Gained in Translation

Gained in Translation is a fortnightly column in The Sunday Express. It is a window to conversations around us in languages other than English. These will be translations of pieces written exclusively for The Sunday Express. We begin with one by Perumal Murugan, in Tamil, on the lessons his students need to learn -- and unlearn.

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GAINED IN TRANSLATION NEWS

This year's selection brings together works translated from Marathi, Bengali and Malayalam.

Motherwit, Budhini and Breast Stories: This August, read the women who refuse to be lost in translation

August 09, 2026 9:25 am

As August marks Women in Translation Month, these three books offer encounters with translators whose works carry intimate histories, social realities and voices across linguistic boundaries.

Not all critics view the original text as a sacrosanct boundary. (Booker Prizes/AP File/Universal Pictures)

‘No sex, abysmal writing’: Emily Wilson torches Nolan’s ‘Odyssey’, but can a filmmaker really betray Homer?

August 13, 2026 6:57 am

Can an epic be betrayed? As critics clash over Christopher Nolan's Odyssey, translators of Indian literature offer a different answer

Matt Damon essays the titular role in Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey. (Generated using AI)

A quick guide to the best Odyssey translation for you

August 06, 2026 6:44 pm

There is a long-drawn debate on which English translation of Homer's Odyssey is superior

Vivek Shanbhag’s novella, Ghachar Ghochar originally written in Kannada has been translated into several languages including Marathi and English. (Source: Wikimedia Commons, and Penguin Random House and Mehta Publishing House)

'Holes in dosas in everyone’s house': What ‘Ghachar Ghochar’ taught me about the Indian middle class and wealth

September 01, 2025 9:48 am

In Vivek Shanbhag’s masterful novella, ‘Ghachar Ghochar’ the rise of a middle-class family through sudden wealth reveals the quiet corrosion of morality, relationships, conscience – and the self.

New $5,000 biennial poetry in translation prize opens for submissions on July 15

July 14, 2025 7:17 pm

The prize money will be split evenly between poet and translator, and the collection will be simultaneously published across Australia, North America, and the UK.

Another win for Indian literature in translation: three writers make it to prestigious American award longlist

September 06, 2023 4:14 pm

The National Translation Awards in Poetry and Prose 2023, administered by The American Literary Translators Association, brings a cash prize of $4,000

'The Sweet Salt of Tamil': Translation of ThoPa's classic brings Tamil way of life to English readers

December 31, 2022 1:09 pm

In “The Sweet Salt of Tamil”, translated by V Ramnarayan and published by Navayana, Paramasivan, popularly known as ThoPa, looks at the unknown and untold aspects of the Tamil country

Writer Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar translates Vaapsi, a short story in Hindi by Usha Priyamvada

September 01, 2025 9:52 am

After 35 years of service, Gajadhar Babu returns home to his family. Will things pan out the way he had hoped?

'Hindi literature written by a woman has gained recognition': Alka Saraogi on winning the Dayawati Modi Stree Shakti Samman

August 16, 2022 11:37 am

"When my first novel was published in French, Italian, Spanish and German, it was like a dream come true," Alka Saraogi told indianexpress.com

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Gained In Translation: 34-year-old turns love of books into publishing Marathi translations of titles

July 29, 2019 3:15 am

Ashtekar, a Class X dropout from Nashik’s Ghoti village, fell in love with reading as he went about selling newspaper in trains: one of the many odd jobs he worked through his initial days.