Meet The Translator
-
‘Translators need to employ the craft of fiction writing to do their work well’: Srinath Perur
‘The time I spent on writing fiction has proved enormously rewarding. It helps me as a reader, a narrative nonfiction writer, and yes, a translator.’
Sayari Debnath
-
‘Translating women writers enables their cultural positions to be represented’: Alo Shome
An interview with translator Alo Shome about her newly published translation of Nirupama Devi’s 1915 Bengali novel ‘Didi’.
Veeksha Vagmita
-
‘I find the constraints of the original text liberating to work with’: Translator Rahul Soni
‘A translator must be at least as good a writer in his or her language, and in the same ways, as the author of the original is in his or hers.’
Sayari Debnath
Trending
-
‘Change’ over ethnic identity politics: Why MNF lost Mizoram
-
Why Congress lost Chhattisgarh
-
Manipur: Bodies of 13 Meiteis found in Tengnoupal district after gunfire
-
Opinion: Crushed in state polls, Congress must make fight against Hindutva its explicit platform
-
Election results: What does BJP’s hegemony in the Hindi belt mean for Indian politics?
-
‘The match between a translator and a writer is alchemical. It’s like being married’: Anton Hur
‘I plan to continue to be a bidirectional translator. I’m already a bilingual author. No one told me I couldn’t do it, so I just went ahead and did it.’
Sayari Debnath
-
‘The quest for the ultimate ‘Mahabharata’ is madness. It is not there’: Translator Wendy Doniger
‘‘Mahabharata’ has no single answer to anything at all. There are several answers, sometimes contradictory. That’s the complexity of the text.’
Avik Chanda
-
‘A challenge of translating from Rajasthani is to keep its orality alive in English’: Vishes Kothari
‘I can’t help but marvel at how Rajasthani is thriving outside urban centres. The huge adoption of the language on social media is particularly heartening.’
Sayari Debnath
Video
-
Watch: Comedian holds imaginary conservation with atlas and dictionary to recall the good old days
-
Cyclone Michaung: Streets, homes and airport flooded, cars washed away, in Chennai
-
Watch: Director Zoya Akhtar reveals why she had to change the end of ‘Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara’
-
‘Wasn’t it obvious?’: Billie Eilish confirms her coming out at Variety’s Hitmakers red carpet event
-
Watch: Schoolboy struggles to leave house as pet cat keeps climbing on his back
-
‘My intention is to be as authentic as possible to what Veda Vyasa said’: Translator Bibek Debroy
‘Prose came into Sanskrit literature much later. When we think of poetry, often we tend to think of rhyming. Sanskrit poetry was not like that.’
Avik Chanda
-
‘Confining a language to a nationality is narrow-minded’: JCB-Prize-winning translator Baran Farooqi
‘The current trend is to dismiss Urdu as a version of Hindi. There is a mass pretence of it being a foreign, an exotic tongue, but that is not true at all.’
Sayari Debnath
-
‘Thrice marginalised’: Writer Nazia Akhtar on Urdu women writers of Hyderabad
An interview with Nazia Akhtar, the author of ‘Bibi’s Room: Hyderabadi Women and Twentieth-Century Urdu Prose.’
Mallik Thatipalli
The Reel
-
‘Mast Mein Rehne Ka’ trailer: Jackie Shroff, Neena Gupta star in slice-of-life comedy
-
Start the week with a film: Russian literature and Kangra painting meet in ‘Kasba’
-
Vir Das: ‘Humanity without laughter wouldn’t survive very long’
-
Watch: ‘House of the Dragon’ season 2 teaser trailer is out
-
‘The Boys’ season 4 trailer: Homelander grows in influence as Butcher tries to rally his team
-
Kathryn Hansen: ‘Even knowing one South Asian language very well is not enough to translate’
An interview with translator and South Asia specialist Kathryn Hansen.
Suzanne L Schulz
-
How Ananda Lal translated Utpal Dutt’s 50-year-old political play ‘Barricade’ into English
‘Dutt felt that 1933 Germany was being repeated in 1970s Kolkata, and exactly 50 years later, what he wrote resonates for us again.’
Ramu Ramanathan
-
Arunava Sinha wins Distinguished Translator Award 2022 at Jaipur Literature Festival
Sinha, the co-director of Ashoka Centre of Translation, has translated over 70 books.
Scroll Staff
The Field
-
Boxing, Junior World C’Ships: Amisha, Prachi, Hardik win silver; nine more Indians in fight for gold
-
India tour of South Africa: Markram to lead hosts in white-ball; Temba Bavuma to captain in Tests
-
Commonwealth Games: After Victoria, Gold Coast scraps bid to host 2026 edition
-
Pro Kabaddi League: Tamil Thalaivas thump Dabang Delhi KC; Gujarat Giants edge past Bengaluru Bulls
-
Watch, highlights ISL 2023-24: Borges on target as FC Goa pip Kerala Blasters to top league table