Indian-origin author Avni Doshi's novel 'Burnt Sugar' shortlisted for 2020 Booker Prize for Fiction

Dubai-based Indian-origin author Avni Doshi’s debut novel ‘Burnt Sugar’, based on the relationship between a mother and her daughter, has been shortlisted for the 2020 Booker Prize for Fiction, the organisers announced on Tuesday. The winner will be announced on November 17.

The Booker Prize for Fiction is open to writers of any nationality, writing in English and published in the UK or Ireland. Each shortlisted author will receive 2,500 pounds and a specially bound edition of their book at the prize ceremony scheduled for November. The winner will further receive 50,000 pounds.

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"This utterly compelling read examines a complex and unusual mother-daughter relationship with honest, unflinching realism – sometimes emotionally wrenching but also cathartic, written with poignancy and memorability," the judges said of Doshi's longlisted entry.

Doshi, born in the US and now living in Dubai, had previously spoken about the long journey to her first novel, which was released in India last year as 'Girl in White Cotton' and in UK this year as ‘Burnt Sugar'.

The 2019 Booker Prize for Fiction was won jointly by 'The Testaments' by Margaret Atwood and 'Girl, Woman, Other' by Bernardine Evaristo. First awarded in 1969, the Booker Prize is recognised as the leading prize for literary fiction written in English.

With PTI inputs