{{Short description|Indian writer (born 1957)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2022}} {{Use Indian English|date=August 2016}} {{Infobox writer | name = Geetanjali Shree | image = Geetanjali.jpg | image_size = | alt = | caption = Geetanjali Shree in February 2010 | birth_name = Geetanjali Pandey | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1957|06|12|df=y}} | birth_place = Mainpuri, Uttar Pradesh, India | death_date = | death_place = | language = Hindi | nationality = Indian | occupation = | genre = Novels, short stories | movement = | notableworks = ''Tomb of Sand'' | spouse = | relations = | awards = International Booker Prize (2022) | influences = | influenced = }} '''Geetanjali Shree''' ({{IPA|hi| giːt̪ãːˈd͡ʒəlɪ ʃɾiː}}; born 12 June 1957), also known as '''Geetanjali Pandey''',{{efn|Her birth name is Geetanjali Pandey, but she took her mother's first name ''Shree'' as her last name.<ref name="outlook1"/>}} is an Indian Hindi-language novelist and short-story writer based in New Delhi, India. She is the author of several short stories and five novels. Her 2000 novel ''Mai'' was shortlisted for the Crossword Book Award in 2001,<ref>[https://www.outlookindia.com/website/story/bent-over-backwards/211371 "Bent Over Backwards"], excerpts from ''Mai'' – ''Outlook India''.</ref> while its English translation by Nita Kumar was published by Niyogi Books in 2017. In 2022, her novel ''Ret Samadhi'' (2018), translated into English as ''Tomb of Sand'' by Daisy Rockwell, won the International Booker Prize.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Tomb of Sand {{!}} The Booker Prizes |url=https://thebookerprizes.com/the-booker-library/books/tomb-of-sand |access-date=27 May 2022 |website=thebookerprizes.com |date=26 August 2021 |language=en}}</ref> Aside from fiction, she has written critical works on Premchand.
==Early life and education == Shree was born in the city of Mainpuri in Uttar Pradesh state<ref>{{Cite news |date=27 May 2022 |title=Geetanjali Shree is first Indian winner of International Booker Prize |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-61561452 |access-date=28 May 2022}}</ref> on 12 June 1957.<ref name =sam2022>{{cite news |last1=Chhaya |first1=Mayank |title=Geetanjali Shree first Indian to win International Booker Prize: Will it open doors for translations of great literature in all Indian languages? |url=https://www.southasiamonitor.org/books/geetanjali-shree-first-indian-win-international-booker-prize-will-it-open-doors-translations |access-date=29 May 2022 |work=South Asian Monitor |date=27 May 2022}}</ref> Her father, Anirudh Pandey, was a civil servant, causing her family to live in various towns throughout Uttar Pradesh. Shree says that it was this upbringing in Uttar Pradesh, along with a lack of children's books in English, that gave her a rich connection to Hindi.<ref name="outlook1"/> She is ancestrally from Ghazipur District, Gondaur village.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Booker Prize: गीतांजलि श्री को बुकर पुरस्कार मिलने से गाजीपुर गौरवान्वित, जिले में खुशी का माहौल |trans-title=Ghazipur proud of Gitanjali Shree receiving Booker Prize, atmosphere of happiness in district |url=https://www.amarujala.com/uttar-pradesh/ghazipur/international-award-to-godur-s-daughter-gitanjali-shree-s-novel-sand-samadhi-a-splash-of-pride-ghazipur-news-vns655844267 |access-date=28 May 2022 |website=Amar Ujala |language=hi}}</ref>
At university, she studied history. She completed a BA at Lady Shri Ram College,<ref>{{cite news |title=Geetanjali Shree got her PhD degree from MSU |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/vadodara/geetanjali-shree-got-her-phd-degree-from-msu/articleshow/91844381.cms |access-date=29 May 2022 |work=Times of India |date=28 May 2022}}</ref> and a master's degree from Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi.<ref>{{Cite news |title=JNU congratulates alumna Geetanjali Shree on International Booker win |url=https://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/jnu-congratulates-alumna-geetanjali-shree-on-international-booker-win-122052800555_1.html |access-date=3 June 2022 |newspaper=Business Standard India |date=28 May 2022 |language=en|agency=Press Trust of India }}</ref> After beginning her PhD work at Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda on the Hindi writer Munshi Premchand, Shree became more interested in Hindi literature.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |date=26 March 2022 |title=Geetanjali Shree's 'Tomb of Sand' makes it to Booker longlist |url=https://www.deccanherald.com/specials/geetanjali-shrees-tomb-of-sand-makes-it-to-booker-longlist-1094856.html |access-date=28 May 2022 |website=Deccan Herald |language=en}}</ref> She wrote her first short story during her PhD,<ref>{{Cite web |date=7 September 2020 |title=Geetanjali Shree |url=https://kalam.website/2020/09/07/ranchi-2019-geetanjali-shree/ |access-date=28 May 2022 |website=Kalam |language=en-US |archive-date=6 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230206090715/https://kalam.website/2020/09/07/ranchi-2019-geetanjali-shree/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> and turned to writing after graduation.<ref name=":1" />
