印度作家吉坦嘉丽·施瑞(Geetanjali Shree)用印地语创作的小说《沙之墓》(Tomb of Sand)于2022年获得国际布克奖，成为首部获此殊荣的印地语文学作品[1]。这部由戴西·罗克韦尔(Daisy Rockwell)翻译的作品标志着全球文学奖项领域的一个重要转折，此前获得布克奖的印度作家——包括1981年的萨尔曼·鲁什迪、1997年的阿润达蒂·罗伊、2006年的基兰·德赛和2008年的阿拉温德·阿迪加——均以英语创作[1]。
施瑞于1980年代早期在《Hans》杂志发表了首个故事《贝尔帕特拉》(Bel Patra)[1]，此后通过其作品深入探索了后殖民时期印地语与英语之间的紧张关系[1]。作者在专访中强调了语言的独特价值，表示"语言本身是一个实体，具有自己的个性，不应仅被功利性地使用。我的语言是我的故乡、母亲、我的记忆，也是我的抗争"[1]。印地语全球约有611万至855万使用者[1]，施瑞的成功代表了非英语文学作品在全球舞台上获得认可的重要突破。
Geetanjali Shree's novel "Tomb of Sand," written in Hindi and translated into English by Daisy Rockwell, made history in 2022 by becoming the first work of Hindi-language literature to win the International Booker Prize [1]. This achievement marks a significant departure from the prize's previous trajectory in India, where all earlier Booker Prize-winning authors—including Salman Rushdie in 1981, Arundhati Roy in 1997, Kiran Desai in 2006, and Aravind Adiga in 2008—composed their prize-winning works in English [1].
Shree's recognition underscores a broader shift in global literary recognition toward works created in languages beyond English. With approximately 6.11 million speakers globally, and some estimates reaching as high as 8.55 million, Hindi remains a significant linguistic medium, yet one historically underrepresented in major international literary awards [1]. Shree's career began in the early 1980s with her debut story "Bel Patra," published in the magazine "Hans" [1]. Her fiction engages with postcolonial tensions between Hindi and English, exploring questions of language, identity, and cultural power. In an interview, Shree articulated her philosophy on language: "language is in itself an entity and has its own personality and must not be used just utilitarianly. My language is my homeland, motherland, my memory, and my protest too" [1].
