A new chapter

Author Anita Nair, who turns scriptwriter with “Lessons In Forgetting”, talks about her constant quest to reinvent herself

“Joyously invigorating, and agonising,” is how Anita Nair describes the experience of writing the film script for of her latest novel Lessons in Forgetting. “While fiction is my first love, I need to constantly challenge myself. Hence I seek different forms and structures,” says the author of novels such as The Better Man, Ladies Coupe, and Mistress, besides many short stories, essays, travelogues, and poems. Lessons in Forgetting takes the issue of female foeticide head on. Says Nair: “According to a 2007-survey by the UN, over 2,000 unborn girls are aborted every day in India. While it is illegal to reveal the sex of the child through pre-natal scans, the law has so far been ineffectual. Son Preference for sons, dowry, and patriarchal systems are said to be the key reasons for female foeticide. According to campaigners, many fertility clinics in India offer a seemingly legitimate facade for a multi-billion-dollar racket — gender determination is still big business in India.” The film is produced by the Bangalore-based Prince Thampi of Arowana Consulting. It marks the directorial debut of Unni Vijayan, alumnus of Film and Television Institute, Pune. Made in English with sub titles wherever the dialogue is in Tamil, the film it is to be completed by early October. Excerpts from an interview with the author.

The book received good reviews. Were you sceptical about adapting it into a film?
Not really. As I was doing the screenplay myself, I knew I would be able to capture the essence of the book without losing its layered textural values. There were instances where I left bits out, and at other times introduced a new scene to make the connection seamless. I had some semblance of control. It was also a learning experience.

You recently translated Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai's magnum opus Chemmeen…
A translation would require me to walk the way of another writer and see his landscape and characters through his eyes. The very first line of the book had me in knots. Chemmeen is in fishermen's dialect. This was unfamiliar territory and I put the pen down. What was I going to do? Over the course of the next fortnight, I roped in my secretary, a Malayali, to read out the book aloud to me. I have no formal education in Malayalam. What I do have is an ability to understand and comprehend the nuances of the language. The familiarity with the cadence grew into a natural ease. It was perhaps one of the most creatively satisfying things I have done.

Full interview here Hindu

Eng version of Punjabi book out in Canada

There is good news for all those wanting to read Punjabi short stories translated into English.

A collection of Punjabi short stories written by Dr Harshinder Kaur, deputy medical superintendent of Government Rajindera Hospital in Patiala, have been rewritten in English by a Canadian writer, Ajmer Rode.

The book titled - It happens in India - was released on September 11 by Sikh scholar Dr Harjinder Singh Dilgeer during a function at Vancouver. The stories depict atrocities inflicted on women in various parts of Punjab.

Full report here Times of India

Getting nuances

Though it takes a lifetime to really understand another culture; its literature, however, provides the best glimpse into it. “Sirigannada”, an anthology of contemporary Kannada writings — translated into English and edited by Vivek Shanbhag — takes the reader on a journey through Karnataka's rich and varied history and culture.

A discussion on “Sirigannada”, interspersed with readings of excerpts, was held last week at the British Library. Organised by TFA (Toto Funds the Arts), the conversation between Vivek Shanbhag and theatre person Prakash Belawadi gave much food for thought. The selection of stories and poetry wasn't a “conscious process” for Shanbhag. He, however, ensured that the works he chose were of different styles and narratives.

Poet and theatre personality, Deepika Arwind, Mounesh Badiger, and Kannada theatre personality H.S. Shiva Prakash read out excerpts from the book. Shiva Prakash's eloquent rendition of some of the pieces impressed. Jayant Kaikini's “Tick-Tock Buddy”, Sandhya Devi's “Love of Death”, Kum. Veerabhadrappa's “The Handshake Episode”, D.R. Nagaraj's “The Kannada-English Combat”, Pratibha Nandakumar's poem “The Saviour” were some of the pieces that were read out.

Full report here Hindu

China honours Indian with top lit prize

China has conferred its highest literary award on B.R. Deepak for his book, which is a translation of 88 classical Chinese poems into Hindi.

Prof. Deepak, who is from Centre of Chinese and Southeast Asian Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, was the first Indian to receive the “Special Book Award” for his contribution to Chinese studies, translation, publication of Chinese books and cultural exchange.

The award was presented by the State Counsellor, Liu Yandong, at an investiture held in National Theatre of Performing Arts and the awards were given away by the State Counselor Liu Yandong.

