PFC-VoW Book Awards 2021 Shortlist Showcase:

Naukarshyahi Ke Rang by Dnayeshwar Mule, translated from Marathi by Dr. Damodar Khadse is on our shortlist for the Translated into Hindi category.

आमतौर पर हमारे समाज में नौकरशाही में काम करने वाले लोगों के प्रति सोच अलग-अलग होती है। वहीं नौकरशाहों को सामान्य जनता के बारे में आस्था नहीं होती। जनता और नौकरशाही में विश्वास का रिश्ता बनने का सतक प्रयास ही लेखक का मूल लक्ष्य व कर्तव्य है। इस पुस्तक के माध्यम से लेखक ने आम जनता व नौकरशाही की कार्यप्रणाली के अंतर को कम करने का प्र्रयास किया है। नौकर स्याही को संवेदनशील रहना आवश्यक है। जनता की समस्याओं के बारे में सजग होना आवश्यक है। इसके अलावा जनता के साथ संवाद बनाना भी अनिवार्य है। लेखक ने इन्हीं आदर्शों पर हमेशा कार्य करने की पूरी कोशिश की है, जिसकी कुछ झलकियाँ इस किताब में प्रस्तुत की गई है।

ज्ञानेश्वर मुले, भारतीय विदेश सेवा में उच्चाधिकारी रहे। वे प्रखर कवि, लेखक हैं। अपने जीवन के चुनौतीपूर्ण मोड़ों से आगे बढते हुए उनके संवेदनशील मन ने जो अनुभव किया वह ‘नौकरस्याही के रंग’ में विविध छटाएं बिखेर रहा है। प्रशासन के कठोर और नीरस दुनिया में उनका बयान सुखद बयार की तरह शब्दबद्ध हुआ है। स्थितियों और चुनौतियों की आग में तपकर उनके अनुभव दमकते शब्दों में मुखुरित हुए हैं। ये शब्द पाठकों को विदेशी जन-जीवन, व्यक्ति-प्रकृति, भाषा-परिवेश और दिन-दुनिया की यात्रा पर ले जाते हैं। कभी संस्मरण, कभी आत्मकथा, कहीं कहानी-सी पठनीयता पिरोकर लेखक ने इसे विशिष्टता सौंपी है।

Learn More: https://valleyofwords.org/books/naukarshyahi-ke-rang/

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PFC-VoW Book Awards 2021 Shortlist Showcase:

Shanti Parav: Treatise on Peace: Des Raj Kali by Des Raj Kali, translated from Punjabi by Neeti Singh
is on our shortlist for the Translated into English category.

Written after the great war of Kurukshetra, Shanti Parva, the twelfth book of the Mahabharata, is a treatise on peace, the ideals of statehood and peaceful governance, which also simultaneously justifies upper-caste hegemony, hierarchy and the need for organised violence. Des Raj Kali’s Shanti Parav, in contrast, brilliantly parodies the ‘peace’ claims of its source text and provides a radical Dalit response from the margins of history to these justifications of the ruling elite—through gentle interrogation, subversive literary technique and fragments of alternate history.

A post-Independence novel set in the heartland of Punjab, Shanti Parav invites a study of post-colonial socio-political dynamics in India from a Punjabi Dalit perspective. It locates the Dalit within the caste–religion–power nexus, and furnishes alternate narratives of the freedom struggle, terrorism, state violence, development, capitalism and democracy.

The proletarian context of Shanti Parav is harsh and stark, but also colourful, irreverent, carnivalesque, even absurd. Boldly experimental, the novel has a dual narrative which playfully challenges the reader to acquire new ways of reading and interpreting a text. The ‘fictional’ text in the upper half of the page narrates autobiographical stories that recount the struggles and joys of the protagonist’s immediate, everyday subaltern world, while in the lower half run ‘realistic’, quirky, grand historical monologues by three retired Dalit characters who offer philosophical discourses on governance, violence and peace.

Learn More: https://valleyofwords.org/books/shanti-parav-treatise-on-peace/

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An Author's Word with N.S. Vinodh

Every week, we interview an author to find out what makes them tick - what their favourite words, books, and authors are.

This week, we caught up with N.S. Vinodh, the author of 'A Forgotten Ambassador in Cairo', a novel shortlisted for the PFC-VoW Book Awards 2021 in the English Non- Fiction category.

Read the full interview:
Link in the BIO
https://www.valleyofwords.org/an-authors-word/an-authors-word-ns-vinodh/

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PFC-VoW Book Awards 2021 Shortlist Showcase:

Ratno Dholi: The Best Stories of Dhumketu by Dhumketu, translated from Gujrati by Jenny Bhatt
is on our shortlist for the Translated into English category.

