Ashok Srinivasan
won The Hindu Prize 2014 at the Lit for Life 2015 for his debut collection of
13 short stories, Book of Common Signs.
The award was presented by the former Chief Justice of the Himachal Pradesh
High Court Justice Leila Seth, who, in the context of a resolution passed at
the festival supporting author Perumal Murugan, said she hoped that freedom of
expression would be alive forever in this country.
Mr. Srinivasan, in
his acceptance speech, said “short stories, unlike poetry, are the things that
are lost not only in translation but also don’t sell.”
Panel on Book of Common Signs:
This collection of
stories is full of quiet surprises. The stories are carefully structured, yet
playful and quirky in a cerebral way. They cover a great deal of ground with
equal facility – from hutments and streets to middle class homes. Whether it is
the emotional power of intimacy, the multiple lives of a single mind, or the
terrors of difference and separation, real people live them out. Throughout
there is a simmering tension between the real and the imagined. The language is
suggestive, framing and saying just the right amount and withholding when
necessary; metaphors, images and insights are embedded neatly in the narrative.
Despite the occasional waywardness, which comes as a pleasant shock, these
sophisticated stories are executed with great restraint.
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