Top Translated Books of 2020

2020 was a great year when it came to translations. There were astounding books that were translated from all over the Indian subcontinent literature into English, so that more readers could savour them. We present a few of them in our reading roundup for 2020. Do read these and let us know your review in comments. 

Ratno Dholi – By Dhumketu, Translated by Jenny Bhatt

Gaurishankar Joshi a.k.a. Dhumketu was born in 1892 and had written 492 short stories in Gujarati. He was a contemporary of Rabindranath Tagore and Munshi Premchand. The four volumes of short stories, known as Tankha are pioneers in Gujarati Literature, first published in 1926. Jenny Bhatt has ably translated some of them into this beautiful collection called Ratno Dholi. This is a treat to lovers of fine Indian literature.

Women, Dreaming – By Salma, Translated by Meena Kandasamy

More translations feature in our list this month as such wonderful books are being published in these times. Salma is an activist and writer based in Tamilnadu. She has been fighting for women’s rights since long and this is her second novel – about various Muslim women living in a tiny village in Tamilnadu and dreaming wonderful things. Meena Kandasamy, famous in her own right, has translated this amazing work.

Shameless – By Taslima Nasreen, Translated By Arunava Sinha

The protagonist from Taslima Nasreen’s iconic novel ‘Lajja’ turns up in Calcutta, migrating from Bnagladesh, appears before her and narrates his story. Thus begins ‘Shameless’,  the sequel of ‘Lajja,’ in an attempt to carry forward the story of Suranjan and his turmoils, being a Hindu in a Hindu majority nation, migrating from an Islamic one. Arunava Sinha has translated the novel from the original Bangla and it’s a must read. 

A Ballad of Remittent Fever – By Ashoke Mukhopadhyay, Translated By Arunava Sinha

A sprawling novel set over decades from the late 19th Century to the 1970s, featuring four generations of doctors in a family, originally set in Calcutta in the maze of various diseases like Cholera, Tuberculosis, Typhoid and Malaria. Ashoke Mukhopadhyay’s lyrical novel in Bangla has been translated by Arunava Sinha as an important document in the world of medicine that shaped up further advances in India.