The book is first-of-its-kind translation of 88 classical poems from 11th to 14th Century BC into Hindi that have been selected from various periods of Chinese history starting from Shijing of pre Qin to Xixiangji of the Yuan dynasty, Prof Deepak, currently visiting professor of Chinese and Dean of the School of Languages, Doon University, Dehradun, Uttrakhand told PTI here on Friday.

Full report here Hindu

Kashmir’s literary harvest

This year has seen a blossoming of English-language narratives on Kashmir, many from a generation that has never known peace

Last August, as droves of rock-hurling boys and young men rallied on the streets of Srinagar, essayist Pankaj Mishra wrote in The Guardian that “apart from the youth on the streets, there are also those with their noses in books...”, a generation, he wrote, that will soon “make its way into the world with its private traumas. Life under political oppression has begun to yield, in the slow bitter way it does, a rich intellectual and artistic harvest.”

Mishra’s words appear to have been borne out by the minor boom in English-language writing by and about Kashmiris. This includes Sanjay Kak’s anthology, Until my Freedom Has Come, in which the film-maker has compiled writing, mostly from the Internet, produced by Kashmiris last summer. India International Centre chief editor Ira Pande’s A Tangled Web: Jammu & Kashmir is an anthology that seeks to provide fresh ways of looking not just at Kashmir, but Jammu also.

The new crop of Kashmir books is a diverse lot. Published last year was Luv Puri’s scholarly Across the LoC, and soon to follow are My Kashmir, by former civil servant Wajahat Habibullah, and a book of Amit Mehra’s photographs. Also forthcoming are reporter Rahul Pandita’s memoir of growing up as a Hindu in Kashmir, and Sonia Jabbar’s book of reportage from the state.

Likewise, works in translation are beginning to trickle out. Prisoner No. 100, Anjum Zamarud Habib’s jail memoir, was published in translation from Urdu this year. First-time translator Sahba Husain said she has had other offers to translate Urdu works, but passed in favour of writing a non-fiction book based on her activism in Kashmir.

Full report here Mint

Long-listed for literary award

Salma had one regret as a writer. Though she arrived on the Tamil literary scene with her poems, powerfully expressing the pain of sufferings of women treated as sexual objects by men, she feels that her debut novel ‘Irandam Jaamangalin Kathai' was “deliberately ignored.”

But, an English translation by Laksmi Holmstrom titled ‘The Hour Past Midnight' did the magic. The novel is now in the long list of the first DSC Prize for South Asian Literature along with the works of well-known writers such as Amit Chaudhuri and Upamanyu Chatterjee. The prize, whose long-list has 14 books, carries a cash award of $50,000.

“I am happy that my novel is getting world-wide attention,” said Salma. The novel narrated hitherto unknown world of Muslim women in a male-dominated society, besides capturing their aspirations in the absence of any link with women outside their world. “It is the politics in the literary world that ensured that the novel did not get its due,” said Salma, who was then the president of a panchayat in Tiruchi. She took a plunge into politics in 2004 by joining the DMK. She was also fielded as the party candidate in Marungapuri Assembly constituency, but failed to win the election. The government later appointed her chairperson of the Tamil Nadu Social Welfare Board.

Full report here Hindu

Remarkable Ghandhi book

Hind Swaraj is M.K.Gandhi's remarkable book written originally in Gujarati in ten days in November 1909 on a ship from London to Durban. This is the only book that the Mahatma himself translated into English.

Even his famous autobiography, My Experiments with Truth, was first translated into English by his secretary, Pyare Lal. It was written weekly in a serial format for his magazine, Indian Opinion.

The English version of Hindi Swaraj was published in 1910 - this year marks the centenary celebration of this most radical and revolutionary document of the time.

The British Raj banned it; the Indian nationalists condemned it. They perceived it as Gandhi's reactionary thinking against Indians' fight for freedom by any means and the modernization of Mother India on European structures of industrialization.

Few books have been more misread, misinterpreted and misunderstood by a writer's contemporaries. One critic writer described it as an 'incendiary manifesto.'

full report here Fiji Times

The Little Prince to be published in English

A graphic novel based on The Little Prince by French artist Joann Sfar is set to be published in an English-language edition in October, reported Publishers Weekly on September 22. An internationally acclaimed cartoonist, Joann Sfar is known for previous graphic novels including The Rabbi's Cat, which was adapted for film and for which he won the prestigious Jury Prize at the Angoulême Comics Festival, as well as for his The Little Vampire children's books.

