Katha Prize Stories: Volume 9

Katha Prize Stories 9 brings some of the best stories from sixteen languages, specially chosen by eminent writers, critics, scholars, and translated with flair. Real stories, they explore the magic of masterly writings that are excitingly new and exuberantly alive: see a butterfly take wing, feel the moon melt in your palm, exult in the energy of fire and ice.

The Telegraph
(Friday 28 January, 2000)

Katha Prize Stories collects translations of vibrant and original short stories in 16 Indian vernaculars that cover an attractive range of experience and styles – from Manipuri minimalism to Telugu dreamscapes. This is a remarkable selection – varied, lively and inspiring the reader to want to read more of the writers represented.

First City
(March 2000)

Profound, poignant and pulsating, the present collection of short stories published during 1998-99 is another testimony to the truly commendable work that Katha has been doing since its inception. Interestingly, the anthology celebrates the magic of 9,19,99, 1999- the ninth volume of 19 prize stories, this Katha’s ninety-ninth book, offered at the end of `99. Selected by a panel of distinguished editors, the collection has vignettes from contemporary literature in the 16 Indian languages.

The Hindustan Times
(March 12, 2000)

And love appears in these stories wearing many faces. And around this dominant theme are weaved various narratives which are complex yet refreshingly creative. The complexity can be judged from stories like Afsar Ahmed’s Headmaster”, Prawn Chanachur”, first published in Bangla as Arthaheen Katha Balar Nirbharata.

The Express Magazine
(January 30, 2000)

But to Katha’s credit, the team of translators, most of whom have worked with the writers and editors, has done a credible job.

- Sudipta Datta

The Asian Age
(February 20, 2000)

Each story is a comprehensive portrayal of love in all its complexity, refreshingly creative and lending to multiplle readings. And there is not just romantic love, as we know it. There is love for theatre and love for one’s native land, the love between a mother and a daughter, the mythic Draupadi’s love for her five husbands and love as lust. But, finally, as the editor Geeta Dharmarajan points out, love is simply human.

The Hindu
(Sunday March 19,2000)

The stories have been selected from a diverse range of journals and small literary publications and affirm that the late John Gardner said about American Fiction; that the best stories are being published not in the mainstream magazines but small journals spread across the country.

Katha in its sustained efforts at searching from this vast reservoir of talent, deserves praise for its efforts. And this Nineth volume lives up to the promise that it has shown when it was launched a decade ago.

- S Sivadas

The Pioneer
(March 4, 2000)

It is an invitation to explore the various manifestations of love – betrayal and fidelity, intutitions and perceptions, vindictiveness and melting love. But to say that the nienteen stories only deal with the emotion of love, “a thought experiment, a heuristic device to capture emotions that play on faces and eyes and fingertips “ would be to limit the scope of the subject of these stories.

The Statesman
(Monday 20 March , 2000)

A lot of the credit for the change in popular perception of Indian literature must go to organisations like Katha. The Katha Prize Stories Volume 9 is an anthology of what Katha deems to be “the best short fiction published during 1998-99 in sixteen Indian languages”. It has English language translations of 19 stories culled from various Indian language periodicals.

- Sayantan Dasgupta

The Authors

Keisham Priyokumar
Afsar Ahmed
Meghana Pethe
Jeelani Bano
Na D'Souza
Sarita Padki
Gracy
Sutradhari
Imran Hussain
My Dear Jayu
Roschen Sasikumar
Mohammad Khadeer Babu
Chandra Prakash Deval
Pratibha Ray
Prem Gorkhi
Minakshi Sen
Vibha Rani
Yogendra Ahuja
Gopini Karunakar

The Translators

Robin S Ngangom
Chandana Dutta
Sumedha Parande, The Editors of the Volume
Aateka Khan, The Editors of the Volume
Bageshree S
Mukta Rajadhyaksha
Rukmini Sekar
N Ramakrishnan
Nandana Dutta
Tridip Suhrud
Pranava Manjari N
Rashmi Chaturvedi
Aparna Satpathy, The Editors of the Volume
Hina Nandrajog, The Editors of the Volume
Kalyani Dutta
Vidyanand Jha, The Editors of the Volume
Nandita Aggarwal & Neer Kanwal Mani

The Nominating Editors & Journals

Manipuri: Robin S Ngangom (Sahitya)
Bangla: Debes Ray (Baromas, Dainik Pratidin)
Marathi: Usha Tambe (Huns, Miloon Saryajani)
Urdu: Sadique (Tanazur)
Kannada: Ramachandra Sharma (Karmaveera)
Malayalam: K Satchidanandan (Mathrubhumi)
Tamil: Jayamohan (Kalachcuvadu)
Asomiya: Pankaj Thakur (Prantik)
Gujarati: Kanti Patel (Vi)
Telugu: Amarendra Dasari (Andhra Jyothi)
Rajasthani: Vijaydan Detha (Binjaro)
Oriya: R P Mishra (Jhankara)
Punjabi: Rana Nayar (Nagmani)
Maithili: Udaya Narayana Singh (Sandhan)
Hindi: Asad Zaidi (Pahal)

Edited by
Geeta Dharmarajan
Nandita Aggarwal

Publishers: Katha
Cover Design: Taposhi Ghoshal
Colours: Arvinder Chawla
Logo Design: Crowquill
Category: Katha Prize Stories
Statistics: 5.5" x 8" 336 pages
ISBN 81-85586-99-3 [PB]
Price: Rs 250 [India and the subcontinent only]

Buy now!

