2022 Literary Awards Spotlight South Asian Writers and Independent Publishers

The International Booker Prize in May 2022 went to Geetanjali Shree and translator Daisy Rockwell for 'Tomb of Sand,' marking the first win for a book originally written in an Indian language. Shehan Karunatilaka won the Booker Prize in October for 'The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida,' a novel set during Sri Lanka's civil war. Both books were published by small presses: Tilted Axis Press and Sort Of Books, respectively, highlighting the role of independent publishers in innovative fiction. Annie Ernaux received the Nobel Prize in Literature in October, recognized by her UK publisher Fitzcarraldo Editions, which has seen three authors win Nobels since 2015. The year also saw the deaths of authors Javier Marías and Hilary Mantel, while Salman Rushdie recovered from an attack in New York. Other notable works included new novels by Julian Barnes, Ian McEwan, Cormac McCarthy, and J. M. Coetzee, with Claire Keegan's 'Small Things Like These' shortlisted for the Booker. Debuts like Arinze Ifeakandu's 'God’s Children Are Little Broken Things' gained attention, and digital trends like BookTok and OpenAI's ChatGPT emerged as influential forces in literature.