Translation catalogue of Indian language writing launched

Eight works of fiction in 6 Indian languages have been curated into a new catalogue for publishers from across the world to pick up for translation and publication.
'The Global Rights Catalogue' launched at third edition of Jaipur BookMark (JBM), a publishing segment running parallel to the ongoing Jaipur Literature Festival, here seeks to expand readership of Indian writing in regional languages.
The aim, according to organisers, is to showcase best of India's regional literature and help facilitate sale and exchange of publishing rights both between regional languages and internationally.
Regional writing often does not receive the literary credit it deserves due to an overwhelming dearth in the availability of translations for such work, they said.

"We realised it was important to bring in one of the major things that makes for the writing in India, which is language writing. But, the problem is that there are not adequate good translations of writers from different languages which hampers the reach of these writers," Sanjoy Roy, Managing Director, Teamwork Arts said after the launch.
For its ongoing edition, the JBM has tied up with Daily Hunt, a distributor of Indian language e-books.

Daily Hunt, with 70,000 titles in 10 Indian languages and a regional readership of over 90 per cent, made for a suitable partner, organisers said.

"We discussed the possibility of commissioning translation of 8 to 10 works in different languages, which is where Daily Hunt came in, with publications in over 16 languages and a reach across 1000 Indian cities," Roy said.
Three books originally published in Hindi and one each in Bangla, Kannada, Assamese, Rajasthani and Gujarati are included in the global catalogue.
Yatindra Mishra's "Sur ki Baradari" and Anu Singh Choudhary's "Neela Scarf" have been translated from Hindi into "A Blessed Life" and "The Last Puff and Other stories" respectively. Mridula Behari's "Kuch Ankahi" has also been republished from Hindi as "Unspoken Things."

"Ajnatanobbana Atma Charitre" by Krishnamurthy Hanuru in Kannada has been translated as "Autobiography of an Unknown" and "Jangam" by Debendranath Acharya in Assamese has been translated as "Movement."
Rajasthani writer Nand Bharadwaj's "SamhinKhulato Magar" has been published as "Opening the Way Ahead" and Prafulla Roy's Bangla work "Akta Desh Chai" has been published as "Stateless." The translation Ila Arab Mehta's "Vaad" in Gujarati has been penned as "Fence."
Feminist author and founder of Zubaan Books, Urvashi Butalia said "In India, there is no other platform which showcases Indian languages in such a unique manner on the world stage. This year's JBM had publishers from France, Germany and Poland, expanding the scope of publication for writers," she said.