The tragic love story of a village drummer and his dancer lover...

A long-awaited letter that arrives too late...

A tea-house near Darjeeling, run by a mysterious queen...

When Dhumketu's first collection of short stories, Tankha, came out in 1926, it revolutionized the genre in India. Characterized by a fine sensitivity, deep humanism, perceptive observation and an intimate knowledge of both rural and urban life, his fiction has provided entertainment and edification to generations of Gujarati readers and speakers.

Ratno Dholi brings together the first substantial collection of Dhumketu's work to be available in English. Beautifully translated for a wide new audience by Jenny Bhatt, these much-loved stories - like the finest literature - remain remarkable and relevant even today.

Learn More: https://valleyofwords.org/books/ratno-dholi-the-best-stories-of-dhumketu/

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PFC-VoW Book Awards 2021 Shortlist Showcase:

The Princess and the Political Agent by Binodini Devi, translated from Manipuri by L. Somi Roy is on our shortlist for the Translated into English category.

The Manipuri writer Binodini’s Sahitya Akademi Award-winning historical novel The Princess and the Political Agent tells the love story of her aunt Princess Sanatombi and Lt. Col. Henry P. Maxwell, the British representative in the subjugated Tibeto-Burman kingdom of Manipur. A poignant story of love and fealty, treachery and valour, it is set in the midst of the imperialist intrigues of the British Raj, the glory of kings, warring princes, clever queens and loyal retainers. Reviving front-page global headlines of the day, Binodini’s perspective is from the vanquished by love and war, and the humbling of a proud kingdom. Its sorrows and empathy sparkle with wit and beauty, as it deftly dissects the build-up and aftermath of the perfidy of the Anglo-Manipuri War of 1891. Binodini is the supreme stylist of contemporary Manipuri literature and an icon of Manipuri modernism, and her tale of a forbidden love and ostracism vividly brings to life the court and manners of a little-known Asian kingdom. In doing so, she recovers its little-known history, its untold relations with India and Great Britain, and a forgotten chapter of the British Raj.

Learn More: https://valleyofwords.org/books/the-princess-and-the-political-agent/

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PFC-VoW Book Awards 2021 Shortlist Showcase:

The Loneliness of Hira Barua by Arupa Patangia Kalita, transalated from Assamese by Ranjita Biswas is on our shortlist for the Translated into English category.

WINNER OF THE SAHITYA AKADEMI AWARD

An extraordinary, ever-relevant collection of stories from one of Assam’s greatest living writers.

Hira Barua, an ageing widow living in a conflict-ridden region of Assam with her beloved Tibetan spaniel fears she is beginning to resemble a lonely Englishwoman from her past. A vicious sexual assault by the invading military drives a group of women into a shelter home. On a fateful night, a group of prostitutes make an extraordinary sacrifice for the safety of their companions.

In these, and thirteen other piercing, intimate portraits, women navigate family, violence, trauma, ambition and domesticity with caution, grace and a quiet resilience.

Originally published as Mariam Austin othoba Hira Barua, this remarkable collection by one of Assam’s finest living writers won the Sahitya Akademi Award in 2014. In this wonderful English translation by Ranjita Biswas, Arupa Patangia Kalita’s powerful voice is brought to fresh and vivid life. Written in a variety of styles, from gritty social realism, folklore to magical realism, The Loneliness of Hira Barua is a modern classic of Indian literature.

Learn More: https://valleyofwords.org/books/the-loneliness-of-hira-barua/

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PFC-VoW Book Awards 2021 Shortlist Showcase:

Hijab by Guruprasad Kaginele, transalated from Kannada by Pavan N Rao is on our shortlist for the Translated into English category.

A story about the dystopias that migration induces, Hijab is a powerful fable about one of the most burning issues of our time. How does one conform in a culture that is itself made of remnants from other cultures? Is identity skin-deep, or does it go beyond one's colour? And finally, what does being a migrant truly mean?

Learn More: https://valleyofwords.org/books/hijab/

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An Author's Word with Ishtiaq Ahmed

Every week, we interview an author to find out what makes them tick - what their favourite words, books, and authors are.

This week, we caught up with Ishtiaq Ahmed, the author of 'Jinnah his successes, failures and role in History', a novel shortlisted for the PFC-VoW Book Awards 2021 in the English Non- Fiction category.

Read the full interview:
Link in the Bio
https://www.valleyofwords.org/an-authors-word/an-authors-word-dr-ishtiaq-ahmed/

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