Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav lauds International Booker Prize winner Geetanjali Shree

LUCKNOW: Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav has congratulated author

Geetanjali Shree

for winning the International Booker Prize for her

Hindi

novel ‘Ret Samadhi’ translated into English (Tomb of Sand) by

Daisy Rockwell

.

This is the first book in any Indian language to win the International Booker Prize.

“Heartiest congratulations to Geetanjali Shree – who was born in Mainpuri district of Uttar Pradesh – on winning the International Booker Prize for her Hindi novel ‘Ret Samadhi’ which has been translated in English as ‘Tomb of Sand’. My best wishes to her for future powerful literary work. Meaningful literature always lends more power to the society in every era,” Akhilesh tweeted in Hindi.

SP national spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary said Uttar Pradesh is proud that a woman, born in Mainpuri, has created history. “We all should be proud that a woman from Uttar Pradesh has achieved what no one else could. That the novel in reference was in Hindi has added to the pride of the entire Hindi belt,” Chaudhary said.

“Such honours and prizes only underline the richness of Hindi literature, and will inspire more youngsters to try and fetch more accolades for the language at international level,” Chaudhary said.