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The 2023 Armory Square Prize for South Asian Literature in Translation

Morning landscape of hills in Sri Lanka
Terranceensen, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

The Armory Square Prize for South Asian Literature in Translation was created to inspire new directions for translators into English from one of the most diverse, historically complex, and culturally vibrant regions of the world. Sponsored by Armory Square Ventures, the groundbreaking prize awards a talented translator of South Asian literature into English with the publication of their outstanding manuscript. The winner of the 2023 prize is Musharraf Ali Farooqi for his translation from Urdu of Siddique Alam’s The Kettledrum and Other Stories, which will be published by Open Letter Books.

Portraits of Jason Grunebaum and Pia Sawhney
A New Translation Prize: The Armory Square Prize for South Asian Literature in Translation
We want to showcase the best translations from South Asia, and help make visible authors, translators, and literature that are still largely invisible outside of South Asia.
Empty train tracks disappearing into the horizon in a dry landscape
Photo by Robert Linder on Unsplash
The Kettledrum
By Siddique Alam
In the forest, between the acacia, mulberry, and stinging nettle bushes, where snakes shed their skin, she searched for Mangru’s footprints.
Translated from Urdu by Musharraf Ali Farooqi
Cobwebs outside of a house
Photo by Pierre Bamin on Unsplash
Morning Procession
By Amit Dutta
Everybody knew that reading strange books was Shaam’s only hobby.
Translated from Hindi by Vaibhav Sharma
Stray dogs
Photo by Heshan Weeramanthri on Unsplash
Parliament of Dogs
By Nasera Sharma
Seeing their community divided into two camps, some dogs developed a strange arrogance.
Translated from Hindi by Akshaj Awasthi
Multimedia
A large, shallow river with pines on the opposite bank and mountains in the distance
Nameri National Park. Photo by Debuapriyo, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The Smell of Bamboo Blossoms
By Yeshe Dorje Thongchi
The natural world brings both profit and ominous change to a village in this narrative by prominent Assamese writer Yeshe Dorje Thongchi, a finalist for the Armory Square Prize for South Asian Literature in Translation.
Translated from Assamese by Aruni Kashyap