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<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/insiderpicks" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Insider Picks</a> writes about products and services to help you navigate when shopping online. Insider Inc. receives a commission from our affiliate partners when you buy through our links, but our reporting and recommendations are always independent and objective.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">Alyssa Powell/Business Insider</div></div></div><ul class="summary-list"><li>The Man Booker Prize is one of the most prestigious literary awards in the world. </li><li>The Prize is awarded to what is, in the judges' opinion, the best novel of the year written in English and published in the UK. There's also an international award for books translated into English.</li><li>It's a great way to find the best books of the year, without having to read through hundreds of titles on your own. Below, you'll find the five winners of the last five years, as well as the six titles shortlisted each year. </li></ul>The Man Booker Prize is one of the literary world's most prestigious awards - and perhaps the one best equipped to help you find your next great read.To win the Man Booker Prize is to be declared the best fiction book of the year that was written in English and published in the UK and Ireland by a panel of judges meant to represent every side of the book world. In the past, that means that judges haven't been confined to "any in-group of literary critics, authors, and academics," but purposefully handpicked for a tribunal that more accurately represents the "common man" at large - including poets, politicians, journalists, broadcasters, and actors.Such an endorsement - and the £50,000 prize money awarded to first place - transforms an author's life and career. It correlates with a worldwide audience, drastically increased book sales, and something closer to financial freedom. For readers, it's also a great place to find your next great read. Instead of thumbing through stacks of books on your own to figure out the top 1%, you can leave the work up to the professionals and reap the benefits of their consensus: the best book of the year, and the six shortlisted titles falling closely behind it. Below, you'll find the 30 titles shortlisted or ranked number one in the last five years. The 2019 selections will be released later this year: the longlist on July 24, the shortlist on September 3, and the winner on October 14, 2019. Captions provided by Amazon and lightly edited for length.<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/intelligence/5-biggest-questions-around-amazons-new-grocery-chain?IR=T&amp;itm_source=businessinsider&amp;itm_medium=ctgr_bii&amp;itm_term=ctgr_leadgen&amp;itm_content=ecommerce&amp;itm_campaign=5-biggest-questions-around-amazons-new-grocery-chain"></a>

The Man Booker Prize is the UK equivalent of America's Pulitzer Prize for books - these are all the finalists from the past 5 years

<ul><li>British Indian Novelist <keyword id="25391" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Salman-Rushdie">Salman Rushdie</keyword>'s yet to be published <keyword id="7543158" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Quichotte">Quichotte</keyword> is among the books on the 2019 Booker prize longlist.</li><li>The judges have described Quichotte as a "picaresque tour-de-force of contemporary America, with all its alarms and craziness."</li><li>Salman Rushdie, 72, had earlier won the Booker Prize for his second book Midnight's Children in 1981.</li><li>He is best known for writing Satanic Verses, which earned him awards as well as death threats. </li></ul>British Indian Novelist Salman Rushdie's yet to be published Quichotte i<a href="https://www.dnaindia.com/india/report-salman-rushdie-margaret-atwood-in-2019-booker-longlist-2775364">s among the books on the 2019 Booker prize longlist.</a>The judges <a href="https://www.virginmediatelevision.ie/xpose/article/entertainment-news/291810/Sir-Salman-Rushdie-could-scoop-Booker-Prize-once-again">have described</a> Quichotte as a "picaresque tour-de-force of contemporary America, with all its alarms and craziness". Salman Rushdie, 72, had earlier won the Booker Prize for his second book ‘Midnight's Children’ in 1981. Indian filmmaker Vishal Bhardwaj <a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/web-series/vishal-bhardwaj-midnight-children-netflix-5468425/">is soon going to launch a web series</a> based on Midnight's Children on Netflix. The story was made into a movie in 2012 by Deepa Mehta. In spite of his early success as a writer, Rushdie was the center point of many controversies. He received death threats over his controversial book Satanic Verses <a href="https://www.thequint.com/entertainment/celebrities/salman-rushdie-satanic-verses-padma-lakshmi-controversy">about</a> Islam, after which he lived for 12 years under British Security. In fact, it is<a href="https://www.dw.com/en/still-fighting-for-free-speech-salman-rushdie-turns-70/a-39301596-0"> believed </a>that there was a <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/magazines/panache/iran-imposes-new-600000-fatwa-on-author-salman-rushdie/articleshow/51124985.cms">bounty</a> of as much as $4 million to kill him. However, the book won him the Whitbread Award in 1988. He is known to have penned down all the time he hided in his own autobiography, Joseph Anton, in hiding. The book was launched in 2012. The celebrated writer had started his career in the advertising industry before he turned into a writer. Almost forty years ago, Rusdhie <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/magazines/panache/iran-imposes-new-600000-fatwa-on-author-salman-rushdie/articleshow/51124985.cms">couldn't pass a copy test </a>at J. Walter Thompson. However, he did get a job at Sharp Mc Manus after that. "The only question I remember was they asked you to imagine that you met a Martian who mysteriously spoke English and you had to explain to them in less than 100 words how to make toast." He worked as a freelance copywriter, an actor, and a journalist. His career as a writer was much celebrated as he was knighted by Elizabeth Queen II, for his contribution to literature.

