Tagore Award for Translated Fiction from Bengali

Open call for submission for the 2021 competition, $1500 in prizes

Submission is Open Now

 

Rabindranath Tagore (born Robindronath Thakur, 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941;  was a Bengali poet, writer, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter. He reshaped Bengali literature and music, as well as Indian art in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Author of the “profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse” of Gitanjali, he became in 1913 the first non-European as well as the first lyricist to win the Nobel Prize in Literature.

The Antonym magazine is proud to announce its 2021 Translation award from Bengali in the name of Tagore who continues to inspire all Indian in general, Bengalis in particular.

Debajyoti Chatterjee, Co-founder of www.immigrantbengalis.com, sponsors the 2021 Award

Prizes:

1^st Prize $500 USD

2^nd Prize $300 USD

3^RD Prize $200 USD

Up to 10 honorable mentions will receive $50 each

All winning stories will feature in The Antonym online magazine, as well as go in print as an anthology of contemporary Bengali stories.

Submission Rules:

1. All submissions will be via antonymmag.submittable.com
2. Every submission will attract a fee of $3 USD
3. One person can submit multiple entries ( only one submission per person can get a prize)
4. The submitted translation should be unpublished in any form
5. Translator selects the story keeping the following in mind
   • The Original Stories have to be between 1500 to 4000 words
   • Only contemporary Bengali stories will be considered for selection
   • Literary quality and universal appeal of the story will be key
6. The entry needs to carry the original author or the copyright holder’s approval for translation. The approval should be for online publication as well as for the printed book, if selected.
7. The submission should include 3 files

Translated work in .doc
Original Bengali story in pdf
Original writer’s authorization

8. The translated document uploaded should not carry the name or any identifiable personal information of the translator. If so, the entry will be declined.

Note : If any assistance required for getting original author’s consent, write to before submission.

Key Award Guidelines

1. Conformity of the translated work with the original text
2. Overall Linguistic finesse in the target language
3. Minimal grammar or copy errors

Selection Committee Chair – Shamita Das Dasgupta

Shamita Das Dasgupta is a cofounder of Manavi, the first organization to focus on violence against South Asian women in the U.S. She has taught Psychology, Gender Studies, and Law at the Rutgers University and NYU, authored five books, written a bunch of academic papers and monographs. She is also a writer for fiction in Bengali and a translator

Judges

Baret Magarian

Baret Magarian began his career as a freelance journalist, writing reviews and features for The Times, The Guardian, The Independent, The Observer and The New Statesman. His first novel The Fabrications was hailed as a novel of considerable daring and originality by The Times Literary Supplement and others. The Dublin Review of Books praised his collection of short fiction, Melting Point, for its power and audacity. His monologue The Pain Tapestry was staged in several countries in Europe.

Neil Ray

Philosopher, writer, entrepreneur and philanthropist, Neil Ray was born in a progressive intellectual family during the turbulent 1960s in India.  When 9/11 happened just before Neil’s eyes, like millions of others in New York City, he was tormented. The sight of the burning towers and the unbearable agony of those around, posed a simple question — why on earth are we in this crossroad of civilization? This gave birth to his Magnus Opus — ‘The Autobiography of Time.’ He has followed it up with his second book Zoibortikism – Yz factor ans secret debates of the 21^st Century.

Pina Piccolo

Pina Piccolo is a poet, translator and cultural activist whose work has appeared both in Italian and English, both in print and online journals and anthologies.  She is one of the editors for the Italian language literary journal www.lamacchinasognante.com and the sole editor of the English language, transnational  literature and visual arts web magazine  www.thedreamingmachine.com. Her Italian poetry collection I canti dell’interregno was published in 2018 by Lebeg edizioni.