Publication to translate Indian literary works to English

With an aim to provide readers with English translations of literary works in Indian languages, a new publication house LotusFeet Book Publication Pvt Ltd has been launched here.
In its first year, the publication company, which is the Indian arm of Lotus Feet Book Publication Ltd (England & Wales), plans to come out with an anthology of Bengali poems, a Bengali novel in English, along with a Hindi novel and a compilation of five long Hindi stories and other books.
Speaking at the launch event last evening, Jeetendra Mani Tripathi, DCP-Delhi Metro, said translation is important because it can either ruin or emphasise the meaning of the original text.

"While it is a great initiative by the company, it is equally important that we don't lose the meaning of a word in the translation.
"A translation can only be called successful if it retains the feel and essence of the original word. It is a big responsibility because mere translation should not be the purpose," Tripathi said.
Also present at the launch, eminent poet and author Prabal Kumar Basu noted the need of taking Indian literature outside of the country.

"People abroad feel that India has only English authors, which makes it even more important for us to translate the great works written in our languages and present it to the readers outside," Basu said.

He also mentioned that while institutions like Sahitya Akademi give due credit to regional works, authors are still not getting enough recognigtion without a broader reach.
"Literary works in Marathi, Bengali or any other languages are limited to readers of their regions. An English translation will help these works reach a wider readership," he said.