Salman Rushdie, who dealt with death threats for his work gets another mention in the Booker Prize longlist

The air is crisp and it is the perfect weather to cozy up with a book and maybe brave the chilly winds to attend literary fests in the comfortable winter sun. 
 ZEE JLF exclusively shared the shortlist of all the amazing books and authors discovered and loved over the 10 years of the Festival starting 2006 for you to play catch-up to, with <keyword id="824043" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Business-Insider">Business Insider</keyword>. 
 
There are of course categories over which the favorites have been divided and here they are: 
 
1) Female Writers - ‘Badass <keyword id="624" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Women">women</keyword> writing for/about badass women’ includes: 
 -Sophia: Princess, Suffragette, Revolutionary by <keyword id="2704735" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Anita-Anand">Anita Anand</keyword>, which looks at the life of an Indian princess and goddaughter of <keyword id="6377522" type="POSITION" weightage="20" keywordseo="queen">Queen</keyword> <keyword id="5657" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Victoria">Victoria</keyword> who went on to become a leading figure in the British suffragette movement. 
 -The <keyword id="4049788" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="essential-gloria-steinem">Essential Gloria Steinem</keyword> Reader: As If Women Matter, a compilation of the feminist icon's writing; two books discussing sexuality and gender in the Middle East. 
 -Headscarves and Hymens: Why the Middles East Needs a Sexual Revolution by <keyword id="845515" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Mona-Eltahawy">Mona Eltahawy</keyword> and Sex and the Citadel by <keyword id="2171668" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Shereen-El-Feki">Shereen El Feki</keyword>, which offer a provocative and revealing look into this touchy issue. 
 - Postmodern feminist classic The Handmaid's Tale by the brilliant <keyword id="221634" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Margaret-Atwood">Margaret Atwood</keyword> 
 -'We Should All Be Feminists' by <keyword id="4049784" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="chimamanda-ngozi-adhichie">Chimamanda Ngozi Adhichie</keyword>, which was featured in Beyonce's 'Flawless' and is required reading in Swedish schools. 
 
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/what-india-read-through-flipkart-in-2016/articleshow/56256955.cms">ALSO READ: Exclusive: What India Read Through Flipkart in 2016</a> 
 
2) Memoirs - Known to inspire the most latent of dreams, learning from the experiences and challenges of others. 
 
-Jung Chang's family saga Wild Swans; Molly Crabapple's stunning memoir-manifesto. 
 -Drawing Blood; In Other Words by <keyword id="89243" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Jhumpa-Lahiri">Jhumpa Lahiri</keyword>, a nuanced look into learning and writing in Italian. 
 
-Jerry Pinto's Em and the Big Hoom, an autobiographical work of fiction of a boy's account of life with his mentally ill mother. 
 -Helen Macdonald's <keyword id="157266" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Samuel-Johnson">Samuel Johnson</keyword> Prize-winning H is for Hawk. 
 
3) Hindi and <keyword id="52565" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="urdu">Urdu</keyword> writers - Instrumental in shaping the outlook of the regional literature. Some of the Festival team's favorite books include: 
 
-Saadat Hasan Manto, an Urdu writer seen by many as a master of the short story. 
 
- The Mirror of Beauty, originally published in Urdu, is an epic novel set in the last days of the Mughal empire. 
 -Krishna Sobti's <keyword id="4049785" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="zindaginama">Zindaginama</keyword>, a classic of Hindi literature. 
 