Katha Prize Stories: Volume 8

An accessible celebration of the Indian experience in all its diversity. The works created by the Katha Award winners – be it a story set in contemporary Mumbai or a complex fable narrated by the Kunkna Dangi Adivasis of Gujarat – are moulded with intelligence and artistry. The stories in this volume are representative of some of the most sensitive works produced in bhashas.

The fourteen stories in this volume are representative of some of the most sensitive work produced in the bhashas. The languages featured here are Asomiya, Bangla, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Konkani, Maithili, Malayalam, Marathi, Punjabi, Rajasthani, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu.

Indian Review of Books

… the final product is a rich tapestry of present-day India, woven with the intricate and diverse patterns that constitute the fabric of this country, not necessarily echoing a oneness of a mythical commonality but preserving the unique qualities that make up the fibre of a specific language.

The themes are varied and wide-ranging – feminist, ageist, revolutionary, dalit …

For the very first time Katha has given us the pleasure of reading a translation of the oral literature – orature as it is called nowadays – of the Kunkna Dangi Adivasis ... from Gujarat. “The Tale of Raja Manasinha and Rani Salavan” narrated originally by Dahyabhai Vadhu is a wonderful tale of princes and princesses and their adventures, so beautifully woven and so creatively translated that the very beginning enchants us … A must read for all those stuck on Disney tales – here’s something so refreshing, and at the same time so familiar, that it leaves us begging for more.

This is but an appetizer of what this volume actually contains. It is a collection that is rewarding in its choice of stories, the wide variety of language it sources, not to mention the wonderful readability it sustains, without in any way losing the individual character of each specific language literature. Go out and get it!

– N Kamala

The Hindu
(Sunday, January 17, 1999)

Over the past eight years, the Katha Prize Stories series have undoubtedly more than established the importance of regional fiction. Its publishers can justifiably take credit for creating a growing interest in regional literature.

Now, the Katha team has brought out another volume, the new Katha Prize Stories volume, that strays clear of the beaten track and establishes the immense talent waiting to explode on the literary horizon. It explores, for the first time, a range of ideas – from the man-woman relationship, folk literature of dalit sentiments and the feminist viewpoint.

Some of the stories leave you with a haunting feeling, while some shock you into accepting the harsh realities of life. Still others talk about compassion. Each story is a short journey but leaves one asking for more.

Oral literature has always been part of India’s culture but the tradition is gradually fading away. In an attempt to retain some of these folk traditions and dialects, Katha has gone through a process that few can sustain. It has established that popular language literature is still alive and has takers. Unfortunately, translations have to be most often in English.

Jayant Bhendre’s story “May We Be the Way the Lord Meant Us to be,” is a chilling account of urban terrorism. The arms of the mafiosi are long and through his seemingly simple story about a family in Mumbai, he shows the extent to which innocent lives are destroyed by terrorism.
S Diwaker with “Who Knows How to Live” talks about the cross that a family bears every generation.

The most ambitious translation is the story of Raja Manasinha and Rani Salavan, which was sung by the Kunkna Dangi Adivasis of Gujrat and translated from that dialect into Gujarati by Dayabhai Vadhu, a Kunkna tribal himself … one thing that stands out is the rich cultural heritage of the tribe.

- Suchitra Behal

Sunday Times
(January 24, 1999)

The vibrancy and vigour of an oral narrative, so closely rooted in the soil, are never dissipated even as the readers are transported into exotic kingdoms and heavenly courts. Sheer lyricism emanates out of every twist and turn of the tale, despite its iron framework of rules, motifs and established orders. Katha’s initiative is particularly praiseworthy because it gives to the readers a piece of little tradition at a time, when the new generation is looking westward for inspiration.

Inclusion of an oral folk story is just one among many “firsts” achieved by Katha this year. For the first time a Maithili story is included ...

… the Volume 8 is a winner, leaving very little scope for caviling.

Fourteen short stories, culled from thirteen Indian languages, present a breathtaking range of forms and content. Despite the diversity of locales and setting – urban, rural, ethereal, cross-border – trademark India is never to be missed in each one of them. The skirmishes between castes and communities, subjugation of the downtrodden, the loneliness and angst of the aged, fiendish designs of the political manipulator, survival of humanism even in the heart of darkness – the frames which build the social mosaic of present-day India run through the anthology. The multiplicity of approaches to storytelling which characterize this volume, establishes the short story as the most promising and popular genre in almost all the regions …

The process of selection of these stories is a year-long grind, involving myriad of imaginative minds. No wonder, it showcases the best that Indian literature has to offer in 1997. Barring a few patches like Kashmir, North East other than Assam, the whole Indian society finds expression in these stories. If the editor’s note be our guide, with the projects in hand, these parts will soon be mirrored in the future volumes. Given the quality of the present stories, that is something to look forward to.

