Bhubaneswar, Oct. 13: Koshali poet and Padma Shri recipient Haldhar Nag's poems are now available in English.

Surendra Nath has translated selected poems of the popular writer in an attempt to expand the reach of Odia literature.

Since 1990, Nag has been promoting Koshali writings. Some of his popular works are Prem Paechan, Siri Somalai, Rasia Kavi and Mahasati Urmila. At present, he is working on poems on the lives of prominent Odia personalities such as Gangadhar Meher, Bhima Bhoi and Surendra Sai.

The book, titled Kavyanjali, was released at a programme held here recently. Speaking on the occasion, Nag said the translations helped literature to reach out to more readers. He spoke of Valmiki's Ramayan and how the simple language used in the later version of Ramcharitmanas by Tulsi Das had helped the common people understand it.

"Similarly, Atibadi Jagannath Das' Bhagwat has become a household name, while the original Bhagwatam in Sanskrit remains beyond comprehension of the common man," said the 65-year-old poet from Bargarh.

He also spoke about his experience of going to meet the President to receive the Padma Shri award and his interaction with those present during the award ceremony. At the programme, Nag recited one of his poems and later Nath read out the translated version.

Nath said it took him four months to translate the poems.

"I locked myself up for 10 hours every day. Trying to balance the rhyme scheme, the length of each line and adhering to the meaning in each stanza was a challenge," said the translator.

Literature enthusiasts both from Cuttack and Bhubaneswar, including bureaucrats, writers, people from the academia and businessmen, attended the programme.

The release was preceded by a deliberation on the trend of translations. Author Ramendra Kumar, whose books have been translated into 12 languages, moderated the programme.

Kavyanjali is a 254-page bilingual (Koshali-English) book with the odd-numbered pages written in Koshali and the facing pages carrying the English translation.

Published by Zenith Star, it is available at all leading bookstores and also online on Amazon.in. A Kindle version is also available.