-Abdullah Hussein’s The Weary Generations, an instant bestseller in Urdu, now in its 40th edition and one that’s never been out of print. 
 
4) African literature- Moving across seas to the literary genius of <keyword id="12925" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="20" keywordseo="Africa">Africa</keyword>, they explored the continent to bring out prominent writers: 
 
-Ben Okri's Man Booker Prize-winning The Famished Road. 
 
-Taiye Selasi's debut Ghana Must Go chronicles the lives of a Ghanaian-Nigerian family across generations and continents. 
 - The brilliant Half of a Yellow Sun by <keyword id="538649" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Chimamanda-Ngozi-Adichie">Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie</keyword>. 
 -The first installment of Zimbabwean-born <keyword id="99628" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Alexander-McCall-Smith">Alexander McCall Smith</keyword>'s beloved No 1 Ladies Detective Agency series. 
 - African Psycho by Congolese writer <keyword id="2861092" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Alain-Mabanckou">Alain Mabanckou</keyword>, described by <keyword id="425741" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="The-Economist">The Economist</keyword> as the 'prince of absurd'. 
 
-Open City, the bestselling debut by Teju Cole who's been hailed as ‘the WG Sebald of the 21st century’. 
 
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/indias-largest-youth-festival-the-under-25-summit-is-going-to-have-a-food-train/articleshow/56256709.cms">ALSO READ: India’s largest youth festival, The Under 25 summit is going to have a Food train!</a> 
 
5) Non-fiction- Chronicling real events and places, often more bizarre and unique than imagination itself, is a talent not bestowed to all.: 
 -Maximum City by <keyword id="80841" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="suketu-mehta">Suketu Mehta</keyword> offers a revealing portrait of <keyword id="6356654" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Bombay">Bombay</keyword>. 
 
-Raghu Karnad's spectacular debut Farthest Field explores the often overlooked role of Indian soldiers in WW2 through the lives of his grandfather and grand-uncles. 
 -The award-winning Behind the Beautiful Forevers by <keyword id="3916987" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Katherine-Boo">Katherine Boo</keyword> is another searingly honest look into Mumbai. 
 -Jerusalem: The Biography by bestselling writer and historian <keyword id="1359419" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Simon-Sebag-Montefiore">Simon Sebag Montefiore</keyword>. 
 -Peter Frankopan's fascinating The <keyword id="48523" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Silk">Silk</keyword> Roads: A New History of the World 
 - <keyword id="5487" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="William-Dalrymple">William Dalrymple</keyword>'s Return of a King: The Battle for <keyword id="6354541" type="COUNTRY" weightage="20" keywordseo="afghanistan">Afghanistan</keyword>, winner of the Hemingway Prize and <keyword id="4049790" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="kapuciski-prize">Kapuściński Prize</keyword> in 2015. 
 
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/EXCLUSIVE-Shashi-Tharoor-talks-about-his-fears-related-to-demonetization-and-the-Paris-Agreement/articleshow/55500115.cms">ALSO READ: EXCLUSIVE: Shashi Tharoor talks about his fears related to demonetization and the Paris Agreement</a> 
 This year, the Festival, which opens from January 19 to 23, 2017, has its speaker’s table going full force with participation from noteworthy names, such as Man <keyword id="56252" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="20" keywordseo="Booker-Prize">Booker Prize</keyword> winners Paul Beatty, Richard Flanagan and <keyword id="721253" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Alan-Hollinghurst">Alan Hollinghurst</keyword>, prolific Indian-American writer <keyword id="157413" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Chitra-Banerjee-Divakaruni">Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni</keyword>, famed <keyword id="6354291" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="kannada">Kannada</keyword> writer S.L. Bhyrappa, poets Anne Waldman, Gulzar, <keyword id="10355" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Javed-Akhtar">Javed Akhtar</keyword> and <keyword id="4049789" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="kate-tempest">Kate Tempest</keyword> and politician and polymath <keyword id="42749" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Shashi-Tharoor">Shashi Tharoor</keyword>.

