The jury for the Armory Square Prize for South Asian Literature in Translation has selected five finalists for this year’s award, its second since the prize launched in July 2022.

The award, presented annually, aims to cultivate a new generation of literary translators working with South Asian languages. All five shortlisted entries reflect the breadth, linguistic complexity and robust modern literature of South Asia.

Sponsored by Armory Square Ventures, this groundbreaking prize is the first of its kind worldwide. The jury brings together award-winning specialists in South Asian and non-South Asian literary translation. As part of its deliberations, the jury considered several factors including the quality of the translation, the significance of the original work, and the degree of underrepresentation of the language in the US publishing market. The winner, to be announced in two weeks time, will be published by Open Letter Books. For more, see “5 Things to Know About the Armory Square Prize Shortlist,” a brief guide to the works, authors and translators the Armory Square jury selected.

Launched in July of 2022, the prize is an effort to remedy the stark disparities in literary translation worldwide and support compelling storytellers from the Indian Subcontinent by raising their visibility in the US. Of the nearly 7,600 books published in translation in the United States over the past decade, only 64, or fewer than 1%, originated from a South Asian language, even though these languages are spoken by a full one-fifth of the world’s population.

Excerpts of the shortlisted work and winner will be published and featured by Words Without Borders, an online literary publication with global reach. The award recipient’s book will be published by Open Letter Books in fall 2026.

This year’s finalists are as follows:

1. Mridula Garg (Hindi) Miljul Mann.
Translated by Aditya Vikram (Novel, 2009);

2. Fahmida Riaz (Urdu) Qila-e-Faramoshi (or Fortress of the Forgotten Ones).
Translated by Sana Chaudhry (Novel, 2017);

3. Mahua Sen Mukhopadhyay (Bengali) “The Well Wisher and other stories.”
Translated by Sayari Debnath (Short story collection, 2024);

4. Abha Purbey (Angika) Gulabiya.
Translated by Shivangi and Tejaswi (Novel, 2008);

5. Anuradha Sarma Pujari (Assamese) “Ten Love Stories and a Novella of Despair.” Translated by Aruni Kashyap (Short story collection).