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India

stack of books
Photo by Tim Wildsmith on Unsplash.
Postcolonial Translations and the Reception of Indian Literature in the West
By Saudamini Deo
From Anne Carson’s groundbreaking translations to Geetanjali Shree’s Booker-winning work, Deo explores the complex dynamics of translation, cultural appropriation, and the reception of non-Western literature in the Western literary world.
cracked earth
Photo by Ashford Marx on Pexels.
Hunger Is No Forest Fire
By Vajesinh Pargi
Three powerful poems from Adivasi poet Vajesinh Pargi.
Translated from Gujarati by Pratishtha Pandya
Man riding a motorcycle
Photo by Aditya Rathod on Unsplash.
Saira Banu on Chacha’s Motorcycle
By Mridula Garg
Gul’s silky, delicately stitched gharara looked so gorgeous, she swooned at her own reflection.
Translated from Hindi by Aditya Vikram Shrivastava
Multilingual
space gray iPhone
Photo by Nicolas Thomas on Unsplash.
Viral
By Mahua Sen Mukhopadhyay
Not even in my wildest dreams did I imagine that Mukul would upload the video to Facebook. It went viral in a day.
Translated from Bengali by Sayari Debnath
The covers of the five books featured in the Watchlist on a peach-colored background: Unlove Story,...
The Watchlist: November 2024
By Tobias Carroll
Tobias Carroll on the five books in translation that should be on your radar this month, from Egypt, India, Poland, and more.
This picture has the cover of the book Again I Hear These Waters by Shalim M. Hussain on the right...
“This, Here, Is Home”: Shalim M. Hussain on Miyah Poetry from Assam
By Uttaran Das Gupta
The songs are part of our lives in the chars. They have been passed down to us and adapted through generations and are a testament to how life and religion become one in the everyday.
Etching of a bird flying over the countryside with a view of a city in the background
Bird of Paradise by Jacques Callot in the Rosenwald Collection of the National Gallery of Art
Creating Creatures
By Binoy Majumdar
You too can create a new god or goddess this way, though you are a human.
Translated from Bengali by Arunava Sinha
A woman looks out the windows of a slightly dilapidated white brick building.
Kalpana Raina stands in the window of her uncle's former home. Photo by Tanveer Ajsi.
Reclaiming Memories: Returning to Kashmir
By Kalpana Raina
How is it possible that a place you haven’t seen for decades can match your memory when you finally visit it?
Multimedia
A two-by-six grid of the covers of the six books in the Watchlist: Reinbou, A Whale Is a Country,...
The Watchlist: March 2024
By Tobias Carroll
Tobias Carroll recommends six new books in translation you won't want to miss this month, from Bengali science fiction to an early novel by renowned Polish writer Witold Gombrowicz.
Portrait of Vishes Kothari
Revitalizing the Rajasthani Language: An Interview with Vishes Kothari
By Suhasini Patni
“I was also fortunate to be in an environment where there was already some consciousness about the literary richness of Rajasthani, the fact that the language does not get its due, the importance of learning and speaking it.”
Portrait of WWB's poetry editor, Sohini Basak
Meet WWB’s Poetry Editor, Sohini Basak
By Words Without Borders
I’m very excited to read works from all over the world and especially hope to engage with translators of color and early-career translators.
February-2024-Mother-Language-Day-List-Feature (1)
Clockwise from top left: Bikash Dihingia, Risten Sokki, Imran Sada'i, Boubacar Boris Diop, Gawani Gaongen, Jean D'Amerique, Adriana Paredes Pinda, Emiliana Bernard-Stephenson
International Mother Language Day: 8 Writers to Read Now
By Words Without Borders
In celebration of International Mother Language Day, we're spotlighting 8 writers working in their heritage languages, from Wolof and Kankanaey to Uyghur and Mapudungun.
The covers of the six books featured in the Watchlist: The Murderer's Mother, Forgottenness, The...
The Watchlist: January 2024
By Tobias Carroll
Tobias Carroll recommends six books to start off the new year, from a classic of Danish science fiction to Álvaro Enrigue's reimagining of sixteenth-century Mexico.
A pair of vintage storage trunks sitting on a sandy-colored, tiled floor
Photo by Sam Jotham Sutharson on Unsplash
Nothing unfinished is completed
By Vinod Kumar Shukla
As if I were arriving at the end of arriving.
Translated from Hindi by Arvind Krishna Mehrotra
Red sparks and flames on a black background
Photo by Ben Moreland on Unsplash
Progeny
By La. Sa. Ramamirtham
I looked around, waking up from the miracle of my birth.