Here are the top books of Jaipur Literature Festival for the past decade

<div class="KonaFilter image-container float_right"><div class="image"><a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:David_Mitchell_by_Kubik.JPG">Wikimedia Commons</a>David Mitchell</div></div>British novelist <a href="https://www.facebook.com/DavidMitchellAuthor">David Mitchell</a> is an expert when it comes to characters, but not writing 140 characters at a time. Nevertheless, he's written his latest work for Twitter, publishing the short story in 140-character tweets because that's how he wants you to read it.
Mitchell, whose novels "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Number9Dream-David-Mitchell/dp/0812966929">number9dream</a>" and "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Cloud-Atlas-Novel-David-Mitchell/dp/0375507256">Cloud Atlas</a>" were shortlisted for The Man Booker Prize, admitted he's not a huge fan of Twitter. "I'm not really a social media animal," he told the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/globalnews">BBC World Service</a> radio station. "I like my privacy. Post Snowden we know that there's enough people to want to take our privacy away without voluntarily helping them. I don't want to add to this ocean of trivia and irrelevance."
Mitchell only created a Twitter account in the first place after his publicist convinced him that it would help promote his upcoming novel "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Bone-Clocks-A-Novel/dp/1400065674">The Bone Clocks</a>." But he wanted to offer his Twitter followers something more. "It still kind of bothered me a little bit that I was using this Arab Spring-sized technology just to basically say, 'Hi, I'm going off on the road, come and see me, buy my book.' It just seemed a bit cheesy, really, so I thought, 'How can I find a use for it?'" 
The story, "The Right Sort," is narrated by a teen tripping on his mother's Valium pills for the first time. The boy's experience of the world on Valium is "a sequence of nice little throbs and pulses," which he likes because it's more orderly, Mitchell said. "Those are the tweets. He's basically thinking in tweets because of the Valium."
He admits publishing his short story on Twitter is a clever marketing tool for his unrelated upcoming novel. But Mitchell also hopes his short bursts of tweets will provide a stronger reading experience than the traditional method. 
"With Twitter it's less like a balloon flight where you look down and see the text and more like sort of a train ride with a very narrow window through rapidly changing landscapes and tunnels," he said. "You can't see it all at once."
"The Right Sort" will be comprised of 280 tweets over the course of a week, <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/jul/14/david-mitchell-publishes-short-story-twitter">The Guardian reports</a>. Mitchell has been tweeting since early this week and will continue posting bursts of 20 tweets each day through the weekend.
Here's one of his recent tweets.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
I wait. Silence. Just my breaths, the empty passage, running down the side. The brambles move like hungry underwater things.
- David Mitchell (@david_mitchell) <a href="https://twitter.com/david_mitchell/statuses/490016118593966080">July 18, 2014</a></blockquote>
Mitchell admitted writing his short story for a Twitter audience was challenging. He compared the narrow confines of a 140-character tweet to a straight jacket, but acknowledged that it helped him write a story that was new for him.

This Bestselling Novelist Has An Excellent Reason For Publishing His Latest Short Story On Twitter

One look at <keyword id="2521490" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Man-Booker-2014">Man Booker 2014</keyword> finalists, and you would see it has fairly accommodated <keyword id="2521491" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="British-Writers">British writers</keyword>, with a dash of American <keyword id="6404409" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="writers">writers</keyword>, with a hint of an Australian writer, and a Scottish one – just to keep the flavours from bursting out too loud. This year, <keyword id="651566" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Man-Booker">Man Booker</keyword> organisers had said once that the list was getting as ‘diverse’ as it can. 
 
While English as a language has been traversing through unknown terrains, appropriating expressions from native hinterlands as its own, gaining newer dimensions, the competition between genuine vs borrowed is getting even hotter. 
 Indian-origin <keyword id="628756" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Neel-Mukherjee">Neel Mukherjee</keyword>, who is more aptly called a British citizen, has made a cut. And so has Tasmania’s Richard Flanagan. Ali Smith’s How to be both and Joshua Ferris’ To Rise Again at a Decent Hour make it to the list too. American authors Joshua Ferris and Karen Joy Fowler have been sending joy-waves through their country’s literary clubs. Diversity, did we hear? 
 
Two major publishing houses who are allies now, are responsible for five of the six publications in the shortlist. Now, now, now…that’s called an eye for talent and a surefire shot at picking writers who are certain to grab the headlines. Because, once a Booker finalist, is always a celebrated writer! 
 
In any case, this year’s finalists pack some genuine expressions in their works. English has been a language that has been some sort of a laboratory for experiment of expressions. A writer is often in search of newer expressions to transfer the sum of his experiences. 
 