– Chinmay Kumar Hota

The Express Magazine
(December 27, 1998)

Fourteen different ways of looking at India. All authentic, all insightful, all comprehensible. And though it’s the eighth volume in as many years, Katha has taken many more turns to get at the heart of the ethos it relives. There’s no denouement in the process, only more of sharing of the rich diversity of our storytelling experiences.

India comes alive in eminently readable translations for the benefit of the English reader. The collection is disturbing, heartwarming, nostalgic, resigned, hopeful, and full of despair by turns. If the quality of short stories selected for translation is anything to go by, Indian fiction in its various regional flavours seems to be doing just fine. And for the first time, Katha also includes an oral fable of the Kunkna Dangi Adivasis of Gujarat …

Those of us who’re tired of poorly edited and badly proofed Indian publications in English will particularly find Katha Prize Stories a delight. Read it.

Business Standard
(January 26, 1999)

In a country like India, both enriched and fractured by its multilinguality, Katha’s latest volume of prize stories-in-translation is a generous offering …

… there are moments of pure joy … perhaps the loveliest of which is Sriramana’s “Mithunam” translated by Syamala Kullury …

[One should approach the volume with] a desire to taste varied sensibilities and styles ...

India Today
(January 25, 1999)

Like Katha’s previous volumes, this one puts together from regional languages stories with a fascinating range of idea and topics. Fourteen stories explore diverse issues yet an underlying theme, that of survival, can be detected. Survival is explored through the dynamics of human relationship, be it a relationship between parents and children or between strangers. Another important thematic intervention is that of survival in the situation of urban violence. A novel attempt has been made in this volume: a written presentation of a living oral tradition from Gujarat. This is an interesting and important addition as it records for posterity traditions, which may otherwise die ...

Katha has brought the English-reading audience closer to regional language literature. One hopes this will eventually make international readers too focus on Indian literature beyond Indo-Anglian writing.

– Urmi A Goswami

The Statesman
(December14, 1998)

Mr A N Sehgal said Katha was a boon as it encouraged creativity in language. Katha was important since it helped people to appreciate literature written in different languages. He also said that whole-hearted efforts should be made to eradicate illiteracy as the nation approached the new millennium.

The Pioneer
(December14, 1998)

The Katha awards instituted eight years ago present a fascinating range of ideas and topics – philosophical questions, larger existential problems, social values, man-woman relationship and most elusive rasas – hasya and sringara.

These short stories also present a varied range of style from folk to oral literature, subaltern, feminist and experimental writings. The stories give an insight, where the media reports do not fully present the picture of real problems, and try to find a solution.

The Authors

Amar Mitra
Arupa Patangia Kalita
Azhagiyasingar
Damodar Mauzo
Dhoomketu
S Diwakar
Jayant Bendre
Mohinder Singh Sarna
Naveen Kumar Naithani
Sajid Rashid
Sarah Joseph
Sriramana
Sudhakar Ghatak
Vijayadan Detha
Kunkna Dangi Adivasis

The Translators

Krishna Paul
Anaeesh Bhatt
BHushan Arora
Dahyabhai Vadhu
Dilip Kumar Ganguli
Indu Ashok Gersappe
Krishna Barua
Malati Mathur
Maya Sharma
Rakesh Chaudhary
S N A Chary
Sonali Singh
Syamala Kallury
D Umapathy

The Nominating Editors & Journals

Assamese: Arup Kumar Dutta (Gariyoshi)
Bangla: Debes Ray (Desh)
Telugu: Amarendra Dasari (Andhra Bhoomi)
Marathi: Usha Tambe (Saptahik Sakal)
Maithili: Udaya Narayana Singh (Katha Disha)
Konkani: M L Sardessai (Jaag)
Gujarati: Ganesh Devy (Gadyaparva) - originally an oral tale, among Kunkna Dangi Adivasis
Hindi: Pankaj Bisht (Katha Desh)
Kannada: Vaidehi (Sudha)
Malayalam: Paul Zacharia (Malayala Manorama, Mathrubhumi Daily)
Tamil: Indira Parthasarathy (Navina Virutcham, Dalit)
Urdu: Sara Rai (Dastak)
Punjabi: Sutinder Singh Noor (Aarsee)
Rajasthani: Malashri Lal (Rajasthan Patrika)

Edited by
Geeta Dharmarajan

Publishers: Katha
Cover Design: Taposhi Ghoshal
Colours: Arvinder Chawla
Logo Design: Crowquill
Category: Katha Prize Stories
Statistics: 5.5" x 8" 224 pages
ISBN 81-85586-84-5 [PB]
Price: Rs 250 [India and the subcontinent only]

Buy now!

