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 Shree’s Ret Samadhi, translated into English as Tomb of Sand, winning the International Booker Prize this year, the literary discourse in India has firmly shifted translations. 

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. 

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 India’s 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, Geetanjali’s novel Tirohit into English as The Roof Beneath Their Feet.  

“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, “It’s 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.”  

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 Nasreen’s 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 Tranströmer’s poems much before he received the Nobel Prize in literature in 2011.” 

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.”   

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. 

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.  

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. 

“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.  

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. 

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

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. 

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

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.” 

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”.