Whether it is Neel Mukherjee’s family saga set in Kolkata in the 1960s, or Flangan focusing on Australian PoWs being used as forced labour on the Burma Death Railway, or Jacobson’s for his ‘J’ where flitting images of past and the progressive imagination of those phases create a dangerous concoction of schemas – English as a language has surely been reaching its potential since long. 
 
With three British writers, two Americans and an Australian to keep the scale from tipping against the intent of the Booker Committee which had said it would open doors to writers of any nationality in its over four and half decades of history. There is another perspective to the works that are being selected for the shortlist of Man Booker prize 2014. When you look at the works, they are varied and not really set in the ‘English’ identity. Some jar as works, some simply mesmerise. 
 
Opening Booker doors to English writers from other nationalities like India was to introduce more character into the works dealing with fractured consciousness till late. Will this prompt writers from other languages to turn towards English? 
 
After all, no matter how recluse a writer is; who does not want his/her works to cross the borders of his country and be accessed by millions and millions who are looking for some fresh expressions? Why not? Literature is, after all, a medium to change minds, to wipe out biases, to incite feelings that may help empathy. In the war torn borders, and the ever tense world that’s chasing some elusive happiness, a writer is an artist who can create newer spaces in the minds of the reader. 
 
Mukherjee’s The Lives of Others sounds like he has borrowed the title from a film. The experience that’s transferred from his work is close to the experience that all countries in transition from old to new are facing. It’s relevant across the geographical borders. 
 
If Mukherjee manages to win the title and take home the purse of £ 72,000, Kolkata will yet again be the final word on literature from India that could be represented in the west. It would further encourage more and more writers who could have found expressions in their mother-tongue which happens to be Bengali, to think, speak and write in English. 
 
Will Man Booker do any good to authors and winners? It’s always a double edged sword that is bound to cut both ways. An author who nurses the ambition of reaching far and beyond, high and higher, prizes like Man Booker do hold a lot of promise. 
 
It is difficult to say whether the Man Booker Foundation opened gates first to authors of different nationalities writing in English, or the authors claimed the space first and Man Booker Committee merely acknowledged the fact that literary works in English were coming mostly from people who were from different identities than the ones who were conventionally considered eligible. 
 
In an egg first or chicken, kind of situation the loss may be more than evident in the coming years. By opening gates, Man Booker may stand to gain a lot with works from different nationalities pouring into its quarters, but what would be ruined is the writers writing in their mother tongue. That would be a death blow to some native languages.

