Indian author Arundhati Roy has won the PEN Pinter Prize as she was hailed as being a “luminous voice of freedom and justice” for decades.
The writer, 62, who won the Booker Prize for her debut novel The God Of Small Things in 1997, will be honoured at a ceremony, co-hosted by the British Library, later this year.
It comes amid reports she will be prosecuted in India for comments she made about the disputed region of Kashmir.
Roy said she was “delighted” to win the award, and added she wishes the late playwright Harold Pinter, who the prize is named after, was “with us today to write about the almost incomprehensible turn the world is taking”.
She added: “Since he isn’t, some of us must do our utmost to try to fill his shoes.”
Roy was chosen by Ruth Borthwick, chairwoman of the charity English PEN, activist and The Kite Runner actor Khalid Abdalla, and musician and writer of A Portable Paradise Roger Robinson.
Abdalla said: “Arundhati Roy is a luminous voice of freedom and justice whose words have come with fierce clarity and determination for almost 30 years now.
“Her books, her writings, the spirit with which her life is lived, have been a lodestar through the many crises and the darkness our world has faced since her first book, The God Of Small Things.
“This year, as the world faces the deep histories that have created this moment in Gaza, our need for writers who are ‘unflinching and unswerving’ has been immense.
“In honouring Arundhati Roy this year, we are celebrating both the dignity of her body of work and the timeliness of her words, that arrive with the depth of her craft exactly when we need them most.”
The annual PEN Pinter Prize, established in 2009, is given to writers who have a “significant body” of work in English that in Pinter’s words “casts an unflinching, unswerving” gaze upon the world and shows a “fierce intellectual determination… to define the real truth of our lives and our societies”.
We are thrilled to announce that Arundhati Roy is the winner of the PEN Pinter Prize 2024.
She will receive the award in a ceremony co-hosted by the @britishlibrary on 10 October. #PENPinterPrizehttps://t.co/bqyQsmLOkn
— English PEN (@englishpen) June 27, 2024
Previous winners include Margaret Atwood, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Sir Salman Rushdie, and last year it went to children’s author Michael Rosen.
Robinson said: “Arundhati Roy was the unanimous choice for this prestigious award, a testament to her unparalleled contribution to literature.
“Her vast body of work, encompassing both fiction and non-fiction, has not only captivated readers worldwide but also consistently focused on themes of social justice.
“Roy’s incisive commentary on issues ranging from environmental degradation to human rights abuses demonstrates her commitment to advocating for the marginalised and challenging the status quo.
“Her unique voice and unwavering dedication to these causes make her a deserving recipient of this honour.”
Roy’s original book, a story of two twin children growing up in Kerala who are confined by societal forces, did not receive a follow-up until two decades later.
Her second novel The Ministry Of Utmost Happiness was published in 2017 and was longlisted for the Booker Prize.
She has also published various collections of essays and writings on capitalism, Kashmir, politics and colonialism, including the books The Architecture Of Modern Empire, My Seditious Heart, and End Of Imagination.
Roy also wrote Things That Can And Cannot Be Said with the actor John Cusack, which explores their meeting with whistle-blower Edward Snowden and political activist Daniel Ellsberg, who released the Pentagon Papers.
Born in Shillong, Roy’s mother Mary was a prominent women’s rights activist and educator in India, and Roy has also been known for her confrontations with the Indian government.
In 2002, she was jailed for a short period for contempt of court after being outside a court along with other protesters over the construction of the Narmada Dam, which she felt would harm farmers and villagers.
Earlier this month, lieutenant general of Delhi, Vinai Kumar Saxena, gave the go-ahead for Roy to be prosecuted over a speech she made in 2010 in which she disagreed with Kashmir being an “integral” part of India, according to local reports.
Her prize will be shared with an International Writer of Courage, which is given to someone “who is active in defence of freedom of expression, often at risk to their own safety”.
Roy will select the co-winner from a shortlist of cases supported by English PEN, and the recipient will be announced at ceremony on October 10.