LONDON: Padma Viswanathan, a Canadian writer of Indian heritage, was on Tuesday named on the 2026 International Booker Prize longlist as the English translator of a “haunting” Portuguese language novel by Brazilian author Ana Paula Maia. ‘On Earth As It Is Beneath,’ described by judges as a stark exploration of power and corruption, is among 13 worldwide contenders for the literary honour. The annual prize worth 50,000, divided equally between the author and translator, was last year won by Kannada writer-activist Banu Mushtaq and translator Deepa Bhasthi for ‘Heart Lamp’.