Man Booker: Embracing A New Language, Casting Expressions In A Different Mold

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="6354616" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Twitter">Twitter</keyword> said it would defend "freedom of expression" as Indian authorities requested bans. </li><li>But activists and journalists were subject to temporary bans and limitations of their accounts.</li><li>One said Twitter "could stand up to the president of their country but were getting bullied here."</li></ul>Twitter is in a predicament in <keyword id="3658" type="COUNTRY" weightage="100" keywordseo="India">India</keyword>. It is caught between the demands of an increasingly authoritarian government of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and a global outcry - spurred by tweets from <a href="https://twitter.com/rihanna/status/1356625889602199552?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1356625889602199552%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bbc.co.uk%2Fnews%2Fworld-asia-india-559148584858">singer Rihanna</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/GretaThunberg/status/1356694884615340037?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1356694884615340037%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindustantimes.com%2Findia-news%2Fafter-rihanna-greta-thunberg-extends-support-to-farmers-protest-101612319959694.htmlhtml">climate activist Greta Thunberg</a> - to protect the tens of thousands of farmers who have gathered in Delhi to protest new agricultural laws.As it wrestles with what to do under intense scrutiny, journalists and activists have been among those caught up in the standoff.The Caravan, a prestigious magazine that <a href="https://caravanmagazine.in/politics/the-bjp-and-delhi-police-hand-in-the-delhi-violence">publishes confrontational, longform journalism</a> reflects its predicament. Just one week after Twitter censored the Caravan's accounts at the Indian Government's request, the magazine received <a href="https://thewire.in/media/caravan-magazine-wins-louis-m-lyons-award-for-its-indispensable-reporting-on-india">a prestigious award from Harvard University's Nieman Foundation, </a>that praised its "unique and uncompromising coverage of the erosion of human rights, social justice, and democracy."The standoff grew as worldwide interest intensified. <a href="https://blog.twitter.com/en_in/topics/company/2020/twitters-response-indian-government.html">Twitter issued a statement </a>on February 10 saying it had banned those who violated its rules but only "temporarily complied" with the Indian Government's specific requests for bans, later restoring those accounts.It added it restricted some accounts but only within India."In keeping with our principles of defending protected speech and freedom of expression, we have not taken any action on accounts that consist of news media entities, journalists, activists, and politicians," Twitter said.Caravan's executive editor Vinod Jose told Insider that the block, which stopped people in India accessing its Hindi and English language accounts, felt "targeted" as the publication has aggressively criticized the government.But he said he was surprised that Twitter had briefly complied given it had <a href="https://blog.twitter.com/en_us/topics/company/2020/suspension.html">permanently deleted</a> Donald Trump's account for inciting the Capitol Hill riots three weeks earlier.<div type="image" title="Vinod Jose" height="1887" width="2516" msid="81211244" hostid="261"></div>"My first thought was <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com.au/twitter-trump-banned-bolsonaro-modi-india-brazil-populists-2021-1">they could stand up to the president of their country</a> but were getting bullied here," he added.He added the ban helped generate publicity for the magazine, which has since launched <a href="https://twitter.com/thecaravanindia/status/1362669498185093120">a subscription drive</a> fronted by Man Booker Prize-winning novelist Arundhati Roy.As well as requesting Twitter bans, the Indian authorities have also moved against prominent voices because of their tweets.On January 30, Jose and six other journalists, including top news anchor Rajdeep Sardesai, had complaints filed against them accusing them of criminal sedition for tweeting about the alleged fatal shooting of a protestor, whose death was later revealed to have been an accident. The charge can carry a sentence of<a href="https://devgan.in/ipc/section/124A/"> life imprisonment</a>. Their arrests <a href="https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/sc-stays-arrest-shashi-tharoor-rajdeep-sardesai-and-others-sedition-case-143067">were subsequently stayed by</a> the top court on February 9. This was not an isolated incident. A freelance journalist <a href="https://thewire.in/rights/prashant-kanojia-arrested-tweets-uttar-pradesh-police-transit-remand">spent a month</a> in jail last year over a tweet that authorities said had disrupted communal harmony. On February 15, police charged a 22-year-old <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india/news/climate-activist-disha-ravi-arrested-for-being-the-toolkit-editor-of-indias-farmers-protests/articleshow/80920349.cms">climate activist</a> with sedition for circulating a toolkit that Thunberg had tweeted.Inji Pennu, a Kerala-born tech blogger who lives in Florida and monitors <keyword id="6354632" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="social-media">social media</keyword> trends in India, told Insider it would be a "privilege" for anyone to "post on a social media platform and escape without having a complaint slapped against you."Political commentator <a href="https://twitter.com/sanjukta">Sanjukta Basu</a> also had her Twitter targeted on February 1, when she woke up to see her account was invisible inside India. She told Insider she initially thought a tweet about <a href="https://www.newslaundry.com/2021/02/10/arrested-before-he-could-perform-how-munawar-faruqui-spent-a-month-in-jail">the arrest of a stand up comic</a> must have prompted it. But she deduced from media reports that her account was blocked because she had used the hashtag #ModiPlanningFarmerGenocide, that spread the false claim Modi was planning mass murder.Basu told Insider her tweet didn't endorse the claim but was "examining Twitter's illogical trends and had listed some trending hashtags."She believed her vocal criticism of Modi's government had prompted the ban. After her account was restored, she tweeted about the surge in followers she had, saying: "More they bully you, more you grow."Asked how the episode left her feeling about Twitter, she said: "They stood up to the Indian government because of a regime change in the US. It doesn't want to be seen siding with an authoritarian government in a developing country."Raheel Khurseed, a journalist who was Twitter India's head of Politics, Policy and Government from 2014 to 2018, agreed Joe Biden replacing Donald Trump meant there was now a US President who was "ideologically more aligned with Twitter's position on free speech"."The fact that [the Biden administration] would want to hold the same standards elsewhere in the world gives Twitter some amount of immunity as it tries to apply the same standards elsewhere in the world," he told Insider. After Twitter's public statement of defiance, Ravi Shankar, the justice and technology minister, told India's parliament that laws would be tightened to make social media companies more compliant. "We will not tolerate the misuse of social media for fake news," he said."I politely remind the companies, whether it is Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or WhatsApp or anyone, they are free to work in India, do business, but they need to respect the Indian Constitution."Twitter reportedly met with Indian Government officials earlier this month and had taken down 97% of the accounts authorities had requested. The <a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/india/better-communication-with-govt-twitter-to-restructure-india-team-7184892/">Indian Express reported</a> it told authorities it would restructure its India team so there were more senior managers in the country to handle compliance issues.Khurseed said it was an "interesting moment in Twitter's journey in India"."The government, of course, has its own ideas about how these platforms need to run and whether they implement that on a policy level," he said, adding it "remains to be seen" what will change.He said Twitter might make new appointments and restructure its team but added there were discussions since his time there working about "making policy teams immune to government interference".He added: "I think this is the right time to restart those conversations."Twitter declined to comment, referring Insider to its February 10 statement.

