Illustration by Mika Tennekoon
Illustration by Mika Tennekoon

Himal Fiction Fest 2024

Celebrating Southasian fiction in translation, 10 to 21 June 2024
Published on

Welcome to the second edition of the Himal Fiction Fest, where we’re celebrating Southasian fiction in translation. Southasia’s rich literary tradition spans hundreds of languages, cultures, regions and traditions – and translators play a vital role in bringing these works the exposure and recognition they deserve, and connect. From 10 to 21 June, we are publishing six exceptional English translations of stories originally written in Bangla, Farsi, Hindi, Nepali, Punjabi and Tamil.

To kick off the festival, we’re hosting an online reading of these stories by their translators, followed by a panel discussion on the future of Southasian fiction in translation, featuring the prize-winning translators Daisy Rockwell, Musharraf Ali Farooqi and Jayasree Kalathil, as well as the leading literary agent Kanishka Gupta. The event is held in partnership with the Armory Square Prize for Southasian Literature in Translation, and we’ll also have readings from the 2024 prize finalists before an announcement of this year’s winner.

The event will take place on Monday, 10 June 2024, at 

6:30 pm India/Sri Lanka Time 

3:00 pm Central European Time

9:00 am North America (Eastern Standard Time)

CLICK HERE to register for the launch event: The Present and future of Southasian fiction in translation

Click here to revisit the Himal Fiction Fest 2023.

All artwork by Mika Tennekoon.

My Sister, Life (excerpt) by Mahmudul Haque, translated from Bangla by Shabnam Nadiya and Mahmud Rahman

Insects (excerpt) by Fauzia Rafique, translated from Punjabi by Haider Shahbaz

Unknown by Mayilan G Chinnappan, translated from Tamil by Kalyan Raman

Chowmein by Durga Karki, translated from Nepali by Sandesh Ghimire

Lord Almighty, Grant Us Riots! by Anil Yadav, translated from Hindi by Vaibhav Sharma

One Day Forever (excerpt) by Lina Rozbeh Haidari, translated from Farsi by Laila Ghezal Azimi

Himal Southasian
www.himalmag.com