Upamanyu Chatterjee’s ‘Lorenzo Searches for the Meaning of Life’ wins the JCB Prize for Literature

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scroll-article-page">  <article id="article-unique-1075988" data-series-id="0" class="article scroll-article normal-article scroll-in-article" data-seo-title="Upamanyu Chatterjee’s ‘Lorenzo Searches for the Meaning of Life’ wins the JCB Prize for Literature" data-title="Upamanyu Chatterjee’s ‘Lorenzo Searches for the Meaning of Life’ wins the JCB Prize for Literature" data-permalink="https://scroll.in/article/1075988/upamanyu-chatterjees-lorenzo-searches-for-the-meaning-of-life-wins-the-jcb-prize-for-literature" data-id="1075988" data-cb-authors="Scroll Staff" data-cb-categories="Scroll.in, Books and Ideas" data-in-viewport="true">  <header> <span class="orange-tag"> <a href="//scroll.in/topic/922/literary-awards"> literary awards </a> </span> <h1>Upamanyu Chatterjee’s ‘Lorenzo Searches for the Meaning of Life’ wins the JCB Prize for Literature</h1> <h2>The winning author receives Rs 25 lakh.</h2>  <div class="article-meta-container-with-comments"> <div class="article-meta-container"> <address><a href="//scroll.in/author/8" rel="author" >Scroll Staff</a></address> <div class="article-time-container"> <time datetime="2024-11-23T18:41:00+05:30" class="article-published-time"> Yesterday · 06:41 pm </time> </div> </div> <div class="scroll-app-upsell hideOnApp near-timestamp-scroll-app-upsell"> <div class="sa-content"> <div class="sa-head"> <span>Read in App</span> </div> <div class="sa-cta"> <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=in.scroll.android" class="sa-cta-button sa-cta-mini-button ga-track" data-label="Android App Upsell clicked from article header"> <svg width="15.063" height="16.953" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"> <path d="m8.826 8.778 2.221 2.21L.737 16.92a.504.504 0 0 1-.071.033l8.16-8.175ZM.06.058 8.343 8.3.02 16.637A.496.496 0 0 1 0 16.494V.294C0 .213.02.132.06.06Zm11.464 6.017 3.29 1.892a.492.492 0 0 1 0 .855l-3.157 1.814-2.351-2.34 2.218-2.221ZM.965 0l9.95 5.724-2.09 2.095L.964 0Z" fill="#000" fill-rule="evenodd"></path> </svg> </a> <a href="https://apps.apple.com/in/app/scroll-in-news/id1313224234" class="sa-cta-button sa-cta-mini-button ga-track" data-label="iOs App Upsell clicked from article header"> <svg width="13.987" height="17.192" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"> <path d="M11.683 9.143a3.907 3.907 0 0 1 1.86-3.278 4 4 0 0 0-3.15-1.704c-1.327-.139-2.612.794-3.288.794-.688 0-1.728-.78-2.849-.757a4.196 4.196 0 0 0-3.53 2.154C-.803 8.995.336 12.88 1.8 15.017c.732 1.047 1.587 2.216 2.706 2.174 1.095-.045 1.504-.698 2.826-.698 1.31 0 1.693.698 2.835.672 1.175-.02 1.915-1.051 2.622-2.107.525-.746.93-1.57 1.198-2.442a3.775 3.775 0 0 1-2.304-3.473ZM9.526 2.756c.64-.77.956-1.758.88-2.756a3.914 3.914 0 0 0-2.533 1.31 3.66 3.66 0 0 0-.902 2.654 3.236 3.236 0 0 0 2.555-1.208Z" fill="#000" fill-rule="evenodd"></path> </svg> </a> </div> </div> </div> </div>  </header>   <figure class="featured-image"><picture class="aspect-ratio-placeholder image-width-1200-height-630"><img src="https://sc0.blr1.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/article/204534-ezojbcfxzq-1732367370.jpg" loading="lazy" alt="Upamanyu Chatterjee’s ‘Lorenzo Searches for the Meaning of Life’ wins the JCB Prize for Literature"> </picture> <figcaption class="featured-image-caption"> Upamanyu Chatterjee, winner of the JCB Prize for Literature. </figcaption> </figure>   <div class="article-content-container">  <section class="article-content scroll-article-content normal-article-content large-6 columns"> <div id="article-contents" class="article-body"> <p>Writer Upamanyu Chatterjee has won the 2024 JCB Prize for Literature for his English language novel <em>Lorenzo Searches for the Meaning of Life</em>. The novel was published by Speaking Tiger.</p><p>The winner was announced at a ceremony on Saturday, 23 November. Chatterjee will receive Rs 25 lakh.</p><p>A <a href="https://scroll.in/article/1064435/upamanyu-chatterjees-new-novel-situates-itself-in-the-stability-and-freedoms-of-faith">review</a> published in <em>Scroll </em>says, “<em>Lorenzo Searches for the Meaning of Life</em> is an unusual book. It has an unlikely protagonist, and a staggered journey from a small town in Italy to a nine-hundred years old religious institution, to the busy urbanity of London in the 1990s, to the complexities of a small town in a country still shaping its identity. It is scaffolded with markers of world history in the 1980s and 90s – the tragedy of Chernobyl, the Gulf War, the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, the trial of Jeffrey Dahmer, the dissolution of the USSR, the demolition of the Babri Masjid and its repercussions across borders. It works because of its detailed research into monastic life in the Benedictine order, but also because it subverts reader expectations, and tells the extraordinary story of an ordinary man.</p><figure class="cms-block cms-block-image " itemscope itemtype="https://schema.org/ImageObject" data-width="973" data-height="1500" style=""><img src="https://sc0.blr1.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/inline/qhzmzawowp-1732367418.jpg" alt="" title="" itemprop="contentUrl" /></figure><p>The other four books on the shortlist, three of them translations, were <a href="https://scroll.in/article/1073212/horror-fiction-history-repeats-itself-as-tunu-turned-slowly-but-definitely-into-someone-else"><em><u>The One Legged</u></em></a><em> </em>by Sakyajit Bhattacharya, translated from the Bengali by Rituparna Mukherjee (Antonym Collections),<a href="https://scroll.in/article/1061857/fiction-a-rumour-of-an-illicit-affair-takes-a-life-of-its-own-causing-mass-hysteria-and-violence"><em><u>Chronicle of an Hour and a Half</u></em></a> by Saharu Nusaiba Kannanari (Westland Books), <a href="https://scroll.in/article/1068109/fiction-for-many-years-bhimnak-mahars-family-has-suffered-barbaric-abuse-by-the-upper-castes"><em><u>Sanatan</u></em></a> by Sharankumar Limbale, translated from the Marathi by Paromita Sengupta (Penguin Books), and <a href="https://scroll.in/article/1061799/fiction-maria-stopped-speaking-after-her-grandfathers-death-now-she-must-reconnect-with-reality"><em><u>Maria, Just Maria</u></em></a><strong><em> </em></strong>by Sandhya Mary, translated from the Malayalam by Jayasree Kalathil (HarperCollins Publishers)</p><p>The jury was chaired by author, translator, and poet Jerry Pinto, and includes scholar and translator Tridip Suhrud; art historian and curator Deepthi Sasidharan; filmmaker and writer Shaunak Sen; and artist Aqui Thami.</p> </div> <div class="scroll-app-upsell hideOnApp below-article-scroll-app-upsell"> <div class="sa-content"> <div class="sa-head"> <img 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Upamanyu Chatterjee’s ‘Lorenzo Searches for the Meaning of Life’ wins the JCB Prize for Literature