Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar

Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar (born 1983) is an Indian writer. For his debut novel, The Mysterious Ailment of Rupi Baskey, Shekhar won the 2015 Yuva Puraskar,[1][2] was shortlisted for the 2014 Crossword Book Award[3][4] and the 2014 Hindu Literary Prize,[5] longlisted for the 2016 International Dublin Literary Award,[6] and jointly won the 2015 Muse India Young Writer Award.[7] For his second book, The Adivasi Will Not Dance: Stories, Shekhar was shortlisted for the 2016 Hindu Literary Prize.[8] Though Shekhar writes primarily in English, he also translates from Santhali to English [9][10][11] and Hindi to English.[12][13] Jwala Kumar and the Gift of Fire: Adventures in Champakbagh is Shekhar's first book for children.[14]

Ethnically, Shekhar is a Santhal, one of India's Adivasi groups; this background is reflected in his fiction.[15] His stories are rich in "fine details that add to the deep dimensions" and "open to us a world we have deliberately dismissed" [16] and contain "a surplus of understanding that comes from a kind insider-outsider."[17] Indeed, he characterised his first novel as "the first full-fledged Santhal novel written in English, and published by a mainstream publisher."[18] Born in Ranchi,[19] Shekhar grew up in Ghatshila and Chakulia and went to school in Musabani.[20][21][22] His parents used to work with Hindustan Copper in Ghatshila.[23] By profession, he is a medical doctor and is employed as a medical officer with the government of Jharkhand,[24][25] based in 2017 in Pakur.[26]

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.[27] 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.[28] The government's actions were widely criticised.[29][30][31][32] The ban on The Adivasi Will Not Dance: Stories was removed in December 2017[33][34] and Shekhar's suspension was removed and he was reinstated into his job in 2018.[35][36]

Works

  • The Mysterious Ailment of Rupi Baskey (New Delhi: Aleph, 2014), ISBN 9789382277323
  • The Adivasi Will Not Dance: Stories (New Delhi: Speaking Tiger, 2015), ISBN 9789385288647
  • Jwala Kumar and the Gift of Fire: Adventures in Champakbagh (New Delhi: Speaking Tiger, 2018), ISBN 9789387693975 [37][38]
  • My Father's Garden (New Delhi: Speaking Tiger, forthcoming 2018)[39]