==Writing career== Her first story, "Bel Patra" (1987), was published in the literary magazine ''Hans'' and was followed by a collection of short stories ''Anugoonj'' (1991).<ref name="outlook1">[https://www.outlookindia.com/website/story/im-waiting-to-write-the-book-which-will-slip-out-of-my-grasp/211369 "'I'm Waiting To Write The Book Which Will Slip Out Of My Grasp'"]. Interview with Geetanjali Shree in ''Outlook India''.</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=OnW-YEYl3vUC ''Mai: A Novel''], Kali for Women, 2000. Via Google Books.</ref><ref name="deepblue">[http://deepblueink.com/writing/interviews/geetanjalishree.htm "The past is ever present, realized by us in bits: An interview with Geetanjali Shree"]. ''Deep Blue Ink''.</ref>
The English translation of her novel ''Mai'' catapulted her to fame. The novel is about three generations of women and the men around them, in a North Indian middle-class family. ''Mai'' has been translated into several languages, including Serbian and Korean. It has also been translated into English by Nita Kumar, who was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Translation Prize, and into Urdu by Bashir Unwan with a preface by Intizar Hussain.<ref name="outlook1"/> Other translations of the novel include a French translation by Annie Montaut,<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |date=28 April 2022 |title=Geetanjali Shree on the Need for 'a Pluralistic Multilingual World' |url=https://publishingperspectives.com/2022/04/geetanjali-shree-on-the-need-for-a-pluralistic-multilingual-world/ |access-date=28 May 2022 |website=Publishing Perspectives |language=en-US}}</ref> and a German translation by {{Ill|Reinhold Schein|de}}.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Geetanjali Shree |url=https://www.draupadi-verlag.de/indische-literatur/erscheinungsjahre-2013-bis-2006/mai/ |access-date=28 May 2022 |website=Draupadi Verlag Webseite! |language=de-DE}}</ref>
Shree's second novel ''Hamara Shahar Us Baras'' is set loosely after the incidents of Babri Masjid demolition.<ref name="outlook1"/> Its English translation by Daisy Rockwell, her second collaboration with Shree, was published in 2024. A review on ''Scroll.in'' regards the novel's form as perhaps the only way to capture the "psychic context of communalism" that concerns the novel and its social world.<ref>{{cite web |author1=Shree Thaarshini |author2=Vighnesh Hampapura |title=‘Our City, That Year’: The many tangled happenings that form the psychic context of communalism |url=https://scroll.in/article/1072935/our-city-that-year-the-many-tangled-happenings-that-form-the-psychic-context-of-communalism |website=Scroll.in |access-date=13 March 2026 |date=7 Sep 2024}}</ref>
Her fourth novel, ''Khālī jagah'' (2006), has been translated into English by Nivedita Menon as ''The Empty Space'',<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gītāñjali Śrī |title=The empty space |date=2016 |others=Nivedita Menon |isbn=978-0-85742-394-8|location=London |oclc=944087243}}</ref> French by Nicola Pozza as ''Une place vide'',<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gītāñjali Śrī. |title=Une place vide |date=2018 |publisher=Infolio |others=Nicola Pozza |isbn=978-2-88474-950-3 |location=Gollion |oclc=1051241457}}</ref> and German by Georg Lechner and Nivedita Menon as ''Im leeren Raum''.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gītāñjali Śrī |title=Im leeren Raum |date=2017 |others=Georg Lechner, Nivedita Menon, Lotos Werkstatt |isbn=978-3-86176-061-0 |edition=Deutschsprachige Ausgabe |location=Berlin |oclc=1028552813}}</ref>
Her fifth novel, ''Ret Samadhi'' (2018), has been commended by Alka Saraogi for "its sweeping imagination and sheer power of language, unprecedented and uninhibited".<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Saraogi |first=Alka |author-link=Alka Saraogi |date=May 2019 |title=Painting The Ordinary In Myriad Extraordinary Hues |url=https://www.thebookreviewindia.org/painting-the-ordinary-in-myriad-extraordinary-hues/ |journal=The Book Review |volume=43 |issue=5}}</ref> It has been translated into English by Daisy Rockwell as ''Tomb of Sand'', and into French by Annie Montaut as ''Au-delà de la frontière''.<ref name=":2" /> On 26 May 2022, ''Tomb of Sand'' won the International Booker Prize, becoming the first book in Hindi and the first from an Indian writer to receive the accolade.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/apr/07/international-booker-prize-shortlist|title=International Booker prize shortlist delivers 'awe and exhilaration'|first=Lucy|last=Knight|newspaper=The Guardian|date=7 April 2022}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=26 May 2022 |title=First novel translated from Hindi wins International Booker prize |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/may/26/first-novel-translated-from-hindi-wins-international-booker-prize |first=Sarah |last=Shaffi|access-date=26 May 2022 |newspaper=The Guardian |language=en}}</ref>
