Indian publishing turns the page on translations, as demand rises

Publishers point to growing appetite for varied voices, backed by private and public funding for translated works

On Sunday, the first edition of the Bank of Baroda Rashtrabhasha Samman awarded a Hindi translation of the Urdu novel, Allah Miyan Ka Karkhana, and its author (Mohsin Khan) and translator (Saeed Ahmad). Recognition of translated works is not new in the country. But Indian publishing is now seeing a surge in translations, thanks to a growing appetite for varied voices and backed by private as well as public funding.
 
Manasi Subramaniam, editor in chief, Penguin Press, attributes the growing interest in translations to “the rising global appetite for diverse voices and perspectives” and to the work of “brave independent publishers” as well as “social movements that have worked systematically to expose inequality”.

 
She collaborates with translators, literary agents, local publishers and cultural organisations to curate her list of translations.
 

R Sivapriya, publisher, literary and translations, Bloomsbury India, says that “years of consistent work, stylish publishing and prestigious prizes” have come together to “provide a ballast for the current interest and investment in publishing translation”.
 
Publishers actively engage with translators, critics and scholars to seek out compelling voices in Indian languages that would strike a chord with English readers, she adds.
 
Rahul Soni, associate publisher, literary, HarperCollins India, maintains that the publisher does not have different benchmarks for English originals and translated works. He says, “We look for the same things in both — great voice, great story, stellar writing or, in this case, translation.” The important questions, Soni says, are: Is the work engaging with form and language in new and interesting ways? Will it be something that rewards repeated readings? Is there lasting value to it? “If it has these strengths, I think a work of literature will find its audiences — whether immediately, or over the course of time.”

 
HarperCollins India also distributes titles published by the Murty Classical Library of India on behalf of Harvard University Press.
 
HarperCollins India does not offer editorial inputs for this list of titles that comprise English translations of classical works from languages such as Pali, Persian, Sanskrit, Sindhi, Tamil, Bangla, Marathi, Hindi, Kannada, Urdu and Punjabi. The initiative is funded by computer scientist and philanthropist Rohan Murty.
 
Home-grown publisher Westland Books does not restrict itself to translations into English. It also publishes translations from English into other languages and from one Indian language to another. English copies form only one-third of its list of translations.

 
Westland works with authors, translators and publishers in different states as they are best placed to give reliable information on exciting debuts, award-winning titles and positive reviews in regional publications.
 
Minakshi Thakur, publisher, Indian literature, Westland Books, says, “The unique thing about successful translations is that they are deeply rooted in their local contexts but also universal as they resonate with a new readership in a different language.” According to her, readers pick up translations not only for great stories but also because they want to discover new places and learn about the lives of people from unfamiliar backgrounds.

 
Thakur believes that prizes such as the Crossword Book Award, the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature and the JCB Prize for Literature have put the spotlight on translators. Ripples were visible before Geetanjali Shree and Daisy Rockwell won the 2022 International Booker Prize for Tomb of Sand, the English translation of the Hindi original Ret Samadhi. Several translations featured on the DSC Prize shortlists between 2011 and 2019.
 
“When Kannada writer Jayanth Kaikini got the DSC Prize in 2018 for his anthology No Presents Please, translated by Tejaswini Niranjana, it was probably the first time a translation beat original English books,” reckons Thakur.

 
She views the publication of Vivek Shanbhag’s Kannada novel Ghachar Gochar in English, translated by Srinath Perur, as a big step. “Rights were sold in the UK and US almost immediately. It travelled swiftly across boundaries. Before that, Perumal Murugan’s One Part Woman translated by Aniruddhan Vasudevan, the controversy it sparked, Murugan’s self-imposed exile and return with Poonachi sparked important conversations about the power of Indian literature.”
 
Kanishka Gupta, the founder of Writer’s Side Literary Agency, says that the JCB Prize has made a big difference to translations. In the five years since the prize was established, it has awarded translated works four times. “When I pitch books to publishers, there is usually a level playing field for original writing and translations. Sometimes, translations have a better chance as they have already won acclaim in another language whereas debut authors have to prove themselves,” Gupta says.

 
Translations have always been a staple of lists in India since the 1990s, according to Thomas Abraham, managing director of Hachette India. However, he adds, there has been a lot of coverage in the non-publishing spaces — traditional and new media — of translations.
 
“This is because last year saw a big surge of excitement from Tomb of Sand, which has single-handedly cornered over 40 per cent of the monitored (translations) market. The translation share of Nielsen’s monitored trade market was in the Rs 4-crore ballpark, of which roughly Rs 1.82 cr was Tomb of Sand alone,” he says.

 
Abraham admits that there is a lot more buzz than ever before for translations, but in sales terms the average hasn’t moved the needle much.
 
Subramaniam of Penguin Press points out that a 2019 audit revealed that “Bengali, Urdu, Sanskrit, Tamil, Malayalam and Hindi were the languages we translated the most”. Currently, Penguin has translations in 16 major Indian languages. “Our annual publication output ranges between 15 and 18 translations, a number that has remained consistent over the years,” she adds.
 
For publishing houses catering to English readers, translations into English are still less than 10 per cent, says Thakur of Westland Books. “Five years ago, it would have been half of that. Ours is higher because we translate into other languages as well. For us translations are 25 per cent of our list.”

 
Translation projects cannot take off without funds, especially if they are driven by a social justice agenda and not profits alone.
 
Zubaan Books, which specialises in publishing feminist writing, is supported by the Prabha Khaitan Foundation to translate feminist books written in English into Punjabi, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada and other languages. Ashoka University also funds Zubaan for its Women Translating Women project.
 
Urvashi Butalia, director, founder and chief executive officer of Zubaan Books, says that creating new markets is a labour-intensive thing, so publishers often shy away from them. “Let’s remember that markets are made up of people who are curious and hungry for new material. Translations expand their universe and put them into contact with places and people they never knew.”

 
Translated works also get a push from the public sector.
 
Mini Krishnan, a coordinating editor with the Tamil Nadu Textbook and Educational Services Corporation, says that it promotes award-winning Tamil fiction and non-fiction through translation into other languages.
 
“We work closely with publishers all over India to understand their areas of interest, and help them discover suitable books. We buy back 500 copies at a discounted rate. This ensures that they recover their money. They can sell the remaining books at a price determined by them,” she adds.
 
Two autonomous organisations of the government of India — Sahitya Akademi and the National Book Trust — have played a major role in promoting translations, according to Trisha De Niyogi, director and chief operating officer, Niyogi Books. She curates her translation list by “keeping an eye on important Dalit writing, women’s writing, or alternative voices from the transgender and other communities that also happen to fulfil certain literary standards”.

 
Rita Kothari, co-director, Ashoka Centre for Translation at Ashoka University, says that the fact that they teach a lot of Indian literature kindles among students an interest in their mother tongues. “We want to help them appreciate that intellectual life does not exist only in English.” Apart from the practice of translation, students also learn about the politics tied to language and culture.
 
Arunava Sinha, also co-director at the Ashoka Centre for Translation, adds that younger translators now have access to mentoring opportunities, both formally and informally. “They reach out to senior translators privately, and get their queries addressed, or they sign up for programmes like South Asia Speaks, which is a free literary mentorship. They can also apply for grants like PEN Presents, where the British Council pays them to create sample works of translation,” he says.