Translated from Tamil by Subhashree Beeman
Multimedia
Five vultures standing on bare tree branches
Photo by Casey Allen on Unsplash
Of Some Unidentified Village, Nayantara Barua
By Avinash Shrestha
What curse come to roost in a barren house / These nightmares like the screech of falcons.
Translated from Nepali by Rohan Chhetri
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
Bamboo had been an intimate part of his life since his birth, but he had never known bamboo to produce seeds.
Translated from Assamese by Aruni Kashyap
The twelve books featured in the list, in three rows of five
12 Translators Recommend Women in Translation
By Words Without Borders
For Women in Translation Month, a dozen translators recommend recent favorite books written and translated by women.
The covers of the books featured in the Watchlist: Offshore Lightning, The Country of Too, No One...
The Watchlist: July 2023
By Tobias Carroll
Tobias Carroll recommends new and forthcoming books translated from Arabic, French, Japanese, Portuguese, and Spanish.
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
Black, gray, and white storm clouds
Photo by Harshit Sharma on Unsplash
A Second of Stillness
By Jintu Gitarth
Under a boundless sky stretching across the horizon, enveloped in a silence spanning miles, Diganta sat beside his favorite person.
Translated from Assamese by Harsita Hiya
Multilingual
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
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
A boat on the coast of Gujarat at sunset
Photo by Pandav Tank on Unsplash
Translating Gujarat: On Raising Visibility and Sharing Literary Wealth
By Jenny Bhatt
For translators from under-represented languages like ours, the act of translation can also be a mode of recovery and reclamation.
Portrait of Dr. Sachin Ketkar
Into English: Sachin Ketkar on Bilingual Translation
By Jenny Bhatt
Translation is an extension of my preoccupations as a creative writer.
Multimedia
A colored floral illustration on paper
Detail of “Leopard Bearing Lion's Order to Fellow Judges", Folio 51 recto from a Kalila wa Dimna. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, The Alice and Nasli Heeramaneck Collection, Gift of Alice Heeramaneck, 1981
All It Seems
By Befaam
Even grief now becomes / a kind of delight, or so it seems.
Translated from Gujarati by Meena Desai
Multilingual
Portrait of Dr. Tridip Suhrud
On Gandhi, Translation, and the Gujarati Intellectual Tradition
By Jenny Bhatt
Gandhi was a very close reader of languages and literatures.
An old ornate mansion in India with a green wrought iron gate
Photo by Vikram Nath Chouhan 🇮🇳 on Unsplash
Once Elephants Lived Here: Part 2
By Geetanjali Shree
The city murmured in the mazes of her ancient face.
Translated from Hindi by Daisy Rockwell
Two blue glass skyscrapers seen from below against a cloudy blue sky
Photo by Shubham Sharma on Unsplash
Once Elephants Lived Here: Part 1
By Geetanjali Shree
Here, all things old have been suppressed.
Translated from Hindi by Daisy Rockwell
A pair of black leather lace-up boots in front of a white wall
Photo by Rico Van de Voorde on Unsplash
Boots
By Nilutpal Baruah
People said Bedo Bora was a foot fetishist. He was fascinated by women’s feet, they said. When you met him he stared at your feet.  
Translated from Assamese by Rashmi Baruah
Multimedia
A man paddles a canoe in a river at sunset
Photo by Inu Etc on Unsplash
Roots
By Madhurima Barua
The stench of country liquor assaults her. Her husband is tottering.
Translated from Assamese by Syeda Shaheen Jeenat Suhailey
MultimediaMultilingual
A wagtail perching on a stick by a body of water
Photo by Nikita Nikitenko on Unsplash
A Wagtail’s Song
By Bikash Dihingia
How was it possible that there was another me buried within? And how could someone else feel his presence even before I could?
Translated from Assamese by Harsita Hiya
Multilingual
The covers of the books featured in the list
The Best Books of 2022—And What We’re Looking Forward to in 2023
By Words Without Borders
Our staff, contributors, and board members share their favorite translated books of the year and the titles they're looking forward to in 2023.
Jenny Bhatt (left) and Rita Kothari (right)
On the Evolution and Craft of Gujarati Literature in Translation
By Jenny Bhatt
We do not see translations of books that will unsettle the reading community, and provoke them to be different than who they want to be.
A game of hopscotch on asphalt
FranHogan, CC BY-SA 4.0, via WikiMedia Commons
Writing in Mother Tongue and an Other Tongue
By Pratishtha Pandya
Every time I write something in English, I’ve been left feeling guilty, as if I had betrayed someone.
The covers of the ten books featured in the gift guide
Your 2022 Holiday Gift Guide to Reading in Translation
By Isabella Corletto
Ten recent books in translation that the readers in your life are sure to enjoy this holiday season.
