For The First Time, A Kashmiri Novel Crosses Borders, Wins Global Spotlight

It's A Breakthrough Moment For A Language Long Left Out Of The Global Literary Conversation.

- Iqbal Bhat

It’s not often a novel written in Kashmiri reaches the global stage. But on June 16, that changed.

In a groundbreaking announcement at Himal Southasian’s annual Fiction Fest, To Each Their Own Hell, a 1975 novel by Akhtar Mohiuddin, translated into English by Mehdi Khawaja, was named the winner of the 2025 Armory Square Prize for South Asian Literature in Translation.

The prize, only in its third year, honours translations that bring lesser-heard voices from South Asia to English-speaking readers.