Books and Authors - Current Affairs for October, 2016

The book entitled The Adivasi Will Not Dance penned by Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar was in news in the second week of October 2016

• The book was shortlisted for the Hindu prize 2016
• Characters of the book are set in Jharkhand
• The book is a collection of stories offering a glimpse into the lives of protagonists facing challenging circumstances
• A medical officer with the Government of Jharkhand, he is also author of novel The Mysterious Ailment of Rupi Baksey was shortlisted for the Hindu prize 2014 and the Crossword Book Award
• He received the Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar in June 2015

Book entitled The Sleepwalker’s Dream authored by Dhurbajyoti Borah was released. Borah is currently the president of the Asam Sahitya Sabha

• The book narrates the journey of a group of militants towards elusive freedom and an unknown future
• The Sleepwalker’s Dream is about rebels fleeing their hideout in Bhutan following an army attack, along with their injured, unconscious leader who is unlikely to survive
• The author gives life to their journey to be insurgents and the memories that haunt them
• The only woman in the group recalls her own childhood and the tragic circumstances under which she became an insurgent
• A male insurgent is also flooded by memories of his childhood and passionate commitment in early days along with high adventure

Author Arundhati Roy in the first week of Oct 2016 announced her latest novel called “The Ministry of Utmost Happiness.”

• The novel will be published by Hamish Hamilton UK and Penguin India
• Novel will hit stands in June 2017
• It is after 19 years that Roy has released her next novel after Booker prize winning “The God of Small Things.”
• Her debut novel The God of Small Things was first published in 1997. It won the Man Booker Prize for Fiction in the same year
• Her debut novel became the biggest selling book by a non-expat author from India
• She is also an activist in the fields of polity, human rights and environmental causes
• She also worked for television and movies
• She wrote screenplays for “In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones” and “Electric Moon.”
• She won the National Film Award for Best Screenplay in 1988 for “In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones.”

History professor at Ashoka University Nayanjot Lahiri won the 2016 John F Richards Prize for her book Ashoka in Ancient India.

• The book has given an interesting account of the manner in which the emperor spoke to others through edicts
• The book focuses on archaeological, textual and geographical evidence regarding the ancient world and the deep history of Indian society
• Lahiri is an eminent historian and archeologist of the ancient Indian period
• She researchers and conducts heritage studies and archeological theories on ancient India
• She has also won the 2013 Infosys Prize for Humanities
• American Historical Association bestows the John F Richards Prize annually to the best South Asian historical work
• Award has been named after eminent historian John F Richards