Padma Viswanathan Makes 2026 International Booker Prize Longlist

India-West News Desk

LITTLE ROCK, AR– Indian Canadian author and playwright Padma Viswanathan has been named to the 2026 International Booker Prize longlist for her English translation of a Portuguese-language novel by Brazilian writer Ana Paula Maia. The work, titled ‘On Earth As It Is Beneath’, is one of 13 global contenders selected for the literary award, which recognizes fiction translated into English and published in the UK or Ireland.

The International Booker Prize carries a total award of £50,000, divided equally between the author and translator. In 2025, Kannada writer-activist Banu Mushtaq and translator Deepa Bhasthi won for the short story collection ‘Heart Lamp’, the first work translated from Kannada to receive the prize. Organizers said the book sold out rapidly in the UK, prompting publisher And Other Stories to reprint 40,000 copies.

The 58-year-old Viswanathan, who is a Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Arkansas-Fayetteville, translated what judges described as a “haunting” and “stark exploration of power, violence, destruction and institutional corruption.” According to the judging panel, the novel “will linger with readers long after the final page.”

The longlist includes Shida Bazyar’s ‘The Nights Are Quiet in Tehran’ (translated from German by Ruth Martin), Gabriela Cabezon Camara’s ‘We Are Green and Trembling’ (translated from Spanish by Robin Myers), and Yang Shuang-zi’s ‘Taiwan Travelogue’ (translated from Taiwanese by Lin King), among others translated from Dutch, French, Swedish, Bulgarian, Italian, Persian, and Danish.

The longlist will be narrowed to six shortlisted titles on March 31, with each finalist receiving £5,000, split equally between author and translator. The winner will be announced at a ceremony at London’s Tate Modern on May 19.