T.N. Textbook Corporation signs MoU with OUP to bring out English translations of books by Imayam, Ambai and others

Chennai

The Tamil Nadu Textbook And Educational Services Corporation (TNTESC) has signed a Memoranda of Understanding with Oxford University Press (OUP) to bring out the English translation of books of 12 Tamil writers including Ambai, Imayam and Chudamani.

“Recognising the success of the Chennai International Book Fair (CIBF) and the push to take Tamil to the world, we will collaborate with the Tamil Nadu government to bring out the English translation of the books,” said Sharmila Guha, Head – Dictionaries, Higher Education, Academic and Trade at OUP, India.

With this, the OUP will be reviving its Indian Language Translations Programme to commission new translations. In association with TNTESC, they will bring out a reader on Subramaniya Bharathi, ‘Pudumaipittan Ennum Brahmarakshas’ by Raj Gowthaman, ‘Woman through the Ages’ by Rajam Krishnan, ‘Apeetha’ by LA.SA.RA, a reader on Kavikko Abdul Rahman, ‘Kallikaattu Idhikasam’ by Vairamuthu, ‘In a Forest A Deer and Other stories’ by Ambai, ‘Seeing in the Dark’ by Chudamani, ‘Ocean Rimmed World’ by Joe De Cruz, ‘Sedal’ by Imayam, ‘Gravity Tax and other stories’ by Appadurai Muthulingam and an anthology of 35 Woman Writers by Bharathi Harishankar. While six of them will be reprints, the others will be new translated works.

Speaking about the move, T Sankara Saravanan, joint director (translation) TNTESC, said that publishers find it difficult to translate the Tamil book straight to their native language such as Albanian, Latvian. “Through collaboration with publishers, we are able to create a platform to bring the English translation and hence making it easier for translated works to appear in European languages. We have also discussed signing such bulk agreements with other publishers to facilitate the move.”

The TNTESC and OUP will also be bringing out a 12 volume Comparative Etymological Dictionary in European and Tamil languages. The first three volumes are expected to be out this year.

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