Ashoka Centre for Translation

We're thrilled to announce the Bhashavaad searchable database of Indian translations, with @newindiafndtion, inviting you to interact with, make use of, and contribute to it! Now live: bhashavaad.in!

For much of Kerala’s theatre history, women were written out, their labour dismissed, their artistry unrecorded. Sajitha Madathil’s FOR THE LOVE OF ART, translated by Jayasree Kalathil, restores them to the centre of Kerala’s cultural imagination. Out now from @penguinindia.

Can a novel be too dangerous to publish in full? Guli Sadarangani’s ITTEHAD seemed to pose exactly that challenge. Reissued in 1984 as MELAAPI JEEVAN, the novel tells the story of an inter-religious marriage and the surprising possibility of a life together. Read an excerpt here:

Harimohan Jha’s 1933 classic Kanyadan, translated as The Bride by Lalit Kumar, humorously traces ill-matched marriages in Bihar. When first serialised, it was so beloved readers read it aloud for those who couldn’t, and gifting it to new brides became a ritual.

When László Krasznahorkai won the Nobel Prize for Literature, few mentioned his translators. George Szirtes and Ottilie Mulzet brought him global acclaim through their English translations of his work. Fittingly, Krasznahorkai split his Man Booker International Prize with them.

Razia Sajjad Zaheer, described as “one of Urdu’s most accomplished but least celebrated and acknowledged women writers,” was one of the founders of the Progressive Writers’ Movement. Some of her acclaimed short stories are now available in English, tr. by Saba Mahmood Bashir.

Before there was an Assamese language movement, there was Ananda Ram Dhekial Phookan, a scholar who insisted Assamese, not Bengali, belonged in Assam’s courts. Gunabhiram Barua's BEING MODERN (tr. Banani Chakravarty) traces his odyssey and, through him, that of a state.

The stunning opening paragraph from the second story of Sara Rai’s OTHER SKIES, OTHER STORIES, translated by Ira Pande and the author, where even a banal tray of catfish foreshadows the uncanny tale to come.

Translators should keep a notebook. Note every doubt, every choice, every hesitation. Question your instincts, record alternative readings, track recurring patterns. It’s in this space of suspicion and humility that the writer’s voice often comes alive.

A student's impressions of the National Translation Conference - Bhashavaad 2.0 - held in New Delhi during August 29-30 under the suspices of @TranslationAtAU the-edict.in/post/found-in-…

#PublishingNews: Vivek Shanbhag, acclaimed Kannada novelist and playwright, has launched Hyphen, a pan-Indian initiative to translate regional-language fiction into English. The Bahuvachana Trust project includes a journal, publishing house, and digital platform.

The practice of serialised fiction—associated with Victorian novels—still thrives in some regional literary cultures, where print periodicals continue to make space for literature. (Some English-language magazines in India, too, once featured fiction sections.)

Contrary to popular belief, translation rarely moves straight from one language to another. Even a simple word like "chair" in Malayalam—കസേര (kasēra)—carries Portuguese echoes from "cadeira." Every translator negotiates the political, the social, and the economic.

How do we carry the voices of bhakti across time, languages, and traditions? Join us at BHASHAVAAD 2.0 for Translating Bhakti, a conversation on devotion, poetry, and the challenges of translation. @Pratishtha_PM @iamrana

How do questions of copyright shape translation, where creative labour is shared and negotiated? Join us at BHASHAVAAD 2.0 for Translation and Copyright, a conversation on law, publishing, and the ethics of creative work. @kan_writersside @matthan

What drives the circulation of translated books, and what holds it back? Join us at BHASHAVAAD 2.0 for The Economics of Translation, a conversation on publishing, funding, and the visibility of literatures across languages. @ajayjain @mathur_vaishali @suchi1ghosh @katyaynineeta

What does it mean to translate what is routinely silenced or unseen? Join us at BHASHAVAAD 2.0 for Translating the Hidden, a conversation on caste, marginalisation, and the textures of experience in translation. @LauraBrueck @KothariRita

What happens when translation meets fast-changing technologies and shifting language futures? Join us at BHASHAVAAD 2.0 for Translation, Technology, and Language Futures, a conversation on translation in a digital age. @kalikabali

How does knowledge travel across languages, disciplines, and publics? Join us at BHASHAVAAD 2.0 for Translating Knowledge, a conversation on scholarship, publishing, and the circulation of ideas. @KothariRita

What makes a story worth telling, and who decides its scale? Join us at BHASHAVAAD 2.0 for No Story is Small, a conversation on writing, translation, and the value of stories often overlooked. @SansyG @pureheroinetwts

What changes when women write, and what shifts when women are translated? Join us at BHASHAVAAD 2.0 for Writing Women, Translating Women, a conversation on gender, publishing, and translation. @ZubaanBooks