Translation

FICTION / A sacrifice

When he was handing over the money to Naimuddin, their father, Kalam silently cried, holding Dholi’s neck in the yard.

FICTION / The thief

Farid Shaheb earned a fair bit at the office today. These days, because of the Anti Corruption Commission and newspaper journalists’ incessant pestering, he can no longer directly take the money offered to him.

POETRY / Hilly river

Imagine it’s raining cats and dogs The hilly river has let the hair loose

Fiction / Accursed

This is an excerpt from Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay's short story "Abhishapta", translated by Dipty Rahman

The timeless art of translation

Protecting translation is a commitment to fostering empathy, understanding, and creativity in a globalised yet divided world.

POETRY / Story of one tree

When I come to you, I become a tree  Trees have roots 

POETRY / Jogphal

Healthy water-bodies are sunk by envy-blind waste’s outburst  

BOOK REVIEW: POETRY / About romances ever-appealing

Irrespective of the ambivalence that marks Metaphysical poetry of the 17th century, Selim marvels us with his choice of words and precision of utterance.

FICTION / Jishu

After the previous tenant vacated the house, Khan E Alam decided not to accommodate any younger residents.

July 11, 2022
July 11, 2022

You are what you eat in Mashiul Alam's "The Meat Market" (trans. Shabnam Nadiya)

It is a story of discomfort. Of calm, ruthless violence. A drag-your-hands-down-to-uncover-your-eyes gaze at the oblivion we practice not only during Eid holidays, but on any regular day in Bangladesh. 

July 7, 2022
July 7, 2022

Brecht’s poetry presented in delicious Bangla

“The process of translation is a rigorous delight. But the product? As a translator, you also always carry with you an anxious awareness of the ways in which you have fallen short. You have seen it, that, at least, you hope; but you have failed to carry it over.” - Tom Kuhn.

June 14, 2022
June 14, 2022

If that Emblem was Attained

Ekti Potaka Pele is a well-known poem by Helal Hafiz. It has been newly translated by Vincent Dip Gomes.

May 27, 2022
May 27, 2022

Geetanjali Shree's Partition novel 'Tomb of Sand' wins International Booker Prize 2022

Indian writer Geetanjali Shree became the first author from the country to win the International Booker Prize for her Hindi novel set in the aftermath of the 1947 Partition of the Indian subcontinent.

December 23, 2021
December 23, 2021

Diversity and nuance mark the Bangladeshi experience in Sohana Manzoor's 'Our Many Longings: Contemporary Short Fiction From Bangladesh'

So many words have been used to describe this nation in the last 50 years. Started from a bottomless basket, and along the way we’ve been called resilient, passionate, corrupt, greedy, full of warmth.

November 25, 2021
November 25, 2021

Han Kang's 'The Vegetarian': Surrealism and suffering in South Korea

Han Kang’s atmospheric novel, The Vegetarian (Portobello, 2016), is an evocative look at the psychosis of a woman plagued by her own humanity. In a masterstroke,

November 13, 2021
November 13, 2021

Ujan hosts award-giving ceremony for book review contest on Korean Literature

Bangladeshi publishing house Ujan Prokashan organised a book review contest where participants had to review Korean Literature on Monday, November 8.

October 19, 2021
October 19, 2021

Ujan Book Review Contest 2021 announces winners, reviews Korean literature in translation

Participants reviewed Bangla translations of two significant works of Korean literature—Korear Kobita (Korean Poetry) translated by Chhanda Mahbub, and Korear Golpo (Short Stories of Korea), edited by Soroishwarja Muhommod. Both translations were published by Ujan Prakashan and assisted by the Literature Translation Institute of Korea, who also helped organise the contest. 

September 8, 2021
September 8, 2021

JCB Prize for Literature announces 2021 longlist

The annual competition, which has been hailed as “India's most valuable literature prize”, offers INR 2,500,000 (USD 35,000) to its winner for distinguished work of fiction by an Indian writer working in or translated to English.

August 31, 2021
August 31, 2021

In ‘Toward Happy Civilization’, a portrait of desperation

Typical of any Samanta Schweblin story from her International Booker-longlisted collection, Mouthful of Birds (OneWorld, 2019), a sense of anxiety is strongly perceptible here, especially through the characters Fi and Pe. One grows afraid of them as they start showing both lovingly caring and Big Brother-like tendencies. What heightens the ominous halo surrounding these two is the hostages’ inability to translate their emotions; why would someone who provides for you not give you a way out?