Translations On A New High In India After Geetanjali Shree's Booker Win

The last decade has seen a range of literary translations in India. A new generation of translators, an emerging focus of publishers on literary translations, and some prestigious fellowships for translations are not only bringing global attention to desi writers but also offering a rich diversity of books for the reader. With Geetanjali Shree라이브 바카라 Ret Samadhi, translated into English as Tomb of Sand, winning the International Booker Prize this year, the literary discourse in India has바카라 웹사이트firmly shifted바카라 웹사이트translations.바카라 웹사이트

Trade publishers are now spending more on the marketing of translations. A 2022 report by the British Council on India literature and publishing sector found that Indian trade publishers have recognised the potential of translations and have begun investing in its marketing.바카라 웹사이트

Some English publishers have also made translations an important element in their business given the linguistic and cultural diversity of India. “Translations form an integral part of our publishing vision, and HarperCollins India has been at the forefront of this literary revolution – in fact, the Harper Perennial imprint is India라이브 바카라 very first dedicated imprint for translations, and indeed, among the few publishers in the world who credit translators and mention the original language the work was written in on the front cover,” says Rahul Soni, Executive Editor, Literary, HarperCollins. Himself a translator, Soni has translated, among other titles, Geetanjali라이브 바카라 novel Tirohit into English as The Roof Beneath Their Feet. 바카라 웹사이트

“You can’t be a publisher of literary works in a country like India, with all its diversity, including diversity of languages, without publishing translation," he adds.

When asked whether the International Booker Prize will encourage English publishers to commission more translations, Soni says, “It라이브 바카라 too soon to say – this could as easily become a one-off thing, with attention diverted soon enough to other prizes and books and languages. I don’t see it causing too much of a change in the Indian publishing scene.” He, however, adds: “Perhaps, validation from the West might encourage some more readers here to pick up a work of translation from an Indian language rather than the latest Nordic thriller.” 바카라 웹사이트

The situation seems similar in Hindi publishing houses as well. Aditi Maheshwari, Executive Director of Vani Prakashan, says, “We have been focusing on translations for many years. Some books that are now considered as Hindi books like Taslima Nasreen라이브 바카라 Lajja were mostly translated from other languages. We have translated books from at least 18 international languages into Hindi – both classics and contemporary. We published the translation of Tomas Gösta Tranströmer라이브 바카라 poems much before he received the Nobel Prize in literature in 2011.”바카라 웹사이트

Noting that “translators don’t get paid well,” she underlines that they not just translate a book, but also a culture. “A translator is a cultural ambassador.” 바카라 웹사이트바카라 웹사이트

While Vani Prakashan has instituted a Distinguished Translator Award to promote good translation, government institutions like Sahitya Akademi and National Book Trust have also been actively promoting translations in Indian languages.바카라 웹사이트

Clearly, the translation scene in India has improved largely due to the concerted efforts by some individuals and institutions. Consider Mini Krishnan, who has edited over 135 translations from 14 languages. According to the British Council report, her project Modern Indian Novels in Translation in the 1990s for five novels each from Tamil, Kannada, Telugu, Hindi, Malayalam, Bengali, Urdu, Punjabi, Gujarati, Oriya and Marathi marked a watershed a moment for Indian translation. Another initiative by writer Geeta Dharmarajan, the Katha Prize Short Stories, an award instituted in 1993 for translators, motivated a lot of translators to pursue translation as a career.

Many regional languages lack good translators, and paucity of institutional and government support make things tougher for translation projects. While some languages like Bengali, Malayalam and Tamil have more translations both into other Indian languages as well as into English, many other Indian languages need a sustained support to take their literature to other languages. But the poor quality of translation is perhaps inevitable given the lack of institutional and financial support to translators, as well as insufficient appreciation for the art of translation. 바카라 웹사이트

Are times changing?

Kanishka Gupta, author and literary agent, is hopeful. He represents several writers and translators including Daisy Rockwell, as well as Geetanjali Shree in some territories.바카라 웹사이트

“Translation is no longer restricted to major Indian languages like Bangla and Malayalam. Literary works from several regional languages are now gaining attention,” says Gupta, underlining the role of translators like Hemang Ashwinkumar who has done a remarkable work of bringing Gujarati writers into English, including Dalit writers like Dalpat Chauhan. 바카라 웹사이트

Gupta also recalls Vivek Shanbag's Kannada novel Ghachar Ghochar (2015) that had received international acclaim and was one of the finalists for the 2017 Los Angeles Times Book Prize.바카라 웹사이트

He expresses바카라 웹사이트satisfaction “about the experimental literature being written in Indian languages”, and the enthusiasm of publishers to bring out works by LGBTQIA community from Indian languages. 바카라 웹사이트

Gupta also emphasizes that one must respect the choices of a translator. “As Daisy mentioned in one of her interviews that translators should be seen as curators. You should place faith in the book they have decided to translate.”

And yet, the selection of books is never easy. The informal work culture of small publishing houses often acts as a deterrent. The British Council report says that since many small publishing houses don’t sign contracts with writers, these writers barely have copyrights when they approach any international publications for translation. Also, as Gupta says, publishing houses focus mainly on contemporary works because “old books become ineligible for major prizes”. It somehow discourages publishing houses from getting old books translated.바카라 웹사이트

Explaining how publishers select a book for translation, Maheshwari says that it라이브 바카라 a “long process”. She insists that editorial department of publishing houses must “read a lot” and “should listen to translators”. 바카라 웹사이트

Soni too echoes this: “No editor can know all the languages and literatures that exist in India, and therefore we rely on translators and on reliable and well-informed readers in those languages.”바카라 웹사이트

Perhaps the key is in the realization that translation is an art that produces an accomplished text in itself and not, as Daisy Rockwell says, “an imperfect representation of a superior and unattainable original”.바카라 웹사이트