Understanding India’s inequalities through poetry: translating Aadivasi activist and poet Jacinta Kerketta
A seminar with Charles Wallace India Trust Fellow Samvartha ‘Sahil’ Balkatta
17:00 – 18:00, 27th June 2023, Council Chamber, National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth
Samvartha ‘Sahil’ is the sixth CWIT fellow to take up the annual three months long residency at Literature Across Frontiers, Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies, University of Wales Trinity Saint David. In this seminar, Samvartha will talk about his work in progress, translation of the collection Angor (Embers) by the award-winning poet, journalist and human rights activist Jacinta Kerketta, from Hindi into his native Kannada. He will outline the socio-political background of India’s indigenous population’s fight against discrimination, oppression and destruction of the natural environment on which they depend for their livelihood and spiritual well-being. He will also refer to India’s multilingualism and its hierarchies, to the Kannada literary scene and the significance of translating between Indian languages rather than making English the only target language, as is often the case.
