Khalid’s Paradise of Food shortlisted for India’s most prestigious literature award
The news of Jamia Millia Islamia’s Professor Khalid Jawed book, The Paradise of Food, translated from the Urdu by another Jamia faculty member Baran Farooqi being shortlisted for the JCB Prize for Literature has been welcomed by Urdu literary connoisseurs. Many are wishing him best of luck for winning the award.
Author of fifteen works of fiction and non-fiction, and a recipient of the Katha Award, the Upendranath Ashk Award and the UP Urdu Academy Award, Khalid teaches Urdu at Jamia.
Translator Baran is a professor of English at Jamia.
AS Panneerselvan, the chair of jury 2022, said: “Judging literature is a challenge. From exploring new content and deploying various literary devices, authors constantly try to push the boundary. Every step is crucial and every innovation is precious. However, when the final evaluation happened, these wonders of the mind gave space to the power of the heart, where empathy became the criteria for creating the shortlist. All the novels in the shortlist exemplify the idea of empathy, concern for fellow humans, and in a sense a worldview in which the head does not subsume the heart.”
The JCB Prize titles are present across bookstores in the country.
