Sahitya Akademi awards 2021: What to expect from the three winning books in the English language

The Sahitya Akademi awards for 2021 were announced on December 30, 2021. A Burning by Megha Majumdar (Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar), Things to Leave Behind by Namita Gokhale (Sahitya Akademi Award), and Amrita Sher-Gil: Rebel with a Paintbrush by Anita Vachharajani (Bal Sahitya Puraskar), were the winners in the English language.

A Burning, Megha Majumdar, winner of the Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar, English

One of 2020’s most admired books, Megha Majumdar’s A Burning is a magnificent debut with endless possibilities. Jivan, a young Muslim girl, is determined to rise through the ranks despite her shackles of class and religion.

Things take a sharp turn when Jivan is accused of carrying out a terrorist attack on a train due to a Facebook post. An opportunistic gym teacher latches his aspirations to a right-wing party and finds that his own rise to power is tied to Jivan’s fall. Jivan’s alibi, Lovely, can set her free but at a great personal cost. A Burning shows contemporary India for what it is – an endless tussle between class, fate, corruption, justice, and the quest for personal freedom in a country moving rapidly towards extremism.

“You smell like smoke,” my mother said to me.

So I rubbed an oval of soap in my hair and poured a whole bucket of water on myself before…

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