Indo-Canadian translator Padma Viswanathan on 2026 International Booker Prize Longlist

London, Feb 24 (PTI) Padma Viswanathan, a Canadian writer of Indian heritage, was on Tuesday named on the 2026 International Booker Prize longlist as the English translator of a “haunting” Portuguese language novel by Brazilian author Ana Paula Maia.
     ‘On Earth As It Is Beneath’, described by judges as a stark exploration of power and corruption, is among 13 worldwide contenders for the coveted literary honour.
     The annual prize worth 50,000 pounds, divided equally between the author and translator, was last year won by Kannada writer-activist Banu Mushtaq and translator Deepa Bhasthi for the short story collection ‘Heart Lamp’.
     “On Earth As It Is Beneath is a stark, unsettling exploration of power, violence, destruction and institutional corruption that will linger with readers long after the final page,” the judging panel said of the work translated by US-based Viswanathan.
     The 58-year-old Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Arkansas-Fayetteville is an accomplished playwright and author, whose novels have been published in eight countries.
     “The calibre and variety of translated fiction being published in the UK is unbelievable,” said author Natasha Brown, chair of the 2026 judging panel.
     “As judges, we’ve been spoilt for choice during these past eight months reading this year’s 128 submissions. Our discussions are always lively, and we’ve often been surprised by the myriad ways these books engaged us,” she said.
     The other works this year include: ‘The Nights Are Quiet in Tehran’ by Shida Bazyar and translated from German by Ruth Martin; ‘We Are Green and Trembling’ by Argentinian author Gabriela Cabezón Cámara and translated from Spanish by Robin Myers; ‘The Remembered Soldier’ by Anjet Daanje and translated from Dutch by David McKay, and ‘The Deserters’ by Mathias Énard and translated from French by Charlotte Mandell.
     The list also includes: ‘Small Comfort’ by Ia Genberg and translated from Swedish Kira Josefsson; ‘She Who Remains’ by Rene Karabash and translated from Bulgarian by Izidora Angel; ‘The Director’ by Daniel Kehlmann and translated from German by Ross Benjamin; ‘The Duke’ by Matteo Melchiorre and translated from Italian by Antonella Lettieri; 'The Witch’ by Marie Ndiaye and translated from French by Jordan Stump; ‘Women Without Men’ by Iranian author Shahrnush Parsipur and translated from Persian by Faridoun Farrokh; ‘The Wax Child’ by Olga Ravn and translated from Danish by Martin Aitken; and ‘Taiwan Travelogue’ by Yáng Shuāng-zǐ and translated from Taiwanese by Lin King.
     These will be whittled down to a shortlist of six books by March 31, with each shortlisted title guaranteed a prize of 5,000 pounds – split 50-50 between the book’s author and English translator.
     The announcement of the winning book will take place on May 19 at a ceremony at Tate Modern in London.
     The International Booker Prize is awarded annually for a single work of fiction – either a novel or a collection of short stories – written in another language and translated into English and published in the UK and/or Ireland.
     According to the organisers, the 2025 winner ‘Heart Lamp’– the first collection of short stories to win the prize and the first translated from Kannada – rapidly sold out in the UK in the subsequent days, with the UK publisher, And Other Stories, immediately reprinting 40,000 copies.

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