Sahitya Akademi secretary K SreenivasaraoWith contemporary works providing more insight into the here and now, the Sahitya Akademi is interested in translations of contemporary writing from China.
“We are keen on more contemporary works which are of interest to the upcoming younger generation,” Sahitya Akademi secretary K Sreenivasarao told The Indian Express.
Rao, who is in Beijing to attend the Conference on Dialogue of Asian Civilizations (CDAC), said contemporary literature in India has taken on new forms like writing poetry in Sanskrit on mobile phones.
“While we have translations of older Chinese texts, contemporary writing will depict current scenarios like it does in India; on how globalisation and technology has changed what and how people write,” he said.
The Akademi currently has six works translated from Chinese. Two in Hindi, two in English, and one each in Telugu and Malayalam. They include the works of Chinese writer Lu Xun and poet Bai Juyi.
“Employment is a common theme for writers in India, and there could be a similar situation in China too, which the younger generation will be interested in reading about. These kinds of writing have moved nations. Literature is a powerful tool, and so more and more exchanges of literature should take place between the two countries,” he said.
Rao said China is the only country with which India has had regular literary exchanges over the last three decades. “There are writer’s
exchanges that take place every year, alternating between them coming to India, and us coming here,” he said.
Keen on translations, Rao suggested to his contemporaries in Peking University that they translate one of the Akademi’s compilation of contemporary short stories.