References

  1. ↑ Sahitya Akademi. "List of Yuva Puraskar winners (2011-2017)". Sahitya Akademi. Retrieved August 12, 2018.
  2. ↑ Sudipta Datta, 'Who is Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar, fighting a ban', The Hindu (19 August 2017).
  3. ↑ Arunima Mazumdar (April 4, 2015). "Meet the contenders: the Crossword Book Award 2014 shortlists for fiction and non-fiction". Scroll. Retrieved August 12, 2018.
  4. ↑ Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar, The Adivasi Will Not Dance: Stories (New Delhi: Speaking Tiger, 2015), p. [i].
  5. ↑ "Here's the shortlist". The Hindu. October 5, 2014. Retrieved December 24, 2014.
  6. ↑ "The Mysterious Ailment of Rupi Baskey". International Dublin Literary Award. Retrieved August 12, 2018.
  7. ↑ GK News Network (December 21, 2015). "Shahnaz Bashir's The Half Mother declared winner of Muse India award". Greater Kashmir. Retrieved August 12, 2018.
  8. ↑ "Shortlist for The Hindu Prize 2016 announced". The Hindu. October 16, 2016. Retrieved September 13, 2017.
  9. ↑ Parimal Hansda (August 20, 2017). "Eight melancholic, introspective poems by Parimal Hansda on being a Santhal today". Scroll. Retrieved August 12, 2018.
  10. ↑ Shibu Tudu. "Memories of the Kirta Dangra". Asymptote. Retrieved August 12, 2018.
  11. ↑ Shibu Tudu. "Memories of the Kirta Dangra (Santhali)". Asymptote. Retrieved August 12, 2018.
  12. ↑ Manish Mundra (September 16, 2017). "I am from the Earth". The Hindu. Retrieved August 12, 2018.
  13. ↑ Ranendra (August 2, 2018). "Baba, Crows and Black Smoke". Usawa literary Review. Retrieved August 12, 2018.
  14. ↑ Kanishka Gupta (August 9, 2018). "Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar on writing his first children's book, depicting small-town India in fiction". Firstpost. Retrieved August 13, 2018.
  15. ↑ Ziya Us Salam, 'A Santhal Suppressed', Frontline (13 October 2017).
  16. ↑ Binoo K. John (November 30, 2015). "The tribal world strikes back at Indian writing in English through a doctor". Scroll. Retrieved August 15, 2018.
  17. ↑ Sumana Roy (October 17, 2015). "Faith in the local". Livemint. Retrieved August 15, 2018.
  18. ↑ 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].
  19. ↑ Kaartikeya Bajpai (January 18, 2015). "Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar is a dedicated doctor and writer". DNA. Retrieved August 15, 2018.
  20. ↑ Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar, 'Not just one', The Hindu Business Line (24 July 2015)
  21. ↑ Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar (April 23, 2016). "Ghatsila: A nostalgist's map". Mint Lounge/Livemint. Retrieved August 13, 2018.
  22. ↑ Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar (April–June 2018). "Black". The Indian Quarterly. Retrieved August 13, 2018.
  23. ↑ Paromita Chakrabarti (September 2, 2018). "Playing with Fire: Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar on his first children's book". The Indian Express. Retrieved September 2, 2018.
  24. ↑ Binoo K. John (November 30, 2015). "The tribal world strikes back at Indian writing in English through a doctor". Scroll. Retrieved August 15, 2018.
  25. ↑ Sudipta Datta, 'Who is Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar, fighting a ban', The Hindu (19 August 2017).
  26. ↑ Ziya Us Salam, 'A Santhal Suppressed', Frontline (13 October 2017).
  27. ↑ Sudipta Datta, 'Who is Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar, fighting a ban', The Hindu (19 August 2017).
  28. ↑ Ziya Us Salam, 'A Santhal Suppressed', Frontline (13 October 2017).
  29. ↑ Sanjay Srivastava, 'What the ban on The Adivasi Will Not Dance tells us about India’s political life', Hindustan Times (14 August 2017).
  30. ↑ Ruchir Joshi, 'The reader will not dance', The Hindu (13 August 2017).
  31. ↑ 'Dubbed 'porn', book on tribals banned in Jharkhand', The Times of India (13 August 2017).
  32. ↑ 'Writers, Activists Condemn Banning of ‘The Adivasi Will Not Dance’ in Jharkhand', The Wire (29 August 2017).
  33. ↑ Scroll Staff (December 13, 2017). "Four months after ban, Jharkhand finds nothing objectionable in Hansda Shekhar's book on Adivasis". Scroll. Retrieved September 2, 2018.
  34. ↑ Prashant Pandey (December 14, 2017). "Jharkhand: Govt finds nothing objectionable in Santhal writer's book, ban could be lifted". The Indian Express. Retrieved September 2, 2018.
  35. ↑ ICF Team (August 17, 2018). "Suspension on Writer Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar Revoked". Indian Cultural Forum. Retrieved September 2, 2018.
  36. ↑ Paromita Chakrabarti (September 2, 2018). "Playing with Fire: Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar on his first children's book". The Indian Express. Retrieved September 2, 2018.
  37. ↑ "Jwala Kumar and the Gift of Fire". Speaking Tiger Books. Retrieved August 12, 2018.
  38. ↑ Duckbill Books (July 21, 2018). "New Indian Kids' and YA Books in August 2018". The Duckbill Blog. Retrieved August 12, 2018.
  39. ↑ Prasun Chaudhuri (April 1, 2018). "'Those accusing me of objectifying women were all bullying women'". The Telegraph, Kolkata. Retrieved August 15, 2018.
  • "Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar on Goodreads". Retrieved August 13, 2018.
  • "Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar on Academia". Retrieved August 13, 2018.
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