2 days ago
Vivek Shanbhag’s Hyphen Brings Indian-Language Literature To Global Readers
Vivek Shanbhag is a writer from Karnataka who wants more people to read books written in Indian languages.
He believes translated books should be read as literature, not only as examples of translation.
He created Hyphen to help make this happen.
Hyphen has a magazine, a website and a publishing house.
The magazine will share writing from many Indian languages.
The website will publish reviews, interviews, poems, stories and plays.
The publishing house will translate complete books into English.
Shanbhag previously helped readers discover Indian writers through the Kannada magazine Desha Kaala.
He hopes Hyphen will give many writers lasting attention instead of focusing only on books that win prizes.
Vivek Shanbhag has launched Hyphen to bring Indian-language writing into wider literary conversations.
Hyphen combines a literary journal, publishing house and digital platform under the Bahuvachana Trust.
The project grew from Shanbhag’s experience editing the Kannada magazine Desha Kaala.
Its publishing house will translate full-length books into English and connect them with global readers.
Shanbhag says lasting readership matters more than relying on occasional international translation prizes.
- Who
- Kannada novelist and playwright Vivek Shanbhag, working with literary colleagues under the Bahuvachana Trust.
- What
- Hyphen, a literary journal, publishing house and digital platform, is being created to bring Indian-language literature to English-language and global readers.
- Where
- The initiative focuses on literature from Indian languages and its circulation among English-language and global readers.
- When
- Hyphen is launching amid recent international recognition for translated Indian-language literature; the article does not give an exact launch date.
- Why
- Shanbhag says readers need easier access to the diverse writing, ideas and craft of Indian-language authors.
Key facts
- Founder
- Vivek Shanbhag, a 64-year-old Kannada novelist and playwright
- Structure
- Literary journal, publishing house and digital platform
- Organization
- All three parts operate under the Bahuvachana Trust
- Earlier influence
- Shanbhag edited the Kannada literary magazine Desha Kaala for seven years
- Key translation
- His novella Ghachar Ghochar was translated into English by Srinath Perur in 2015
- International recognition
- Tomb of Sand won the International Booker Prize in 2022, while Heart Lamp won it in 2025
- Core aim
- Make Indian-language writing available for broader literary conversations beyond occasional prize attention
Quotes
Vivek Shanbhag
Kannada novelist, playwright, and founder of Hyphen
“Hyphen was not an epiphany. It is an idea that has grown over decades, born out of a need to understand how writers in Indian languages are responding to the political, social and economic changes, larger concerns and conflicts of our times.”
indianexpress.com
“We read Russian or Latin American literature as literature, even though much of it reaches us in translation. We should do the same with writing from Indian languages.”
indianexpress.com
Sources
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