Sfar's adaptation of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's classic novella takes the unique approach of depicting the story's narrator, the pilot, who never appears in the original book's illustrations. The adaptation was first published as a French-language title in France in 2007.

In an email interview with Publishers Weekly's Comics Week, Sfar said the project "would be a great way to demonstrate that a graphic novel is NOT an illustrated book. I feel there is a specificity in comic book storytelling which allows a different path than illustration."

Full report here Hindustan Times

SAGE India's foray into Oriental publishing

India was the country of honour at the recently concluded Beijing International Book Fair, SAGE India also participated in the fair and had a stall in the Indian pavilion.

Vivek Mehra, MD & CEO SAGE India met He Yan, President, Central Compilation & Translation Press, China at the fair and signed a MOA (Memorandum of Agreement) to publish Indian management books in Chinese and original scholarly works by Chinese scholars into English. The Central Compilation & Translation Press is a wing of the Central Compilation & Translation Bureau, the highest authority in China when it comes to certifying translation from any global language into Chinese and whenever Chinese works are published abroad. Mr He, a highly respected figure is also a member of the Upper House of the Chinese Parliament

As part of this landmark agreement SAGE India will publish (in English with world rights) a recently published bi-lingual edition of 'Tagore and China' by Prof Tan Chung a leading China scholar, currently living in Chicago. Prof Tan has lived in India for many years and taught at the Jawaharlal National University. His father was also a scholar who was brought to India (specifically to Shanti Niketan) by none other than the legendary Rabindranath Tagore. In China this book is published by the Central Compilation & Translation Press. The book is a fantastic scholarly work which includes an original essay by Amartya Sen. We hope to bring this book out in May 2011 to coincide with Tagore's 150th birth anniversary.

This is a landmark moment in the history of SAGE India as we add another dimension to our language publishing programme and begin our Oriental sojourn

Full report here Afaqs

White Tiger now in Gujarati

Noted psychologist and counsellor Dr Prashant Bhimani's Gujarati version of the novel 'The White Tiger', originally written by Aravinda Adiga, was released at Crossword book store in Ahmedabad on Sunday, Sep 19.

"This is the first time I have written a book and the person responsible for sowing the seeds of writing in me is Kajal Oza," said the author-cum-psychologist.

The book in its new form was released by Kajal Oza Vaidya and Siddharth Randeria. As many as 150 people were present to witness the book launch, which was followed by book reading by Randeria.

"This book has beautiful descriptions of India, our culture, our beliefs, entrepreneurship etc. The book clearly describes how we Indians are like roosters in coops, trapped in our old beliefs and customs. Just like roosters in cages, don't try or struggle to come out, similarly we Indians haven't yet tried to come out of our old beliefs," said Bhimani.

Full report here DNA

Dreaming in Kannada

t’s a story that speaks of a young boy whose humble background could have spelt an average life for him. But instead, he decided to rewrite his destiny. And then he wrote a book called Simply Fly. Captain Gopinath has come a long way since his days of farming, business ventures and of course changing the course of Indian Aviation. His story in Simply Fly, (released in Feb 2010), was an inspiration to people irrespective of societal status. Now with the Kannada version, Baana Yana, of the book on the anvil, Captain Gopinath speaks to Bangalore Mirror on grabbing opportunities in life and viewing life with renewed enthusiasm each day. Excerpts from the interview:

Why did you decide to have the book translated into Kannada?
I received numerous offers to translate the book into Kannada. Many people, who read it, felt that it was a story that needed to be told. It is a story that presents an India with possibilities. It talks of following dreams and not slipping into the comfort of cynicism. If I, a person who studied in Kannada medium and wore slippers to school could achieve what I had done, the possibilities for others are infinite. More people need to hear that it’s all about having enthusiasm for life and doors will definitely open for you.

Have you added or deleted anything for the Kannada audience?
The original English manuscript was much larger than what was finally published. Of course, in essence nothing was left out. The original English manuscript was used for the translation and therefore it will have essentially a bit more.

