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Starmark, in association with Niyogi Books hosts the launch of ‘Timeless Tales from Bengal’
– an English anthology of 34 well-known stories for children and young adults, originally written in Bengali by eminent writers.
Kolkata, June 28, 2018: Kolkata’s leading bookstore chain Starmark, in association with Niyogi Books, hosted the launch ‘Timesless Tales from Bengal–An Anthology of Bangla Children’s and Young Adults’ Stories’. The anthology contains 34 well-known stories originally written in Bengali by eminent writers for children and young adults. Works of 30 writers feature in this book.
Present at the launch were Prasad Ranjan Ray, author, critic and former civil servant, Bani Basu, novelist and academician, Surangana Banerjee, writer and illustrator of books for young adults, and Dipankar Roy and Saurav Dasthakur, the editors of this anthology.
Timesless Tales from Bengal–An Anthology of Bangla Children’s and Young Adults’ Stories
Timesless Tales from Bengal is a unique anthology of thirty-four translated stories and invites the reader to a feast that it offers –from fantasy, folk tales and animal stories through comic tales, detective fiction and adventure and suspense stories to ghost stories, historical narratives, sports narratives and tales of social consciousness. The stories have been translated by Dipankar Roy and Saurav Dasthakur from popular Bangla short stories written by illustrious writers.
Buddhadeva Bose, the noted Bengali littérateur, once observed that the greatest treasure of Bangla literature is its children’s and young adults’ literature. The achievements of stalwarts as various as Rabindranath Thakur, Upendrakishore Ray Chowdhury, Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay, Sukumar Ray, Manik Bandyopadhyay, Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay, Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay, Narayan Gangopadhyay, Sunil Gangopadhyay, Satyajit Ray and many others in this realm enable it to match similar traditions existing anywhere in the world. Their best works also remind us that a good piece for children is also a charming one for the adult. Their efforts have made Bangla children’s literature a treasure trove that can enamour any child—or anybody—who loves to read.
The book is enriched with beautiful illustrations, bio-notes of the authors, a glossary and an informed introduction. Timesless Tales from Bengal would also be useful to enthusiastic researchers. Between its covers, the volume presents an enjoyable and fairly comprehensive picture of Bangla children’s and young-adults’ short fiction to the non-Bengali readership for the first time in publishing history. Works of 30 prominent Bengali litterateurs, feature in this anthology.
About the editors
Dipankar Roy (b. 1970) teaches in the Department of English, Visva-Bharati, Santiniketan. His doctoral dissertation, In Tagore’s Own Country, was published in 2015. His essays on subjects ranging from Bengal Renaissance to Rudyard Kipling’s Kim have come out in reputed national/international journals and books. He was awarded the Isaac Sequeira Memorial Award for his article on Amitav Ghosh. Roy has translated works of modern Bangla poetry into English and Indian English poetry into Bangla. His other interests include Walter Benjamin, nineteenth-century Calcutta, terracotta temples and Hindustani classical music.
Saurav Dasthakur (b. 1978) is Assistant Professor of English at Visva-Bharati. His areas of research interest include Modernist Literature, Children’s Literature, Culture Studies and Translation. He has published academic articles in books and journals of national and international repute including Journal of Asian Studies and co-guest-edited a special issue of Sangeet Natak, the journal of Sangeet Natak Akademi, New Delhi, on Rabindranath Thakur. His translations of poetry, short fiction and non-fictional pieces, between English and Bangla, have been published in several books and journals.
