read

Seagull Books takes home the prestigious English Translation Award

The award is for a book authored by Mahasweta Devi. Can you guess?

Seagull Books, one of the most popular publishing houses in India with a global readership, has earned a new accolade. Truth/Untruth, written by Mahasweta Devi and translated by Anjum Katyal, has won the Valley of Words English Translation Award 2024.

The Valley of Words (VoW) Book Awards highlights notable work in literature. The book, Truth/Untruth, which was published in 2023 and is a fiction, depicts a tale of class exploitation. 

Here’s an excerpt of the book, from the website of Seagull Books:

“Set in Calcutta in the mid-1980s, Truth/Untruth is a fast-paced thriller built around the death of the pregnant Jamuna — a maid in a newly affluent residential apartment complex — and Arjun, the upwardly mobile businessman who seduced her. Packed with a cast of colorful characters, this novel is a trenchant, darkly humorous, and unsentimental look at the different segments of Calcutta society: from the middle-class culture vultures to the unscrupulous ‘promoter’ class and the domestic helpers and slum goons who form an intrinsic part of the city’s life.”

You can buy the book here. 

— Pooja Mitra