MUMBAI: From the struggles of farmers and workers to the pain of caste, gender, and class oppression, the powerful stories of Dalit author and social reformer Annabhau Sathe are set to reach a much wider audience.
He brings together farmers and fights the colonial British administration through guerrilla resistance. The novel explores the emotional cost of the independence struggle from the perspective of ordinary people. Among the important works being translated is Master, written in 1966 and translated into English by Aarti Ware. The novel is set during the 1942 Chale Jaav movement in Satara and follows a patriotic schoolteacher, who becomes a revolutionary leader.
The project is being undertaken jointly by the University of Mumbai’s Sahityaratna Annabhau Sathe Study Chair of the University of Mumbai, and the Maharashtra government. The deal with Bloomsbury Publishing was finalised a few months ago. “We are providing editing, publishing and distribution services for these books.
Work on translating the books is underway, with the government hoping to get all 32 works published by the end of the year.
Jyoti Mehrotra, publisher, Bloomsbury India, said the publishing house saw strong potential in Sathe’s writing after studying and reading some of the translated material. “We have done a memorandum of understanding with the University of Mumbai on the publication of 32 books of Annabhau Sathe,” she said. Mehrotra said Bloomsbury would take a call on publishing the books online after assessing the response. Baliram Gaikwad, director of the Sahityaratna Annabhau Sathe Study Chair, said the initiative was much more than a translation project. “The powerful literary voice that chronicled the struggles and lives of Maharashtra, its history, culture and marginalised communities is set to transcend linguistic barriers and reach a worldwide audience,” he said.