== Bibliography ==
=== Novels ===
* ''Mai'' (1993) – translated as ''Mai Silently Motherly'' by Nita Kumar (2017) * ''Hamara Shahar Us Baras'' (1998) – translated as ''Our City That Year'' by Daisy Rockwell (2024) * ''Tirohit'' (2001) – translated as ''The Roof Beneath Their Feet'' by Rahul Soni (2013) * ''Khali Jagah'' (2006) – translated as ''The Empty Space'' by Nivedita Menon (2011) * ''Ret Samadhi'' (2018) – translated as ''Tomb of Sand'' by Daisy Rockwell (2022) * ''Sah-Saa | सह-सा'' (2025)
=== Short story collections ===
* ''March, Ma Aur Sakura'' (2008) * ''Pratinidhi Kahaniyan'' (2015) * ''Yahan Hathi Rahte The'' (2022) * ''Vairagya'' (2022) * ''Anugunj'' (2022)
=== Academic publications === *''Between Two Worlds: An Intellectual Biography of Premchand''<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=p-KAAAAAIAAJ Between Two Worlds] Google Books</ref> *"Premchand and Industrialism: A Study in Attitudinal Ambivalence", ''The Indian Economic and Social History Review'', XIX(2), 1982 <ref>[http://ier.sagepub.com/content/vol19/issue2/ ''The Indian Economic and Social History Review''], XIX(2), 1982, Sage Publications.</ref> *"Premchand and the Peasantry: Constrained Radicalism", ''Economic and Political Weekly'', XVIII(26), 25 June 1983.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=GS49AAAAIAAJ&q=Premchand+and+the+Peasantry:+Constrained+Radicalism ICSSR journal of abstracts and reviews]. Google Books.</ref> *"The North Indian Intelligentsia and the Hindu-Muslim Question"<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?client=firefox-a&q=The+North+Indian+Intelligentsia+and+the+Hindu+Muslim+question:+Geetanjali+Pandey&spell=1&oi=spell "The North Indian Intelligentsia and the Hindu-Muslim Question"], Bibliography of Asian Studies.</ref>
==Other activities == Shree also participates in theatre and works with Vivadi, a theatre group comprising writers, artists, dancers, and painters.<ref name="outlook1"/>
==Awards and honours== Shree is the recipient of the Indu Sharma Katha Samman award<ref name="deepblue" /> and has been a fellow of the Ministry of Culture, India, and Japan Foundation.<ref name =nyt2022/>
In 2022, ''Tomb of Sand'' became the first Hindi-language novel shortlisted for the International Booker Prize<ref name =nyt2022>{{cite news |last1=Marshall |first1=Alex |title=Women Dominate Shortlist for International Booker Prize |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/07/books/international-booker-prize-shortlist-tokarczuk.html |access-date=8 April 2022 |newspaper=The New York Times |date=7 April 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Geetanjali Shree's 'Tomb of Sand' first Hindi novel on International Booker shortlist |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/books-and-literature/geetanjali-shree-tomb-of-sand-first-hindi-novel-on-international-booker-shortlist-7858369/ |access-date=8 April 2022 |newspaper=The Indian Express |date=7 April 2022 |language=en}}</ref> and subsequently won the prize.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite news |title=Geetanjali Shree and Daisy Rockwell win 2022 International Booker Prize |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/2022/05/26/geetanjali-shree-and-daisy-rockwell-win-2022-international-booker-prize/ |first=Martin|last=Doyle|date=26 May 2022|access-date=26 May 2022 |newspaper=The Irish Times |language=en}}</ref>
In December 2022, Shree was named on the BBC's ''100 Women'' list as one of the world's inspiring and influential women of the year.<ref>{{Cite web |title=BBC 100 Women 2022: Who is on the list this year? - BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-75af095e-21f7-41b0-9c5f-a96a5e0615c1 |date=6 December 2022 |access-date=9 December 2022|website=BBC}}</ref>
==See also== * List of Hindi-language authors * Tomb of Sand
== Explanatory notes == {{Notelist}}
==References== {{Reflist|30em}}
==External links== * {{commons category inline}} * {{Wikiquote inline}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shree, Geetanjali}} Category:Living people Category:1957 births Category:20th-century Indian novelists Category:20th-century Indian short story writers Category:Indian feminists Category:Indian women short story writers Category:Novelists from Uttar Pradesh Category:People from Ghazipur Category:Women writers from Uttar Pradesh Category:20th-century Indian women novelists