Gunaratne wins 2019 Jhalak Prize for ‘In Our Mad and Furious City’

Guy Gunaratne’s debut novel In Our Mad and Furious City (Tinder) has won the £1000 (A$1860) Jhalak Prize for black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) writers, reports the Bookseller.

Gunaratne’s novel was the judges’ unanimous choice from a shortlist of five other books. Of the novel, organisers said: ‘Unflinching and courageous, the novel weaves a rich, nuanced tapestry of fears and differences, loves and loyalties, and marks the arrival of a powerful new chronicler of London’.

In Our Mad and Furious City covers 48 hours on a London council estate amid unrest following the murder of a British soldier.

This is the third year of the Jhalak Prize, which was launched in 2016 to recognise ‘authors who feel that their work is often marginalised unless it fulfils a romantic fetishisation of their cultural heritage’ after the 2015 Writing the Future report found that the best chance of publication for writers of colour was to write literary fiction conforming to a stereotypical view of their communities.

Last year’s winner was Reni Eddo-Lodge for Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race (Bloomsbury).

Category: International news