Novelist Hari Kunzru wins 2024 Chowdhury Prize for Literature
Hari Kunzru, a British novelist in New York and esteemed columnist for Harper’s Magazine, has been named the winner of the 2024 Chowdhury Prize in Literature, presented by the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences with the support of the Subir and Malini Chowdhury Foundation.
Kunzru’s short stories and six novels, including White Tears (Knopf, 2017), Gods Without Men (Vintage Contemporaries, 2011), and My Revolutions (Dutton Adult, 2007), span diverse genres and themes, from the aftermath of 1960s radicalism to the mythologies of the Mojave. The judges note that Kunzru’s works navigate the vast expanse of politics and culture through an acutely literary lens.
“The defining feature of Hari Kunzru’s writing is a kind of intellectual and emotional restlessness,” said Chowdhury Prize administrator David Ulin, professor of English at USC Dornsife. He notes that Kunzru’s characters are in a profound search for meaning.