By NNN-PTI,
New Delhi : Be it recognitions at the global level, controversies, visits by high-profile writers, publishers rolling out bestsellers and several new authors spinning stories, Indian literature in 2008 saw them all!
Aravind Adiga brought cheers to the nation when his novel “The White Tiger,” an ironic take on the new India with its techno-brilliance and IT prowess, bagged the Man Booker Prize beating the likes of Salman Rushdie (“The Enchantress of Florence”) and Amitav Ghosh (“Sea of Poppies”) among others.
Earlier in the year, Rushdie’s “Midnight’s Children” was voted for by the public as the Best of the Booker prize shortlisted from the award’s 40-year history. “Midnight’s Children” had won Rushdie a Booker in 1981 and also the Booker of Bookers in 1993.
Upamanyu Chatterjee was honoured by the French government with the prestigious Officier des Arts et des Lettres (Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters) for his contribution to contemporary literature.
Eminent poet Rahman Rahi was conferred the Jnanpith Award and became the first Kashmiri to get the country’s highest literary honour.
The year was mired in controversies as far as literature was concerned.
“Goodbye Shahzadi”, a political biography on slain Pakistani premier Benazir Bhutto by Indian journalist Shyam Bhatia raised a storm in Pakistan.