We are thrilled to announce the winners of PEN Presents x SALT, an iteration of English PEN’s ongoing PEN Presents award for sample translations, in partnership with the South Asian Literature in Translation (SALT) project.
This round of PEN Presents was open to translators anywhere in the world, for translations of works by South Asian writers originally published in any official or unofficial language of South Asia, of any form, genre, style and era.
The 10 winners represent work originally written in 9 languages. They were chosen from a shortlist of 24 projects, whose translators were awarded grants to create samples of their proposed works. The winners have worked editorially with English PEN, and their samples are available to read on the PEN Presents platform, an online catalogue of outstanding, original, and bibliodiverse literature not yet published in English translation.
The winning translators are:
- Chandrika Das for a translation from the Hindi of Murdahiya by Tulsi Ram
- Sayari Debnath for a translation from the Bengali of Fear, Great Fear! by Jayanta Dey
- Jayasree Kalathil for a translation from the Malayalam of Silkworm by S. Hareesh
- Supriya Kaur Dhaliwal for a translation from the Punjabi of That, and That by Sukirat
- Mehdi Khawaja for a translation from the Kashmiri of To Each Their Own Hell by Akhtar Mohiuddin
- Alexander McKinley for a translation from the Sinhala of Palm Tree Poetry by Anonymous
- Chandrakant Mhatre for a translation from the Marathi of Selected Poems of Saint Soyarabai, Saint Karma Mela, Saint Nirmala and Saint Banka (from Shri Sant Chokha Mela: Life and Poems)
- Zain R. Mian for a translation from the Urdu of Anarkali: A Tragedy in Three Acts by Syed Imtiaz Ali Taj
- Vilasini Ramani for a translation from the Tamil of Maize by Chandra Thangaraj
- Rahul Soni for a translation from the Hindi of The Seventh Horse of the Sun by Dharamvir Bharati
PEN Presents supports and showcases sample translations, funding the often-unpaid work of creating samples, giving UK publishers access to titles from underrepresented languages and regions, and helping diversify the translated literature landscape.
Preti Taneja, English PEN Translation Advisory co-chair, said:
“These projects brought together an expert panel and gave them the delightful challenge of selecting winners from numerous brilliant projects across a range of languages, many of which are hugely underrepresented in English translation. The writing we present here has great potential to open readers’ minds to the richness of South Asian storytelling, poetry and nonfiction. This is politically urgent, humanely thought-provoking, lyrical, and even profoundly humorous work. Agents and editors now have the wonderful task of taking these samples forward to full publication, and I could not be more excited to see what comes next for these works, their authors and their translators.”
Jason Grunebaum, co-director of the SALT project, said:
“SALT’s mission is to support translations of South Asian writing often underrepresented in the rest of the world, and we are thrilled to help support these ten outstanding translations from nine South Asian languages. From novels to memoir, story collections and poetry to drama, these beloved classics and contemporary voices translated by experienced and emerging translators alike represent a stunning breadth of writing from the Subcontinent. We look forward to the next chapter of these projects, and can’t wait to share them with the wider global audience they deserve.”
Nadia Saeed, Translation and International Manager, English PEN, said:
“From 14th Century Dalit poetry to a coming-of-age story from Malayalam to the experiences of the Punjabi-speaking diaspora, these samples are a testament to the vitality of literature from South Asia. Each of these samples speak into the complexities of pain, joy, and curiosity, opening our eyes to the full expanse of human experience and showcasing the importance of reading across linguistic border. It’s been brilliant working with each of these translators, and we’re excited to help these wonderful stories find a home in translation.”