On the third day of Dhaka Lit Fest 2023, a panel discussion was held in the AKSB Auditorium with author Geetanjali Shree and translator Daisy Rockwell. The session, titled Tomb of Sand, had Rifat Munim, editor and journalist, as the moderator.
Geetanjali Shree is the winner of the Booker prize; her novel Tomb of Sand (Ret Samadhi) is the first novel in a South-Asian language to have received the prestigious award. Daisy Rockwell is a Hindi/Urdu-English translator who worked on Shree's novel.
Shree discussed what the writing process is like for her, and shared that she writes her books by hand, and has to start over every time to make edits. That, she explained, is part of why her five novels have been published so far apart.
Shree added that her complex and multi-layered stories are developed as she allows for parts of them to lead her. Despite the non-linear nature of Tomb of Sand, the author managed to tie it all together by letting the story go where it needed to go.
Rockwell recounted the time she translated Shree's novel, admitting that the ambiguity in the original work was a challenge to get right, as she aimed to maintain a sense of ambiguity while being fully aware of what it meant, in order to bring out the true essence of the book.
The two panelists went on to describe their two-year collaboration on this book, and allowed the audience a look into the methods they choose for their individual crafts. Members of the audience were left with a glimpse of how the two artists worked together to create the perfect blend in the form of a translation.
Near the end of the session, as requested by one of the attendees, Shree and Rockwell read the beginning of the book in both Hindi and English to tumultuous applause.