New Delhi: Padma Viswanathan, a Canadian-American author of Indian origin, has earned a place on the 2026 International Booker Prize shortlist for her English translation of Brazilian writer Ana Paula Maia’s Portuguese novella ‘On Earth As It Is Beneath.’
Described by judges as a “brutal, haunting and hypnotic novella set in a remote Brazilian penal colony, where the boundaries between justice and cruelty collapse,” the book is among six global entries for the prestigious award.
The £50,000 prize — split equally between author and translator — went to Kannada writer-activist Banu Mushtaq and translator Deepa Bhasthi for ‘Heart Lamp’ last year.
Each shortlisted work earns £5,000, which is divided 50-50.
The panel praised the book’s raw power. “What struck us most is how spare, unflinching, uncompromising and relentless it is. Maia builds an entire moral universe out of very little — a remote prison, a handful of men and the rituals of punishment that govern their lives. The novel reads almost like a dark fable about power, where brutality is ordinary and civilisation feels frighteningly thin.”
Notable Indian novelist and columnist Nilanjana S Roy was on the judges’ panel.
The 58-year-old Viswanathan, a professor of creative writing at the University of Arkansas-Fayetteville, is an accomplished playwright and novelist whose novels have been published in eight countries.
The Booker 2026 shortlist is dominated by women. Five of six authors and four of six translators are female, representing Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, France, Germany, Taiwan, the UK and the US.
The other shortlisted books are – ‘The Nights Are Quiet in Tehran’ by Shida Bazyar, translated from German by Ruth Martin; ‘She Who Remains’ by Rene Karabash, translated from Bulgarian by Izidora Angel; ‘The Director’ by Daniel Kehlmann, translated from German by Ross Benjamin; ‘Taiwan Travelogue’ by Yang Shuāng-zi, translated from Taiwanese by Lin King; ‘The Witch’ by Marie Ndiaye, translated from French by Jordan Stump.
Natasha Brown, chairman of judges’ panel, captured the resonance of the collection.
“With narratives that capture moments from across the past century, these books reverberate with history. While there’s heartbreak, brutality and isolation among these stories, their lasting effect is energising.”
The winning title will be announced on May 19 during a ceremony at London’s Tate Modern.
The International Booker Prize recognises a single work of fiction — a novel or short story collection — originally in a language other than English, translated into English, and published in the UK or Ireland.
