University of Hyderabad faculty selected for translation award

Hyderabad: Prof Shivarama Padikkal, Professor of Translation Studies at the Centre for Applied Linguistics and Translation Studies (CALTS), University of Hyderabad (UoH), and Prof Vanamala Viswanatha have been chosen for the prestigious Kuvempu Bhasha Bharathi Pradhikara Annual Book Award for translation from Kannada to English-2020 for their new translation of Indira Bai published by Oxford University Press (2019).

Gulvadi Venkata Rao's Indira Bai (1899) is regarded as the first independent social novel in Kannada. Ishwara K. Mirji, the Registrar of Kuvempu Bhasha Bharathi Pradhikara, the autonomous Translation Authority of the Ministry of Kannada and Culture, Government of Karnataka, announced the award.

It may be recalled that recently the new translation of Indira Bai was selected as a textbook for final year B Com classes of Mangalore University by its Undergraduate Board of Studies for English. Since its publication in September 2019, around seven national seminars and book events have been organized on this translation, by different University departments and organizations, including Mangalore University, The Central University of Kerala, University of Hyderabad, and Bangalore Literature Festival. It was long-listed for the Atta Galatta BLF Book prize-2019.

Prof Shivarama Padikkal was earlier conferred with the V.M. Inamdar Literary Criticism Award (2002) and the B.H. Sridhara Literary Award (2003) for his NaaduNudiyaRuupaka: Raastra Adhunikatemattu Kannadada Modala Kaadambarigalu (2001), a book on nation, modernity, and early novels in Kannada.