Abu Dhabi’s KALIMA project has translated into Arabic selected works of the great Indian poet K. Satchidanandan.
Satchidanandan, critic and translator, was born in 1946 and obtained a Master’s Degree in English Literature from the University of Kerala. He took his doctorate in post-structuralism from the University of Calicut and taught for 25 years.
He edited several avant-garde literary magazines until 1992, when he became the editor of ’Indian Literature’, the literary newspaper of the Indian Academy of the Arts, Sahitya Academi, in New Delhi until 2006.
Satchidanandan is now an adviser to a number of cultural institutions.
He has published 22 poetry collections of his own and 16 translated ones from various languages. He has also written 20 books on literary criticism.
Satchidanandan was very pleased to see his work translated into Arabic.
"It gives me great pleasure to see a selection of my poetry published in Arabic, a language which is rich in a unique poetic heritage which I admire," said Satchidanandan.
"Although many of my poems were translated into most Indian languages, in addition to French, German, English and Italian, their appearance in Arabic gives me special unprecedented pleasure," he added.
The selection of poems in Arabic was published by KALIMA, a huge translation project launched by the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage (ADACH).
"I am particularly pleased that this book is published by KALIMA, one of the most prominent and most important translation projects in the Arab World," said Satchidanandan.
His poems were translated by the award-winning UAE translator Dr Shihab Ghanem, who is himself a poet and author.
Ghanem has published more than 40 titles, including collections of his own poetry as well as translations of others.
