Udupi Rajagopalacharya Ananthamurthy was an Indian contemporary writer and critic in the Kannada language.

He is considered one of the pioneers of the Navya movement. He was the recipient of the Jnanpith Award for the Kannada language, the highest literary honour conferred in India. In 1998, he received the Padma Bhushan award from the Government of India and in 2013, he was nominated for The Man Booker International Prize. Ananthamurthy’s award-winning works have been translated into several Indian and European languages. His main works include Samskara, Bhava, Bharathi Pura, and Avasthe. He has written numerous short stories and several of his novels and short fictions have been made into films.

U. R. Ananthamurthy

The Man Booker International Prize

Between 2005 - 2015, the Man Booker International Prize recognised one writer for their achievement in fiction.

Worth £60,000, the prize was awarded every two years to a living author who had published fiction either originally in English or whose work is generally available in translation in the English language.

The winner was chosen solely at the discretion of the judging panel and there were no submissions from publishers.

The Man Booker International Prize was different from the annual Man Booker Prize for Fiction in that it highlighted one writer’s overall contribution to fiction on the world stage. In focusing on overall literary excellence, the judges considered a writer’s body of work rather than a single novel.