Katha Prize Stories: Volume 5

A compelling read, this volume showcases the breath taking potential of the Indian short story and affirms that good writing transcends all barriers, linguistic and thematic. Fifteen stories that explore a stunning range of themes, settings and literary styles. Twelve Indian languages feature in this volume. The languages are Asomiya, Bangla, English, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu.

India Today

Prize Catch … the best of India Translated.

"World Class"

In its search for excellence from a pan-Indian selection of contemporary fiction, Katha without doubt, comes out a winner. It has been so ever since its first volume of translated Indian fiction in 1990. Five years down the line, things get only better.

“We had wanted the selection to be more eclectic than in the previous years,” says editor Geeta Dharmarajan in her introduction. She seems to have succeeded. Prize Stories Volume 5, is like a brilliant and stunning patchwork quilt, every piece standing out and holding its own because of its colour, its texture, its unique design. The collection offers a very vast sweep – of languages, styles, content, fertility, arranged marriage, being an Indian abroad, a curious peep into the future and a nostalgic look at the past, are just some of the pegs around which the authors spin out their tales so attractively soaked in the idiom of their land, their province.

But there’s nothing provincial about them. Quintessentially homespun, each translated short story emerges as a highly polished and rounded work of fiction, which can easily hold its own anywhere. These are truly the “world class stories” the editors had hoped for. In a selection so fine it’s difficult to pick out those stories that are more excellent then others. But any reader immediately singles out the favourites. Three stories that will continue to haunt me are “Unclaimed” (translated from Kannada), “Wing” (translated from Marathi) and “The Pigman” (translated from Malayalam). “Unclaimed,” taking off from the modest shop of a picture framer, soars high into realms of empathy and compassion. The here-and-now needs of a slum dweller make lofty sentiment seem absurd. “Wings,” the story of a “choiceless” arranged marriage in the family is seen through the eyes of a little girl, Meenu. The trauma of such a marriage impacts even the little Meenu who despite her innocence, can ultimately picture herself as a helpless victim of custom. This is one of the longer works in this volume and perhaps because of this the characters appear a little more finely honed. Delving into the psyche of a disturbed mind, is the fascinating story, “The Pigman,” put together through the unusual format of pages from a diary. The narrative is extremely lucid and in a way, is almost frightening in its clarity.

All three stories are remarkable in their sensitivity and in their lack of embellishment. The style is always straight and uncluttered even if the content is often complex and the prose becomes all the more energetic because of this simplicity of style. The sheer pleasure derived from these Prize Stories says it all for the vibrancy and vigour of India in language fiction.

For those of us who can speak just one or two of our languages, Katha is a godsend. Translators of Indian stories must have just the right, light touch to be able to change the language and yet not lose the culture. The editor echoes a fairly common sentiment when she says, “English, we are told is a ‘cold’ language, incapable of capturing the nuances and emotions of an Indian story.” In the hands of the Katha translators, it’s not so. It is to their credit that none of the stories here seem to have lost any of the vitality, warmth or magic of the original.

– Gouri Salvi

The Authors

Ajit Thakor
Ambai
U R Anantha Murthy
Asha Bage
Diptiranjan Pattanaik
Harekrishna Deka
Jayant Kaikini
Prasenjit Ranjan Gupta
N Prabhakaran
Shirish Dhoble
T Sreevalli Radhika
Syed Muhammad Ashraf
Tarapada Ray
Thomas Joseph
Usha K R

The Translators

Keerti Ramachandra
Anupama Prabhala Kapse
Aruna Bhowmick
Charusheela Sohoni
Chitta Ranjan Das
D N Bezboruah
Gauri Deshpande
C T Indra
Narayan Hegde
Paul Zacharia
Saleem Kidwai
Upendra Nanavati
Vanajam Ravindran

The Nominating Editors & Journals

Assamese: Indira Goswami (Gariyoshi)
Bangla: Hiranmay Karlekar (Sharadiya Ananda Bazar Patrika)
English: Gurcharan Das
Gujarati: Upendra Nanavati (Gadyaparva)
Hindi: Ashok Vajpeyi (Samaas)
Kannada: H Y Sharada Prasad (Udayavani, Sudha)
Malayalam: K Satchidanandan (India Today)
Marathi: Arvind Dixit (Sadhana)
Oriya: Jiwan Pani (Jhunkara)
Tamil: Vijayalakshmi Quereshi (Unnatham)
Telugu: Madhurantakam Rajaram (Andhra Prabha Sacithra Vara Patrika)
Urdu: Sadiq-ur-Rahman Kidwai (Daar Se Bichhre)

Edited by
Geeta Dharmarajan
Meenakshi Sharma

Publishers: Katha
Cover Design: Taposhi Ghoshal
Colours: Arvinder Chawla
Logo Design: Crowquill
Category: Katha Prize Stories
Statistics: 5.5" x 8" 224 pages
ISBN 81-85586-35-7 [PB]
Price: Rs 200 [India and the subcontinent only]

Buy now!