Full report here Bangalore Mirror

You are what you read: Kiran Desai

Kiran Desai surprised observers back in 2006 when she won the Man Booker Prize for her novel “The Inheritance of Loss,” becoming the youngest female writer to ever be seen as worthy of the award. The novel, a tale of migration, became available to Turkish bookworms last week under the title of “Kaybın Türküsü.” On account of the introduction of her work to the Turkish book market, we spoke with Desai about her adventures in writing.

Your novel opens with the Borges poem “Boast of Quietness.” Why did you select this poem as an epigraph?
This poem reflects the souls of the characters in the novel well. When you go to another country as a migrant, there are difficulties that you experience. The real important thing isn’t just your own story. There are many people’s stories like yours, and there are people who share the same fate, just as there are many books in a genre on library shelves. But you tell your own story. I selected this poem because it conveys similar feelings to readers. In the same way, when you look at the migration stories of Latin Americans and Mexicans, you can feel the parallels between all migrants’ stories. For this reason, Borges is a writer in whom I have a lot of trust in when it comes to conveying those feelings.

In “The Inheritance of Loss” you say that you tell your own story, your own “migrant experience.” How did migration and the feeling of “placelessness” and “nationlessness” affect your authorship? If you hadn’t ever migrated to the West when you left India at age 14, what kind of a life would you have had?
Being a migrant forces you to be creative because in one way or another you have a motivation, like to be successful. Your world and the environment you are in are changing, and this always makes you a more creative person. Staying in the country of your birth or living in another country … for example, it’s not just these two choices. Even if you live in the US, you may have even more different choices there. You can live like a hippie or be a very successful businesswoman. Choices are everywhere, no matter where you are. You choose your own life. For example in a family you can see that while one person chose to be a doctor, another wants to grow vegetables. These options are always in our own hands, they’re not bounded by the place we live in. But, of course, there is a light feeling of loss created by the migration feeling.

Full interview here Zaman

Remembering Ayyappa Panicker

The friends and disciples of poet Ayyappa Panicker are planning to celebrate his 80th birth anniversary in a big way. A function will be organised at 5 pm on September 12 at VJT Hall to commemorate the late poet.

Eminent Kannada writer and Jnanpith Award winner U R Ananthamoorthy will deliver this year’s Ayyappa Panicker Memorial Lecture on the topic  ‘Indian Literature: Dalit Contribution.’ The lecture will be followed by a discussion on the subject.  Ayyappa Panicker Foundation president K Satchidanandan will preside over the function and vice- president T P Sreenivasan will be the moderator.

Poetry at Midnight, an English translation by P Ravindran Nayar of  Ayyappa Panicker’s last anthology of poems, ‘Pathumanipookkal , will be formally released at the function by Ananthamoorthy.

The function will be followed by a visual representation of selected poems by Ayyappa Panicker on stage. Groups of students from the All-Saints’ College; Mar Ivanios College; NSS College for Women, Karamana and the Departments of English and Malayalam of the Kerala University will compete with their adaptations of chosen poems of Panicker. The team selected for the best performance will be presented with the Ayyappa Panicker Poetry Trophy.

Full report here New Indian Express

India, Poland sign cultural cooperation agreement

Cultural exchanges, cooperation in the field of protection and conservation of monuments and exchanges between national libraries in India and Poland will get a boost with the two countries signing a cultural cooperation agreement.

The India-Poland Cultural Cooperation Agreement was signed by Culture Secretary Jawhar Sircar and Polish Undersecretary of State Jacek Najder in the presence of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Polish counterpart Donald Tusk on Sep 7.

The pact, which will be in force till 2013, envisages disseminating information concerning cultural heritage of both the countries and cooperating in the field of protection and conservation of monuments between institutions and organisations.

Under the pact, national libraries of both India and Poland will support exchange of information and publications and also support translation of literary works of their authors into a language or languages of the other party.

"Both the countries shall encourage cooperation in the scope of conservation of Stefan Norblin''s works remaining in India," a Culture Ministry official said.

Full report here MSN

Rendering path-breaking research into Kannada

Prof S N Balagangadhara's book 'Smriti, Vismriti: Bhaarateeya Samskruti' looks at the trends in social sciences within India and elsewhere. The Kannada translation of the book was recently released.

On Sunday August 29th , the Kannada translation of Prof. S N Balagangadhara's book, "The Heathen in his Blindness"...Asia, West and the Dynamic of Religion (1994) was released at the Kannada Sahitya Parishat in Chamarajpet. The book titled 'Smriti, Vismriti: Bhaarateeya Samskruti', translated by scholar-historian Dr Rajaram Hegde, was released by writer-journalist Ravi Belegere.

