Vipas Srithong won the SEA Write Award 2012 for his dark novel Kon Krae (The Dwarf), edging out six other novelists in the shortlist to claim Thailand's most prestigious literary prize.
Vipas
In the announcement at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel yesterday, the jury chaired by Prapatsorn Sewikul cited the book's ability to "present the problem of human relationships and reveal the desolation of a group of people who represent the modern society".
Kon Krae also reflects "the absence of the awareness of humanity, the self-obsession over one's own problems, and the yearning for human relationship while defining the limitations of that relationship".
The book, 437 pages long, has a dystopian worldview and revolves around three friends who convert an old shophouse into a prison.
The story descends into a pit of darkness as the friends kidnap a dwarf and torture him in their makeshift prison.
Before his big win, Vipas, who once studied medicine, had published a collection of short stories Maew Kao Cheewit, Wela Luang Pan Umong, and an English-language poetry book Graffiti.
The author's victory is marred by a small controversy that remains unresolved.
Four years ago, a group of literary critics asserted that Vipas's short story, W.S.6 Sept, is strikingly similar to a short story by Booker Prize-winning author Peter Carey, called Peeling.
The other six finalists this year include Diew Dai Tai Fah Klang (Alone Under the Riotous Sky) by Dan-aran Saengthong; Nai Roob Ngao (In the Shadow) by Ngaochan; Roi Plae Khong Saipin (Saipin's Scar) by Sakorn Pulsuk; Ruang Lao Nai Loke Luang Ta (Story in an Illusory World) by Pishedsak Popayak; Lak Alai (The Mourning of a Scribe) by Uthis Haemamool; Loke Pralard Nai Prawatsart Kwam Sao (A Weird World in the History of Sadness) by Siriworn Kaewkarn.