Katha Prize Stories: Volume 4

Seventeen stories from Asomiya, Bangla, English, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Konkani, Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu, that recreate the fascinating fabric that is India, urban and rural. Woven into them is a range of emotions – from the plutonic to the oedipal, the humorous to the poignant, the simple to the intricate.

This collection reiterates that the KPS volumes have indeed become “an anxiously awaited yearly event, watched alike by discerning readers in India and abroad as well as by writers, translators and literary journals.”

India Today

Katha is literally a literary institution. It’s a non-profit making society devoted to “enhancing the pleasures of reading.” Every year it publishes in English a collection of short stories originally written in various Indian languages. This year, women and children come first, stories with adult males as the central characters are in a minority … This collection paints striking portraits of male-female relationships …

Translation is the essence of national integration. The discovery of the wealth of Indian creative writing through translation is an inspiration. Katha is part of this discovery.

– Gillian Wright

The Economic Times
(December 25, 1994)

To capture the vibrancy of one language into another requires monk-like devotion. To prepare and present each year, in time, a collection of short stories written in regional languages, translated into English, must bring the zeal closer to frenzy, but nothing deters the Katha team from keeping up to its standards.

Earlier their goal was to provide good, creative English translations of the regional short stories selected by them. Now, the editor argues, the language should be “not ‘bad,’ yet able to let us be ourselves without having to hide our deepest sentiments and emotions behind the restrained façade of ‘proper’ English.” In other words, a bhasha like any other Indian language, capable describing all Indian experiences …

Of the seventeen stories put forward this year, fifteen have been selected from regional languages, while two – “The Weight” and “Zero Sum Game” – were originally written in English. “Zero Sum Game” by Bibhas Sen is pure, unalloyed fun in lucid English. Deriving his subject from something as unliterary as the GATT treaty, the writer has produced a beautiful piece of humorous literature … The other fifteen stories are social in context …

The stories are all exquisitely written and translated pieces, but the one that stands apart for its skilful portrayal of inner conflicts, nodal swirls, artistic competence and, of course, its almost flawless translation is “The Bed.” It doesn’t merely make you think, it shakes up your entire thinking process so that even much later, the images keep coming back to your mind.
Katha undoubtedly provides some of the best Indian short stories written in 1993.

– Sharad Chandra

The Book Review

Katha Prize Stories Volumes 3 and 4

In these days of slipping and sliding values and short-term methods one can only applaud Katha for choosing to walk the “Euclid’s line” in favour of rigorousness and eclecticism …

Awards are presented to the nominators, the authors of the stories, the translators and the editors of the journals where the stories first appeared. The last named category (instituted since 1993) is unusual and remarkable since it highlights the contribution of fiction editors to encourage excellence in fiction. Comprehensive notes accompany each volume representing one knows not how many hours of labour. This is where the Foundation justifies its claim to being a “research” organisation …

Volumes 3 and 4 … are products of the “amrita-manthans” of 91-92 and 93-94. In the first volume eleven Indian languages are represented. The second contains thirteeen stories, the two new entrants being Konkani and Oriya. Especially heart warming is the surfacing of Konkani creativity, a language of a small coastal region ambivalent about its script not very long ago …

In treating the stories of the volume thematically three concerns emerge. The first brings to the fore the uniqueness of the experience of the people of different regions of India …
The second trend …[appears to be] the creative use of Indian archetypes in the modern context …

The two volumes together affirm that on the showing of three years, ’91 to ’94, Indian fiction is thriving … Volume 4 has improved on the quality of production as well. In this as well as other areas, the series of Katha Prize Stories attains the standard of perfection that Katha Vilasam strives for.

– Kalyani Dutta

The Authors

Bibhas Sen
Gauri Deshpande
Madhurantakam Narendra
Manoj Kumar Goswami
Mithra Venkatraj
Pratibha Ray
Sethu
Swapnamoy Chakraborti
Bolwar Mahamad-Kunhi
Kanji Patel
N S Madhavan
Prakash Narayan Sant
Priyamvad
Surendra Prakash
Thanjai Prakash
Vandana Bist

The Translators

Nivedita Menon
Dhananjay Kapse
Gopa Majumdar
Narendra Nair
C Revathi
Sachidananda Mohanty
H Y Sharada Prasad
Gauri Deshpande
Jayeeta Sharma
C N Ramachandran
Sacheen Pai Raikar
Sarala Jag Mohan
Lakshmi Kannan
Vijaya Ghose

The Nominating Editors & Journals

Hindi: Vijay Mohan Singh (India Today)
Bangla: Sarat Kumar Mukhopadhyay (Aajkaal)
Kannada: Ramachandra Sharma (Prajavani, Udayavani)
Marathi: Ganesh N Devy (Mauj, Saptahik Sakal)
Telugu: Allam Rajaiah (India Today)
Urdu: Anisur Rahman (Zehn-e-Jadeed)
English: Rukmini Bhaya Nair
Tamil: Gnani (Subhamangala)
Assamese: Pankaj Thakur (Journal Emporium)
Malayalam: K Satchidanandan (Kala Kaumudi, India Today)
Gujarati: Shirish Panchal (Gadyaparva)
Konkani: Chandrakant Keni (Chitrangi)
Oriya: Sachidananda Mohanty (Jhankara)

Edited by: Geeta Dharmarajan

Publishers: Katha
Cover Design: Taposhi Ghoshal
Colours: Arvinder Chawla
Logo Design: Crowquill
Category: Katha Prize Stories
Statistics: 5.5" x 8" 272 pages
ISBN 81-85586-20-9 [PB]
Price: Rs 200 [India and the subcontinent only]

Buy now!

