, with torrential rain and floods. Amidst that, there's a rumour of an illicit affair stirring the village into another kind of storm.

>> Sanatan: Sharankumar Limbale (translated from Marathi by Paromita Sengupta) traces the life of the Mahars in Maharashtra facing discrimination by the upper caste communities. It oscillates between pre-Independence India and that of contemporary times, depicting the story of Bhimnak Mahar and his grandson.

>> Lorenzo Searches for the Meaning of Life: After an accident, bed-ridden for a month, 21-year-old Lorenzo Senesi of Italy searches for answers to questions about his life and his identity. From a monastery in Padua to a Benedictine-ashram in Bangladesh, Lorenzo's life takes him to places of spiritual worship and to an unexpected discovery of love in this book by Upamanyu Chatterjee.

>> The One-Legged: Shakyajit Bhattacharya explores what fear feels like and how one deals with it in this novel through the protagonist, a boy named Tunu. The translation from Bengali is by Rituparna Mukherjee.

>> Of Mothers and Other Perishables: Radhika Oberoi's work looks at the story of a now-deceased mother, who lived in 1970s and 80s Delhi, alongside the life of her older daughter, the Wailer. The latter's narrative mocks the advertising world, and aims to thaw the cold relationship with her younger sister, Toon, and dives into a protest in the city.

>> Hurda: Three sisters are missing from Murwani, a village in Maharashtra on Valentine's Day. The seriousness of their death gets buried under sensational reporting and new cases, until a few years later, a journalist comes to pursue the story. The book by Atharva Pandit is based on a real-life incident.

>> Maria, Just Maria: Sandhya Mary's Maria lives as an inmate at a psychiatric hospital, having lost the desire to speak after the passing of her grandfather, her Appachan. How did she end up here though? Maria scratches at her memories, which feature a host of characters, to arrive at an answer, "the cause of her madness". Jayasree Kalathil has translated this book from Malayalam.

>> Talashnama: In Sadnahati, West Bengal, young Riziya elopes with her Hindu tutor, leaving behind a political message graffitied on the wall of the village mosque. A decade later, after the tutor takes his own life, she returns to the village and has to navigate the world that has condemned her rebellious act. Written in Bengali by Ismail Darbesh, the book was translated by V Ramaswamy.

>> Leaf, Water and Flow: This lyrical novel by Avadhoot Dongare (translated from Marathi by Nadeem Khan), stitches together voices that stand against power structures, such as that of an Adivasi woman who was part of a Maoist dalam, an egret, a writer, a reader, and a professional revolutionary, among others.

>> The Distaste of the Earth: Discover the world of Khasi queens and kings, and encounter Kynpham Sing Nonkynrih's exploration of their culture as he reimagines an oft-narrated tale from oral traditions - the love story of Manik, a pauper, and Queen Lieng in a modern retelling.

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