Translation
POETRY / Saree
The yard in this noontime is buzzing with/ The white aroma of the guava flower
BOOK REVIEW: FICTION / The strange library of Haruki Murakami
Review of the Bangla translation of ‘A Strange Library’ (Knopf, 2014) by Haruki Murakami
EVENT REPORT / Sheikh Zayed Book Award announces winners for the 18th edition
The winners were announced on 4 April, 2024, with the ceremony being hosted by Sheikh Sultan bin Tahnoon Al Nahyan, chairman of the SZBA Board of Trustees
BOOK REVIEW: POETRY IN TRANSLATION / ‘Temple Lamp’: A view of Ghalib’s rich cultural Persian inheritance
A review of ‘Temple Lamp: Verses on Banaras’ (India Penguin Classics, 2023) by Mirza Ghalib, translated by Maaz Bin Bilal
ESSAY / “Dostoevsky” by Ahmed Sofa
A translation of Ahmed Sofa's essay on Dostoyevsky
Of translation
The challenge of untranslatability is something that the translator has to contend with throughout the process of the enterprise.
EVENT REPORT / Anubad Sahitya Puraskar 2024: Celebrating the achievements of translators
Speakers talked about the losses and the gains of the meaning of text after having undergone translation, about the responsibility and the power that a translator holds in taking an author’s words and transforming it for a different reader base.
BOOK REVIEW: FICTION / The enchanting realism in Shahaduz Zaman’s ‘The Mynah Bird’s Testimony’
Shahaduz Zaman is a familiar face in Bangladeshi literature, whose literary career spans decades of fruitful work. He regularly writes columns for Bangla newspapers, has written a few notable biographical fiction, such as Ekjon Komolalebu (Prothoma, 2017), based around the life of Jibanananda Das, and has garnered some duly needed appreciation for ethnographic work on the history of medicine during the liberation war.
BOOK REVIEW: FICTION / Aimless in Morisaki bookshop
My introduction to the Bangla translation of Japanese books happened during my visit to Baatighar Chittagong. It was there that I encountered the Bangla translations of works by one of my favourite Japanese writers, Haruki Murakami, back in 2021. Then last year, I found myself enchanted with the promise of Morisaki Boighorer Dinguli (Abosar Prokashona, 2023); the allure of the black edition of the book boasting ebony pages and stunning artwork had me yearning for the book months before its scheduled release.
Diasporic delusions
Self-confidence shaken, some shattered memories in their side bags
Memoirs of our unsung heroes
Massacre, murder, torture, violence, bayonet, bloodshed, grenade, displacement, death—these words bring to mind a war scenario.
Emily Wilson’s ‘The Iliad’ is a triumph in translation
Wilson hasn’t written a retelling from the perspectives of the subjugated but has rather been true to the original, although she doesn’t shy away from acknowledging the sheer misogyny of the Homeric period.
The question of translation
There is no denying the truism that translation historically served the best interest of the colonisers.
The Writer
The lad appeared to be very humble and slowly took a seat. But I noticed that he did not take his eyes off my face even once. He kept on staring at me through his glasses.
The beauty of translation and Tagore’s lyricism
"This book is a way for me to express my own emotions associated with Tagore’s lyrics”, Fakrul Alam shared his thoughts at the launch of 'Gitabitan'.
Why Nazrul was at loggerheads with language purists
I proposed a panel at a North American Bangla literary conference. ‘Is translation itself a form of activism?’ I queried.
The howling pack of dogs
This poem has been translated by the author from Zahir Raihan’s poem, ‘Kotogulo Kukurer Artonad’ on account of the novelist, writer and filmmaker’s birth anniversary.
Of nineteen thirty-four
The motor car is always a thing of darkness, In the sun and lighted roads of day And in the luminous gas at night though
Rabindranath’s song-lyrics in translation by Professor Fakrul Alam
Gitabitan: Selected Song-Lyrics of Rabindranath Tagore, containing over 300 Tagore song-lyrics translated into English, is now available for purchase in bookstores and on online websites.