Katha Prize Stories: Volume 3

KPS 3 celebrates both emerging and established writers – the pioneers and the path-breakers who delve with great sensitivity and perception into the moral and psychological paradoxes of our lives.

With stories from ten regional languages and one from English and writing that ranges from the traditional to the avante-garde KPS 3 makes for memorable reading.

The languages featured are Asomiya, Bangla, English, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu.

Indian Express
(March 27, 1994)

The stories in this collection … invariably focus attention on trends in short fiction writing today. This genre seems to be flourishing best in regional literature, a veritable gold mine, and Katha’s pioneering efforts to bring out translated versions of these meet an exigent need. They moisten the barren patch of short fiction in English …

Making a selection from a sea of stories is … a tall order. The spread of stories in the volume cuts across opposing regions and the attention paid to make sensitive translations of the originals comes through in the near flawless end products. Apart from a few editing errors, there is perhaps little here to condone.

– Ranjini Rajagopal

The Economic Times
(April 3, 1994)

A pan-Indian panorama

While going through the book, it is hard not to be impressed not only by the stories it contains, but also by the method of their selection, presentation and production. Put together more or less in the manner of Pushcart Prize Stories, Katha Prize Stories 3 offers to English language readers, some of the best short fiction written in regional Indian languages.

With a truly pan-Indian perspective it makes the writers in the country’s many different regions and languages, aware of each other’s works and of the problems and themes currently engaging their attention. Its selections for the yearly edition being strictly restricted to the stories published during the previous year Katha Prize Stories has established itself in a surprisingly short period of three years as an anxiously awaited yearly event watched alike by discerning readers in India and abroad, as well as by writers, translators, and literary journals. Because of the care for quality it has already become a matter of prestige for writers, translators, nominators, journals to find their names included in that year’s Katha collection.

Katha Prize Stories 3 present’s seventeen stories selected from ten Indian languages, chosen by a panel of writers and scholars distinguished not only for their writing but also for their dedication to the cause of literature. The stories focus on the general global problems of erosion of human values (“The Village,” “Yatra”), utter moral deterioration (“Salaam America”), the clash between old traditions and modern ways and the pain suffered by the old on witnessing what appears to them a false life (“Unnikatha”), artificial sophistication which isolates people from each other (“The Island”), women’s rebellion and liberation (“The Verdict,” “No Regrets”) and the travails of prostitution (“The Manic Nymph”). At least one story takes up the much discussed problem of AIDS, calling it “Another name for the Deluge.” The specific Indian problem of caste discrimination (“Ashoka”) is also represented, as is the internationally prevalent problem of the abuse of child labour (in “Fireworks”).

The stories have all previously been published, discussed, debated and recognized for their artistic excellence and, in most cases, deservedly awarded a literary honour. The featured writers are well known, celebrated names. But “Fireworks” stands out as extremely relevant in the present socio-political condition.

“Fireworks” touches upon the cruel, almost inhuman practice of employing young children in industrial sectors, in hazardous jobs, without even the barest modicum of safety measures. There children are not only robbed of their innocent childhood, of those tender years which for them will never come back, of killing their dreams and longings even before they could take a proper shape, but are denied any security, and the opportunity to acquire education or skills. If literature can serve any purpose in life narratives of this nature should be sufficient to wake up the so-called custodians of law.

Only the translations are new to this collection. These are very well done, on balance. It is the first publication which gives as much recognition to translators and the job of translation as to the original writing and original writers … it is a book to be read and recommended to readers wanting to know contemporary Indian literature.

– Sharad Chandra

The Economic Times
(April 3, 1994)

Translating sights and smells of everyday life

All the seventeen prize winning stories … gracing Volume 3 … carry in them the smells and sights of everyday life, the churning of minds and hearts in a fast changing age where force of gravity is a law best forgotten … Katha seems determined to be an ongoing story of endeavour.

– Chitra Padmanabhan

The Book Review

Katha Prize Stories Volume 3 … is a reading of depth and concentration in the slow unfurling wisdom about the human predicament. In many ways it is a fundamental collection …

Katha Prize Stories Volume 3 is an important collection. There are seventeen stories in the book ... All have a quiet vivacity in dealing with the human predicament. And many of the stories are literary paradigms upon which a whole social milieu rests.

