English PEN has announced the translators shortlisted for the second round of PEN Presents x SALT, its programme funding the often-unpaid work of creating samples and promoting new international projects to Anglophone publishers.
PEN Presents x SALT is open to translators anywhere in the world, for translations of works originally published in any official or unofficial language of South Asia, whose authors are citizens of a South Asian country, resident in South Asia, or of South Asian heritage, and for work of any form, genre, style and era.
The shortlist, selected by an independent Selection Panel of experts from across the sector, features 24 titles from 26 translators and work from 10 languages. This is the first time PEN Presents x SALT has supported a project from Assamese, and the round features second PEN Presents shortlistings for Yashoda Kuppuswamy (2022) and Tuhin Bhowal (2025).
The PEN Presents x SALT shortlist is:
- Aadrit Banerjee for a translation from the Bangla of The Chronicle of Brihonnola by Nasima Anis
- Subhashree Beeman for a translation from the Tamil of Saigon Pondicherry by Nagarathinam Krishna
- Rounak Bhat for a translation from the Kashmiri of The Musk of Ashes by Sohan Lal Koul
- Tuhin Bhowal for a translation from the Bangla of This Epic World by Jibanananda Das
- Usha J for a translation from the Kannada of Post office of Abachooru by K. P Poorna Chandra Tejaswi
- Akhil Jose for a translation from the Malayalam of Karu by Majeed Syed
- Manav Kambli for a translation from the Marathi of Vengeance by Baburao Bagul
- Devanshi Khetarpal for a translation from the Hindi of Nietzsche Gets a Thrashing by Mayank Jain Parichha
- Yashoda Kuppuswamy for a translation from the Tamil of Salaam Alaik by Shobasakthi
- Safia Mahmood for a translation from the Urdu of Model Town by Bilal Hasan Minto
- Zara Khadeeja Majoka and Noor Habib for a translation from the Urdu of Eternity and Oblivion Within Me by Miraji
- Malini Murali for a translation from the Malayalam of Whack by V. Shinilal
- Anannya Nath for a translation from the Assamese of Where the Kongliyang Sings by Jibon Krishna Goswami
- Shyma P for a translation from the Malayalam of Ayyappan: A Story of a Nobody’s Race by Devadas V.M.
- Kasun Pathirage and samodH Porawagamage for a translation from the Sinhala of Bleeding in Secret: Selected Poems by Thanuja Lumbini Thambawita
- Taha Ahmar Qadeer for a translation from the Urdu of Shabree by Iftikhar Nasim
- Arifa Ghani Rahman for a translation from the Bangla of A Hundred and One Nights by Shaheen Akhtar
- Bharathiraia Ramachandrabose for a translation from the Tamil of The Fourth Wall by Bakkiyam Sankar
- Sreyashi Ray for a translation from the Bangla of The Death of Jagamohan by Mahasweta Devi
- Hammad Rind for a translation from the Urdu of The Upper Floor and Other Stories by Rafagat Hayat
- Rana Saadullah Khan for a translation from the Urdu of Mounds of the Dead by Khalida Hussain
- Paromita Sengupta for a translation from the Bangla of Chandrabhanur Pinis by Nasima Anis
- Vaibhav Sharma for a translation from the Hindi of Fragments of Her by Pratyaksha
- Shivangi for a translation from the Hindi of Kaalchitti by Shekhar Mallick
Preti Taneja, Chair of the selection panel and English PEN Translation Advisory Co-chair, said:
In an extremely competitive round, the Panel has alighted on a shortlist of titles we believe present the best of a rare combination of literary excellence and solid pitch, and that will make an outstanding contribution to bibliodiversity. With titles from Bangla to Kashmiri, Tamil to Assamese, and featuring non-fiction, short and long form fiction, and poetry, our shortlist celebrates the vast linguistic diversity and literary talent of South Asia. We are thrilled to present them to future publishers and readers looking for new and exciting work.
Daniel Hahn, Co-director of the SALT project, said:
What a tantalising list. Two dozen pieces of writing that are going to be translated from ten different South Asian languages, and in many cases brought to us by exciting new translating talent. We at the SALT team cannot wait to read all the translations that this grant is supporting – and to see what the wider English-language publishing world makes of them too. Based on what we’ve read so far, they have got a treat in store.
Nadia Saeed, Translation and International Manager, English PEN, said:
We are delighted to be supporting such a range of titles, in both form and language, as part of our second round of PEN Presents x SALT. The submissions we received this round were incredibly strong, and it is exciting to be supporting 26 translators in creating these samples. We cannot wait to continue working with the shortlist in the coming months, and to work with them introduce these incredible books to English-speaking audiences.
The shortlisted translators each receive £500 grants to create 5,000-word sample translations of their proposed projects. Independent assessors, drawn from English PEN’s pool of established literary translators, are commissioned to evaluate the samples and original works, before the Selection Panel then select up to twelve projects as PEN Presents x SALT winners. The winning translators receive editorial support, working with English PEN, editors and experienced translators on their samples, with the winners announced and the samples published and promoted to UK publishers in Spring 2027.