One might wonder what transpires when a Hindi novel of some vintage is put before an international readership. In the case of Geetanjali Shree, it is simply the latest in a long line of efforts to carry her literature past its native tongue.
The International Booker laureate has been longlisted for the 2026 Warwick Prize for Women in Translation with Our City That Year, an English version by Daisy Rockwell. It is a mark of the author’s increasing stature on the world stage since her landmark win in 2022.
Geetanjali Shree’s Our City That Year Makes the 2026 Warwick Prize Longlist
Tilted Axis Press has brought the novel to the UK in Rockwell’s translation; in its original Hindi form as Hamara Shahar Us Baras, it was first seen in 1998. The book is one of 13 from 12 different languages to make the Warwick longlist.
A work that is both formally experimental and politically charged, the novel is set in a city riven by communal tension and ideology. In many ways it foreshadows the kind of stylistic daring Shree would go on to develop in Tomb of Sand. For those who have not yet read it, the longlisting is a chance to come to terms with an earlier piece of writing from Shree that is now available through translation.
How Geetanjali Shree Made History at the International Booker
There was a sense of history in 2022 when Shree and Rockwell were named winners of the International Booker for Tomb of Sand (Ret Samadhi). Not only was it the first time a book in any Indian language had been so honoured, but it was also the first for an Indian novelist writing in his or her own language. The accolade did much to put Hindi fiction in translation on the global map and cemented the pair as a leading force in South Asian letters.
Geetanjali Shree’s Literature Continues to Travel Beyond Hindi
The Warwick honour is but one part of a broader trajectory. Later this year, in June 2026, Penguin Random House India (Hamish Hamilton) will put out Once Elephants Lived Here, a collection of short stories from Rockwell’s pen. Other titles are making their way into English and beyond: Mai: Silently Mother, The Roof Beneath Their Feet (Tirohit), Empty Space (Khali Jagah) and, to be translated soon, All At Once (Sah-sa).
In 2026 Shree will be a Literature Fellow at the Berliner Künstlerprogramm des DAAD and can be found at literary festivals engaging in discourse on memory, gender and the art of storytelling.
Why Geetanjali Shree’s Global Reach Matters for Hindi Literature
There is more to Shree’s international profile than an award headline. Our City That Year on the Warwick list is testament to how Hindi literature holds its own in the global conversation. And with the success of her partnership with Rockwell, Shree makes a compelling case that an Indian writer need not write in English to be read across the world.