The Authors

Himanshi Shelat
Paul Zacharia
Suma Josson
Maitreyi Pushpa
Bhagirath Misra
Nataraj Huliyar
Indira Goswami
Era Murugan
Bipin Patel
Sara Joseph
Cho Dharman
Prabha Dixit
M Mukundan
Pravin Patkar
Madhurantakam Rajaram
Nayyar Masood
Abraham Verghese


The Translators

Aditya Behl
M Asaduddin
Digish Mehta
Gita Krishnankutty
Indira Goswami
N S Jagannathan
Kasturi Kanthan
Manu Shetty
Meenakshi Sharma
Mitra Mukherjee Parikh
Neerada Suresh
Ranga Rao
Renuka Ramachandran
K M Sherrif
Subhas Gole
A J Thomas

The Nominating Editors & Journals

Assamese: Atulananda Goswami (Sutradhar)
Gujarati: Gulam Mohammed Sheikh (Abhiyan, Gadyaparva)
Bengali: Anil Gharai (Pratikshana)
English: Rukun Advani
Hindi: Ranjendra Yadav (Hans)
Kannada: D R Nagaraj (Lankesh Patrike)
Malayalam: K Satchidanandan (Malayala Manorama, Matrubhumi, Kerala Kaumudi)
Marathi: Vilas Sarang (Mauj)
Tamil: Venkat Swaminathan (Subhamangala)
Telugu: Vakati Panduranga Rao (Andhra Prabha)
Urdu: Shamsul Haq Usmani (Aajkal)

Edited by: Geeta Dharmarajan

Publishers: Katha
Cover Design: Taposhi Ghoshal
Colours: Simrit Brar
Logo Design: Crowquill
Category: Katha Prize Stories
Statistics: 5.5" x 8" 280 pages
ISBN 81-85586-15-2 [PB]
Price: Rs 200 [India and the subcontinent only]

Buy now!

Katha Prize Stories: Volume 2

Stories that explore an exciting range of themes and situations from the fantastic to the quietly realistic, the enigmatic to the expected, the melodramatic to the humorous of the nineteen stories in this collection, two have been originally written in English and the rest are sensitive translations from twelve regional languages.

The translated stories are from Asomiya, Bangla, English, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu.

The Hindu

Apparently, the short story is pulsating with life in this land of epics. This heartening fact comes out loud and clear from this captivating collection of stories from various cultural zones of the country …

… the pioneering nature of this serious effort to promote inter-culture dialogue through the English language. For, the Indian ethos and the vigour and intensity of the writers shine through this collection … each writer in his own way opens the reader’s eyes to yet another shape of reality, making him thirst for more.
– Rakesh Sharma

Indian Review of Books

Katha is a welcome venture into Indian fiction. English readers should encourage it by buying copies and looking forward to a steady flow of more Katha issues.

The Hindu
(March 30, 1993)

The first volume of Katha stories was a difficult act to follow, and the first thing that must be said about the present volume is that is not an unworthy successor. The range is quite wide, from the fantastic to the realistic, from the melodramatic to the humorous. Among writers represented are a Jnanpith winner, and two Sahitya Akademi awardees.

– S Krishnan

The authors

M T Vasudevan Nair
Gopinath Mohanty
Shyamal Gangopadhyay
Rukun Advani
Subrabharatimanian
Zamiruddin Ahmad
Vivek Shanbag
Milind Bokil
N S Madhavan
Jayamohan
Atulananda Goswami
Mohan Parmar
Rentala Nageswara Rao
Bhupen Khakhar
Dhruva Shukla
Manju Kak
Asha Bage
Vaidehi
Bimal Kar

The Translators

D Krishna Ayyar and Raji Subramaniam
Sachidananda Mohanty and Sudhakar Marathe
Shampa Banerjee
S K Shanti
M Asaduddin and Manju Kak
Ramachandra Sharma
Asha Damle and Arvind Dixit
Sujatha Devi
M Vijayalakshmi
Anjana Desai
Rani Sarma
Ganesh N Devy
Gillian Wright
Padma Sharma
Enakshi Chatterjee

The Nominating Editors & Journals

Assamese: Pankaj Thakur (Krantik)
Bangla: Sarat Kumar Mukhopadhyay (Bibhab, Desh Weekly)
English: Nissim Ezekiel
Hindi: Nirmal Verma (Saptahik Hindustan)
Gujarati: Ganesh N Devy (Parishkrit Varta, Gadyaparva)
Kannada: D R Nagaraj (Lankesh Patrike)
Malayalam: Sujatha Devi (India Today, Matrubhoomi Weekly)
Marathi: Vijaya Rajadhyaksha (Mauj, Shree Vatsa)
Oriya: Sachidananda Mohanty (Sharashjya)
Tamil: Sundara Ramaswamy (Manoasai, Subhamangala)
Telugu: Vakati Panduranga Rao (Andhra Prabha Illustrated Weekly)
Urdu: Gopi Chand Narang (Saughat)

Edited by: Geeta Dharmarajan

Publishers: Katha
Cover Design: Taposhi Ghoshal
Colours: Arvinder Chawla
Logo Design: Crowquill
Category: Katha Prize Stories
Statistics: 5.5" x 8" 288 pages
ISBN 81-85586-09-8 [PB]
Price: Rs 250 [India and the subcontinent only]

Buy now!