Tree of life carving at the Sidi Saiyyed Mosque
Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Ahmedabad
By Bharat Trivedi
Those days of leaping carefree into the Sabarmati / Are long gone
Translated from Gujarati by Mira Desai
Photo of a man walking alongside his bike on a tree-lined path
Photo by Akshat Vats on Unsplash
To Loved Ones
By Jayesh Jeevibahen Solanki
The bazaar reveals this to us: / I sell / Get sold / Someone buys me / and I buy someone else
Translated from Gujarati by Gopika Jadeja
A woman in a pink sari walks in the street in front of an apartment building
Photo by Akshar Dave on Unsplash
Writing in Troubled Times
By Geetanjali Shree
Fiction came to us from the West. Creativity did not.
Photo of a school framed by two trees
Snehrashmi, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Crossroad
By Varsha Adalja
“Shame on you, boys. Dullards. A girl has outdone you all.”
Translated from Gujarati by Jenny Bhatt
Multimedia
The covers of all the books featured in the list
12 Global Children’s Books for History Lovers
By Ruth Ahmedzai Kemp
In celebration of #WorldKidLitMonth, Ruth Ahmedzai Kemp recommends 12 international books for young readers with an interest in world history.
Sketch of Infernal Landscape by Hieronymus Bosch
Rik Klein Gotink and Robert G. Erdmann, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Seeking Shelter in Language
By Saudamini Deo
In English, Hindi, and Bangla—the languages I use daily—we spoke only of death and distress.
Ellamma Is Distressed
By Gogu Shyamala
They may even throw us out of this village.
Translated from Telugu by P. Pavana
Portrait of writer and translator Nisha Susan
“Women with Highly Irregular Minds”
By Suhasini Patni
In all these years that I’ve spent writing in English, I’ve always felt that my leaning toward literariness was informed by Malayalam.
“The Joy of Cultural Mixing”: Daljit Nagra on Retelling the Classic Ramayana in Punglish
By Samantha Schnee
Humor was essential for my Ramayana.
An International Menagerie: Animal Stories
By Susan Harris
Some of the animals here possess the power of speech, deploying it to often subversive ends.
Portrait of Meena Kandasamy
Image Copyright © Varun Vasudevan
The Poetry of Radical Female Fighters
By Suhasini Patni
When you are not held back by any fear, you can write songs of liberation.
Double portrait of writer Jhumpa Lahiri
Where I Find Myself
By Jhumpa Lahiri
I have come to think of any “definitive text” largely the same way that I think of a mother tongue, at least in my case: an inherently debatable, perpetually relative concept.
Why Must Two Works be Compared at All?
By Saudamini Deo
Why must two works be compared at all?
Celebrating Kazi Nazrul Islam, Rebel Poet of Bengal
By Liesl Schwabe
Much of the radical heart of Nazrul’s larger oeuvre, including his work as a freedom fighter, has been overlooked.
10 Translated Books from India to Read Now
By Arunava Sinha
Both list-makers and editors seem to forget that India is in fact a country with 20,000 tongues, which are variations of over 120 distinct languages.
On the “Good” in “Good Traveler”
By Shahnaz Habib
Travel is a self-improvement project that has been sold to us as a world-improvement project.
Road Stories: International Writing on Travel
By Susan Harris
Some of the writers here document their own trips, while others invent characters and send them on the road.
Across Mountains and Valleys: Stories of Migration from the Kinnaur and Spiti Valleys
By Arshia Sattar
Despite their specificity, these tales transcend the places that produced them and throb with a universal appeal.
The Story of Sunni and Bhunku
By Himalayan Oral Tradition
Why, oh why, did you not come back immediately?
Translated from Lahouli by Noor Zaheer
The Girl Who Turned into a Crocodile
By Himalayan Oral Tradition
She struggled and fought back and tried to save herself but could not overcome the great crocodile that had taken hold of her.
Translated from Lahouli by Noor Zaheer
When the Deer Moved Away
By Himalayan Oral Tradition
Deeku refused to understand the close bond between the humans and the deer and their dependence on each other.
Translated from Lahouli by Noor Zaheer
Beyond “Untouchability”: Dalit Literature in Hindi
By Laura Brueck & Christi A. Merrill
Dalit literature represents some of the most meaningful, socially engaged narrative voices in India today.
Our Village
By Mohan Das Namishray
It would be difficult to find a single man whose back had not been scarred by the whip of the thakur or his agents.
Translated from Hindi by Laura Brueck & Christi A. Merrill
Gujji
By Suraj Badtiya
Although his name wasn’t Gujji to begin with, he was Gujji now.
Translated from Hindi by John Vater