In the year 2015, journalist Mark Tully stressed the need for more and more writings in regional languages to be translated into English, saying there is a lot to be explored. He also stated that Translations are significant as English language readers do not have any idea about the wonderful writings in Indian languages. Interestingly, out of the six shortlisted books for the prestigious The Booker’s Prize 2022 – translated fiction award, five were written by women, with three translated by women. This shows the power of regional writing as well as translation. Of course, written and translated by women shows the prowess!
In this connection, discussing the importance of regional literature, India is a diversified country with many languages under its body, with every language having its own literature, existence, importance and culture. There are some excellent writings in regional Indian languages. Many literary people, be it writers or authors or curators or historians, always stressed the concept of translation and stated that there should be more attempts to translate these regional works into English.
While it is true that reading is a holistic experience, it depends on the words as much as it does on the story. The beauty and soul of a story always depend on the words used, the whole reading experience and the takeaways from a book. When we talk about best-sellers and award-winning books, these are celebrated because they were written well, bringing an ordinary story to an extraordinary level. In this regard, in a country like India with many regional languages, the books written in these languages hold a unique value. Many of the classics written in regional languages have been translated into different languages, including English and thus paved the way to get hold of the diversified cultures through literature.
Geethanjali Shree’s book, ‘Tomb of Sand’, originally ‘Ret Samadhi’, the first-ever Indian book that won The Booker’s Prize -2022 was translated from the Hindi language to English by Daisy Rockwell has given a new breeze to the Indian regional language literature. Hoping to see more of Indian regional literature spreading into the world!
