Arundhati Roy is hailed as a ‘shining voice of freedom’ as she wins a literary award

Indian author Arundhati Roy has won the PEN Pinter Prize because she has been celebrated for decades as a “shining voice of freedom and justice.”

The 62-year-old writer, who won the Booker Prize in 1997 for her debut novel The God of Small Things, will be honored later this year at a ceremony hosted jointly with the British Library.

Previously, there were reports that she was facing criminal proceedings in India for her comments about the disputed region of Kashmir.

Roy said she was “very pleased” to have won the award, adding that she wished the late playwright Harold Pinter, after whom the prize is named, “were with us today to write about the almost incomprehensible turn the world is taking.”

She added: “Since that is not the case, some of us must do our utmost to follow in his footsteps.”

Roy was chosen by Ruth Borthwick, chair of the charity English PEN, activist and The Kite Runner actor Khalid Abdalla, and musician and author of A Portable Paradise, Roger Robinson.

Abdalla said: “Arundhati Roy is a shining voice of freedom and justice whose words have rung with fierce clarity and determination for nearly 30 years.

“Her books, her writings, the spirit with which she lives her life have been a guiding light through the many crises and darkness that our world has faced since her first book, The God of Small Things.

“This year, as the world grapples with the profound events that have led to this moment in Gaza, our need for writers who are ‘unafraid and unflappable’ is enormous.

“By honoring Arundhati Roy this year, we celebrate both the dignity of her body of work and the timeliness of her words, which, with the depth of her craft, arrive precisely when we need them most.”

The PEN Pinter Prize, awarded annually since 2009, is given to writers who have produced a “significant body of work” in English that, in Pinter’s words, takes “an unflinching, unflinching” view of the world and shows a “fierce intellectual determination … to define the real truth of our lives and our societies.”

Previous winners include Margaret Atwood, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Sir Salman Rushdie; last year the award went to children’s book author Michael Rosen.

Robinson said: “Arundhati Roy was unanimously selected for this prestigious award, a testament to her unparalleled contribution to literature.

“Her extensive body of work, which includes both fiction and nonfiction, has not only captivated readers around the world but has consistently placed issues of social justice at its center.

“Roy’s insightful commentary on issues ranging from environmental degradation to human rights abuses demonstrates her commitment to standing up for the marginalized and challenging the status quo.

“Her unique voice and tireless commitment to these causes make her a deserving recipient of this award.”

Roy’s original book, the story of two twin children growing up in Kerala and being restricted by social constraints, was not continued 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 several collections of essays and writings on capitalism, Kashmir, politics and colonialism, including The Architecture Of Modern Empire, My Seditious Heart and End Of Imagination.

Roy also co-wrote “Things That Can And Cannot Be Said” with actor John Cusack, which is about their meetings with whistleblower Edward Snowden and political activist Daniel Ellsberg, who published the Pentagon Papers.

Roy’s mother Mary was born in Shillong and was a prominent women’s rights activist and educationist in India. Roy is also known for her confrontations with the Indian government.

In 2002, she was sentenced to a short prison term for contempt of court after she gathered outside a court building with other protesters who were opposing the construction of the Narmada Dam, which she believed would harm farmers and villagers.

Earlier this month, Delhi’s Lt. Gen. Vinai Kumar Saxena gave the green light to prosecute Roy over a 2010 speech in which she contradicted the notion that Kashmir was an “integral” part of India, according to local reports.

She shares her award with the International Writer of Courage, which is given to people “who actively defend freedom of expression, often at the risk of their own safety in the process.”

Roy will select the co-winner from a shortlist of cases supported by English PEN, and the recipient will be announced at a ceremony on October 10.