Rana Nayar

Professor Rana Nayar is a translator of poetry and short fiction from Punjabi to English. He has more than forty volumes of poetry and translation works to his credit. He is also a theatre artist and has participated in a number of major full-length productions. Initially he taught at the St Bede's College in Shimla before joining the Department of English of Panjab University, Chandigarh, where he is at present teaching.

Major works

A critic, scholar and translator, Rana Nayar has been a pioneer in bringing into Punjabi translation a great number of classics from Punjabi literature. Among the prominent Punjabi authors he has translated are included such literary giants as Gurdial Singh, Raghubir Dhand, Mohan Bhandari and Beeba Balwant inter alia. He has translated two of Gurdial's novels, "Night of the Half-moon" and "Parsa". Besides translating the works of such prominent women writers from Punjab such as Amrita Pritam, Ajit Caur and Dalip Kaur Tiwana, he has helped in bringing to public notice such lesser known writers as Chandan Negi, who writes in both Punjabi and Dogri.

His first collection of poems (composed by himself) is titled "Breathing Spaces", which has received critical review and appreciation in Indian literary circle.

Critical and analytical writing

Rana Nayar's critical works on poetry include "Edward Albee : Towards a Typology of Relationships" published in 2003 by Prestige Publishers. His other critical works which are forthcoming include "Mediations : Self & Society", which is a collection of essays on Indian history, society and culture, and "Third World Narrative : Theory & Practice".

Awards and recognition

In 2007 Rana Nayar won Sahitya Akademi's "Indian Literature" Golden Jubilee Award for Poetry along with Dr Tapan Kumar Pradhan and Paromita Das. Mr Nayar won the first prize for his translation of the verses of the Sufi saint Baba Farid.

Rana Nayar has also been a Charles Wallace (India) Trust Awardee, besides having won commendation awards for translation from British Council and "Katha".

Bibliography

* "Night of the Half Moon", (MacMillan 1996)
* "Parsa" (National Book Trust, India 2000)
* "From Across the Shores" (Sterling 2002)
* "Earthly Tones" (Fiction House 2002)
* "The Eye of a Doe and Other Stories" (Sahitya Akademi, India 2003)
* "Melting Moments" (Unistar 2004)
* "Tale of a Cursed Tree" (Ravi Sahitya Prakashan 2004)
* "The Survivors" (Katha 2005)
* "Slice of Life" (Unistar 2005)
* "Shivoham" (Rupa 2007)

See also

*Kendriya Sahitya Akademi Awards
*"Indian Literature"

References