I Named My Sister Silence

Shortlist - Atta Galatta BLF Book Prize 2023 for Best FictionAbout the BookAN UNUSUALLY QUIET BUT SEARING NOVEL ABOUT THE DESTRUCTION OF PEOPLES AND LANDSA little boy follows an elephant into a forest, fascinated and as if in a trance. His foray ends in tragedy, for the elephant is eaten alive by wild dogs even as the boy is sitting atop it.Remembering this years later, aboard a giant ship, he wonders if it is his destiny to witness the destruction of immense things. Like the land of Bastar, like the elephant, like his ship that will soon be decommissioned.He recalls his half-sisters immense silence too. Madavi Irma, the silent girl who nurtured him and gave him a good education by selling what she collected from the forest. Until one day, she left home to join the Maoist Dada Log. When he returns home, Bastar is afire. The Adivasis had mounted an armed rebellion to protect their land and lives. In retaliation, whole villages have been razed to the ground and their inhabitants stuffed into dingy camps. Determined to seek out his sister, he enters the forest once again, this time as a young man, and is soon confronted with the elaborate deceptions of those who rule and of those who profit from the land they do not own or understand.Manoj Rupdas I Named My Sister Silence is a quietly fierce work that continues to burn bright in the mind long after the last page has been read.About the AuthorManoj Rupda is based in Nagpur (Maharashtra) and writes in Hindi. He is the author of the novels Kaale Adhyaay (of which I Named My Sister Silence is a translation) and Pratisansaar; the collections of stories, Dafan tatha Anya Kahaniyan, Saaz Naasaaz, Aamaazgaah, Tower of Silence, Dahan and Dus Kahaniyan; and a book of essays, Kalaa ka Aaswaad. He is a recipient of the Indu Sharma Katha Puraskar and the Vanmali Katha Samman.About the TranslatorHansda Sowvendra Shekhar is a doctor by day and the author of a collection of short stories, The Adivasi Will Not Dance, which was shortlisted for The Hindu Prize; and a novel, The Mysterious Ailment of Rupi Baskey, which won the Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar and was nominated for The Hindu Prize and the Crossword Book Award and the International Dublin Literary Award. His other books include My Fathers Garden and Jwala Kumar and the Gift of Fire: Adventures in Champakbagh, a novel for children. He also translates into English from Santali, Hindi and Bengali. His translations have been published in Asymptote, The Hindu Literary Review, Scroll, National Herald on Sunday, Usawa Literary Review, Indian Literature, Poetry at Sangam and The Dalhousie Review.