Join us as we count down to ALTA41: Performance, Props, and Platforms with the National Translation Award in Poetry and Prose long- and shortlisted titles! We will be featuring the titles in alphabetical order, moving first through the longlisted and then the shortlisted titles, alongside blurbs penned by our judges for the National Translation Awards in Poetry and Prose. This year’s judges for poetry are Kareem James Abu-Zeid, Jennifer Feeley, and Sawako Nakayasu, and this year’s prose judges are Esther Allen, Tess Lewis, and Jeremy Tiang.

For quick reference, you may find the NTA longlists here, and the NTA shortlists here. Today we’re shining the spotlight on Ghachar Ghochar, shortlisted for the National Translation Award in Prose:

Ghachar Ghochar
by Vivek Shanbhag
translated from the Kannada by Srinath Perur
(Penguin Books)

A compact book that packs a powerful punch. Compelling and sharply-observed, this portrait of a Bangalore family growing accustomed to sudden prosperity starts out with the trappings of a domestic comedy, only to lead us into murkier waters as their depravity is gradually laid bare. The oblivious narrator sails along willfully untroubled, and is deployed to brilliant effect — the family’s secrets cannot stay hidden, and what he leaves unsaid tells us much more than what he reveals. Vivek Shanbhag’s lively narrative voice is flawlessly rendered by Srinath Perur, whose translation zings with vivid energy and sinister depths.