Katha Prize Stories: Volume 1

KPS 1 highlights the inherent heterogeneity of contemporary India – an India constantly negotiating contradictions and coming together. These fourteen award winning stories both create and break stereotypes. There is no attempt here to yoke together “universal themes” or “basic conflict,” yet brought serendipitously together is a galaxy of master writers who make for powerful and unusual reading.

This volume features fourteen award-winning stories whose common claim is excellence. The languages featured are Asomiya, Bangla, English, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu.

Economic Times
(Sunday, August11, 1991)

The world of the storyteller.

Katha is a collection of short stories in English translation from different Indian languages including one written in English. Ten Indian languages are represented, with Punjabi, Oriya and Gujarati being excluded, and there are two stories from Kannada and Malayalam. The stories from the different languages have been selected by Nominating Editors who seem to have chosen the translators as well. The material has been culled from journals in the various languages published over a period of three years 1987-1990. The names of the journals have been listed at the end of the book under the pretentious title “select bibliography”. They are called “Prize Stories” on the basis of the Nominators/Editors own selection …

The translations read well and the depth of understanding and delineation of human character makes one realize how much the educated Indian reader is missing by confining himself to the English language. Some stories are outstanding, like the Urdu “Dream Images” (by Surendera Prakash translated by M Asaduddin). “Room by the Tubewell” (in Bengali by Sarat Kumar, translated by Enakshi Chatterji) has the diverting theme of a pacemaker being stolen from a dead body. The Tamil story “Reflowering” (by Sunder Ramaswami, translated by S Krishnan) has the down to earth relish of Tamil Nadu. These are some of the stories which impressed this reviewer but by and large the stories read well, whether or not they deserved “prizes” … the range of craftsmanship and technique is amazing, ranging as they do from surrealism to stream of consciousness and even a bit of magic realism.

– V Abdulla.

The Economic Times
(Sunday, August 11, 1991)

The conception and execution of the Katha Prize Stories series surely represents a unique and special moment in Indian publishing history … What has emerged out of this conscious and well-planned exercise is a fascinatingly supple range of short fiction which, though it does not claim to be representative, brings an intimate, exciting and live touch to what could otherwise have been a dry, academic exercise.

What strikes one is the gentle manner in which the venture challenges the premises of the mainstream publishing industry which believes only in grabbing, monopolizing and exploiting markets in a manipulative way, without generating processes within it that can be participative and creative. The Katha experiment is certainly an intervention, which contributes towards shifting the focus of publishing concepts from insular paranoia to more collaborative processes that can enter laterally in our value systems. Simultaneously, by the sheer sincerity of its purpose, it highlights the inherent laziness of publishing monopolies who have no need for engaging in any productive homework, who will never take trouble to interact with readers at any level other than that of mere commerce …

This first Katha anthology is only the beginning of several more to follow and is sure to provide fresh impetus to readers for a deeper engagement with the rich plurality of our own regional literatures.

– SM

The Authors

Purna Chandra Tejasvi
Bhupendranarayan Bhattacharyya
Swami
Dilip Purushottam Chitre
Ashok Srinivasan
Sarat Kumar Mukhopadhyay
Sara Joseph
Surendra Prakash
Madhurantakam Rajaram
Rekha
Fakir Muhammed Katpadi
T Padmanabhan
Arun Mhatre
Sundara Ramaswamy

The Translators

K Raghavendra Rao
Ranjita Biswas
Suhas Gole
Enakshi Chatterjee
Ayyappa Paniker
M Asaduddin
R S Sudarshanam
Ruth Vanita
P A Kolharkar
S Krishnan

The Nominating Editors & Journals

Assamese: Indira Goswami (Sutradhar)
Bangla: Enakshi Chatterjee (Jugantor)
English: Vijayalakshmi Quereshi
Hindi: Rajendra Yadav (Hans)
Kannada: Raghavendra Rao (Kathegallu-The Kannada Sahitya Parishad, Sannekatha - Karnataka Sahitya Akademi)
Malayalam: Ayyappa Paniker (Mathrubhoomi Weekly, Kalakaumudi)
Marathi: Vilas Sarang (Gulmohar, Anushthub)
Tamil: S Krishnan (India Today)
Telugu: Vakati Panduranga Rao (Andhra Prabha Illustrated Weekly, Andhra Jyoti Illustrated Weekly)
Urdu: Anisur Rahman (Zehn-e-Jadeed)

Edited by

Rimli Bhattacharya
Geeta Dharmarajan

Publishers: Katha
Cover Design: Taposhi Ghoshal

Colours: Arvinder Chawla
Logo Design: Crowquill

Category: Katha Prize Stories

Statistics: 5.5" x 8" 192 pages
ISBN 81-85586-00-4 [PB]
Price: Rs 200 [India and the subcontinent only]

Buy now!