Twitter 'stood up' to Trump but was 'bullied' in India, says a journalist who was caught up in the platform's standoff with Modi

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div><ul class="summary-list"><li>Sally Rooney, the 28-year-old author of "<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Normal-People-Novel-Sally-Rooney/dp/1984822179/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_img_0?_encoding=UTF8&amp;psc=1&amp;refRID=VVTBFD08MM0FTRD735KF" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Normal People</a>" and "<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Conversations-Friends-Novel-Sally-Rooney/dp/0451499050" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Conversations with Friends</a>" has been hailed as "the first great millennial author" by <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/31/world/europe/sally-rooney-ireland.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The New York Times</a>.</li><li>"Normal People" was released in April and recently optioned into a Hulu series.&#xa0;</li><li>After reading both books, I agree with the buzz surrounding Rooney.</li><li>Rooney expertly explores the complexities of millennial romance and young adulthood in a subtle, genuine way.</li><li>WARNING: Spoilers ahead.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories</a>.</li></ul>Is 28-year-old Irish author Sally Rooney the J.D. Salinger&#xa0;of millennials?Her critically acclaimed debut, "Conversations with Friends," launched in 2017 with the <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/sally-rooney-normal-people-waterstones-book-of-the-year-dublin-ireland-conversations-with-friends-a8659186.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tagline</a> "Salinger for the Snapchat generation" - and the praise and accolades Rooney has received since echo as much.Her latest, "Normal People," hit American bookstores in April and Rooney was lauded as&#xa0;"the first great millennial author" by <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/31/world/europe/sally-rooney-ireland.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The New York Times</a>. It quickly became a <a href="https://www.oprahmag.com/entertainment/books/a26973014/april-2019-anticipated-book-releases/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">book club staple</a> and was recently <a href="https://deadline.com/2019/05/normal-people-hulu-orders-drama-series-based-on-sally-rooneys-best-seller-1202624308/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">optioned into a Hulu series</a>. "Normal People" has been longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction and the Man Booker Prize, and "Conversations with Friends" already bears the honor of Sunday Times Fiction Prize. <a href="https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2019/04/230058/sally-rooney-normal-people-popularity-instagram" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kathryn Lyndsay of Refinery29</a>&#xa0;called carrying a Rooney book "a new Instagram status symbol."&#xa0;Even celebrities are fans - Lena Dunham reportedly introduced Emily Ratajkowski to Rooney's work, Lyndsay wrote. And <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/Bfec8YeAkgh/?hl=en&amp;taken-by=sarahjessicaparker" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sarah Jessica Parker raved on Instagram</a>, "This book. This book. I read it in one day. I hear I'm not alone."&#xa0;Twitter fanfare left me intrigued by "Normal People" before it launched. I ended up devouring it in just a few days, and then promptly picked up "Conversations with Friends" - and after reading both, I was quick to ride the bandwagon.&#xa0;<h2>"Normal People" isn't your average love story&#xa0;</h2>"Normal People" follows the on-again, off-again relationship of Marianne and Connell, which they avoid ever defining. In high school, private and wealthy Marianne is not liked by her peers; popular Connell, whose mother cleans the mansion Marianne lives in, comes from a working-class background and is the proverbial golden boy.The two forge a connection and secretly begin hooking up, but when Connell, fearing the judgment of his peers, takes the popular girl to the school dance instead of Marianne, their relationship ends.At Trinity College Dublin, their paths cross again in a reversal of roles. Marianne has many friends who admire her charm and intellect, while Connell is a lonely outsider. And so their lives continue to intermittently intertwine, as both friends and lovers.&#xa0;In straightforward, deadpan prose that I first found jarring and later found moving, Rooney spins an epic story of what modern love looks like in a millennial culture where people are afraid of being vulnerable and feelings are unspokenly prohibited.