Translation Award for Hindi to English Translator

Indian translator, Ira Pande, has won an award for her Hindi to English translation of T’TA Professor, a novel by Manohar Shyam Joshi which talks about a teacher working in a small town.

Despite this recognition, Pande believes that Indian readers do not regard translated literary works with enough respect, she blames the publishers for this: “It is because publishers do not take the trouble to source good translators or invest sufficiently in translated works.”

Pande says that she has a passion for translating good Hindi literary works into English and describes the significance of her task.

“To me, it is the regional languages that create India’s finest writing, as native speakers have a strong sense of location and experience of life outside the cities and away from English speakers.”

Pande believes there is a general feeling that Indian writing must always be in English, but says that there are texts in other languages which deserve a wider audience. She believes that these translated works warrant greater promotion and respect.

“It seems to me that each time we present a book as a translated work, we offer an apology for writing in a language that is not the globalised mainstream. This shows a terrible lack of faith in our literary worth and self-image.”