Finalists were announced on Wednesday for the 2012 Man Asian Literary Prize. Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk has been shortlisted as one of the top five finalists for the prize with his submission of Silent House.
Silent House was Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk's second book, which was first published in Turkey 30 years ago and only recently translated into English.
The literary awards sponsored by the international investment firm Man Group will be announced on March 14th. Asia's most prominent literary awards showcase the best novel by an Asian writer published in or translated in English.
Orhan Pamuk's novel Silent House was awarded the Madarali Novel Prize in 1984, and since then has been translated into a number of languages including French, Spanish, Italian and Russian. The novel has won Pamuk a number of awards already including the 1991 Prix de la Découverte Européenne for its French translation.
Silent House tells the story of a family that is breaking apart amongst a series of hidden conflicts set against the historical backdrop of the Turkish Republic and its modernization. Silent House was translated into English for the first in October, 2012 and was received with wide international acclaim.
The five finalists for the Man Asian Literary Prize are as follows:
- ''Between Clay and Dust'' - Musharraf Ali Farooqi (Pakistan)
- ''The Briefcase'' - Hiromi Kawakami (Japan)
- ''Silent House'' - Orhan Pamuk (Turkey)
- ''The Garden of Evening Mists'' - Tan Twan Eng (Malaysia)
- ''Narcopolis'' - Jeet Thayil (India)