&#xa0;Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/best-summer-beach-reads-books-for-vacation" target="_blank" rel="noopener">19 beach reads you'll want to read this summer - according to editors at Amazon, Goodreads, and Book of the Month</a><h2>Rooney nails the deafening complexities of a millennial romance</h2>Rooney's genius lies not in her plot, but in her characters. Flipping between Marianne and Connell's point of views, Rooney shrewdly depicts the complexities of a dysfunctional relationship, stripping away layers of their thoughts to reveal the dynamics of ever-shifting power struggles and how emotional insecurities can sneak their way into a relationship.Marianne is from a physically and verbally abusive family, which leads her into a destructive territory with sadistic men, while Connell deals with shame and depression.Rooney's slivers of insight into how Marianne and Connell wrestle with&#xa0;their emotions and question their identity in the process made it one of the most&#xa0;realistic portrayals of young&#xa0;love I've read. Their relationship is rife with mistakes, misunderstandings, and missed chances that could be simplified if only they communicated and didn't subconsciously suppress their feelings, as millennials are wont to do.The relationship is messy and carries weighted moments made all the more intense by the heady, raw notions of a young 20-something - without the stereotypical angst.&#xa0;But it's simultaneously sweet, genuine, and heartfelt: While Marianne and Connell have a hard time admitting it, their chemistry is apparent to the reader, and it's their magnetism the book revolves around.Rooney, <a href="https://slate.com/culture/2019/04/normal-people-sally-rooney-review.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote Laura Miller for Slate</a>, "believes in true love, even if her lovers lack the vocabulary or even the conceptual framework to recognize this is what they have together."<h2>Socioeconomic and mental constructs shape relationships and young adulthood</h2>From mental health struggles to class divides and wealth disparities, Marianne and Connell's romance is painted into an emotional, social, and economic background that fuels and infiltrates their interactions.&#xa0;It's a testament to Rooney's discerning knack&#xa0;for exploring the workings of the millennial mind in a modern coming of age story, an acuity that also carried "Conversations With Friends," which I liked but didn't love. That book follows the story of ex-lovers and best friends, Frances and Bobbi, who befriend an enigmatic couple. Frances ends up having an affair with the husband, which puts a strain on her relationship with Bobbi.&#xa0;Both novels bear the same hallmarks: college parties, dinner parties, political debates, and communication via email, showing how today's 20-somethings attending an elite college walk the finicky border between youth and adulthood. Internal and external discourse molds the deep connections of the protagonists.Rooney's shrewd observations of the behaviors of a younger generation end on an ambiguous note in both novels. While frustrating to some, I felt the endings were authentic - life never really gets wrapped up in a bow.Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/best-books-we-read-this-year-2018-12" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The 29 best books we read in 2018</a><h2>Rooney asks the questions that plague millennials</h2>As Marianne and Connell confront their expectations and desires, "Normal People" raises questions about our uncertainty and place in the world. Their struggles lie in the complicated search for the meaning of life and love, but Rooney subtly examines these in a non-cliché way: "If people appeared to behave pointlessly in grief, it was only because human life was pointless, and this was the truth that grief revealed," Marianne thinks amidst forgiveness.Rooney scrutinizes the innate human desire to be loved and accepted, and how fear can lead&#xa0;us to self-sabotage the very thing&#xa0;we want. She asks: Why do we give second chances? Why don't we give up? What does love look like? And what does it mean to be normal?As cliché as it is, Rooney's work strikes me as relatable: Anyone who has ever tried to define love or purpose will find their food for thought here.&#xa0;Only time will tell if Rooney is the great novelist of the millennial generation, but whether or not her books end up on the required reading list for high schoolers 50 years from now, "Normal People" will remain a classic on my bookshelf.<div> </div><div> </div><div> </div> <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-k2-harder-climb-mt-everest-2017-9">Mount Everest is not the hardest mountain to climb - here's what makes K2 so much worse</a></h3> <div> </div> </div>

I read the book everyone's talking about by the 28-year-old novelist being hailed 'the first great millennial author,' and I totally understand the hype

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