Published by Akshara Prakashana, the book is priced at Rs 415. An introduction to the book was presented by Prof. Sivarama Krishnan, retired Sociology Professor, Bangalore University. Centre for the Study of Local Cultures (CSLC), Kuvempu University organised the event with support from Nagasri Book House, Jayanagar.

Full report here Citizen Matters

Found in translation

When was the last time you read a good book? No, that's too easy. How about a story translated not from a foreign but regional language? Most publishers wouldn't risk attempting a translation, simply because as Jamuna Rao of Bangalore-based publishing house, Dronequill says, “Honestly, it is too difficult to do. Many times what may sound good in a regional language may sound banal in English.” Hence, she says, she is happy publishing original writing in English by writers rather than venturing into translations.

However, she emphasises that there is a need for translations. In fact, in the past year itself there has been a spurt in the publishing of translated works. Rao, points out the problems, and to begin with there is the classic demand-supply issue. “Where is the readership for translated work?” she asks matter-of-factly, adding that “unless the work is well-known, no one will translate it”. Other problems arise in terms of “acquiring translation rights, copyrights and the resources to make a translation viable”.

Full report here DNA

Parakkadavu's stories in Arabic now

Malayalam short story writer PK Parakkadavu will now be read in Arabic, as a prominent Arab magazine has started publishing five of his selected stories.

AlMar'a AlYom, a fortnightly published from Abu Dhabi has selected Parakkadavu's Vrikshavum Kaviyum (Tree and Poet), Keralam, Jwala (flame), Minnal (Lightning) and Aval (She).

The English translations of these stories had caught the attention of Egyptian-born editor of the magazine Mohammad Id Ibrahim and a story appeared in the August 26 edition of the magazine. "I am happy that my works will now be read in a different language. These stories were earlier translated into English by Yasin Ashraf, a lecturer at the Farook College in Kozhikode," said Parakkadavu.

Full report here New Indian Express

Yaraana: A bittersweet symphony

It is indeed orchestrated that I succeeded my first brush (R. Raj Rao’s Hostel Room 131 with queer literature, with another: Yaraana, Gay Writing from South Asia, edited by Hoshang Merchant.

A novel exploration of gay sexual identity and men lovestruck by men, Yaraana makes for interesting reading. Only after I put this anthology down, do I discover that Yaraana was first published in 1999. In this extended version, the novel emphasises the timelessness of its collection. Queer themed (and often, not necessarily) pieces in English and translated from Gujarati, and Urdu and Marathi.

Yaraana begins on a comprehensive note, in an introduction by editor Hoshang Merchant. Merchant traces contemporary and past societal notions of everything queer, leaving you to marvel at the expanse of the genre's literature.

Full report here IBNLive

Tagore's works being translated into Chinese

Complete works of Rabindranath Tagore are being translated into Chinese, according to a city-based consortium which will participate in the Beijing international Book Fair beginning from August 30.

A marble statue of Tagore will be installed in Shanghai to mark the poet's 150th birth anniversary, president of the Consortium for Books and Culture Debajyoti Dutta said Kolkata on Aug 25.

He said there has been a sea-change in attitude of the Chinese authorities towards Rabindranath who visited that country in the first half the 20th century.

Dutta said India is the theme country at the Beijing Book Fair.

Read more at NDTV: 

Scholar wins award for translation

Prominent scholar and litterateur Mrs. Asma Saleem was awarded Sahitya Akademi’s award for her Urdu translated book Safar at a ceremony in Panaji on August 20.

The Sahitya Akademi translation awards presentation ceremony was held at the Kala Academy’s Dinanath Mangeshkar hall. The welcome speech was delivered by the secretary of Sahitya Akademi, Mr Agrahar Krishnamurti. The president of Sahitya Akademi, Mr Sunil Gangopadhyay presided over the function.

The chief guest for the function was eminent Malayalam writer, M T Vasudevan Nair. The vice-president of Sahitya Akademi, Mr Sutindar Singh Noor presented the vote of thanks.

Translators of 23 languages were awarded for their contribution on the occasion including Asma Saleem, the translation award winner in Urdu, 2009.

Full report here TwoCircles