Alipurduar teacher gets Leela Roy Memorial Award for translation of Spanish writer’s work

KOLKATA: An English teacher at Govinda High School of Alipurduar, Saubhik De Sarkar, was one of the recipients of 13 memorial awards bestowed to popular literary personalities by Paschimbanga Bangla Akademi on Wednesday.

Sarkar was awarded the Leela Roy Memorial Award for his translation of ‘Phone Calls’ by Spanish writer Roberto Bolaño at the opening ceremony of the Sahitya Utsav and Little Magazine Mela 2023, which started from January 11. A resident of Aurobindanagar of Alipurduar town, Sarkar is also a popular poet in North Bengal. The 46-year-old Sarkar has been writing poems since 1995.

“I had been translating books since 2005. I had to maintain the balance as I switched between the roles of a teacher and a literary person. I love to translate writings and write and I also love to teach children,” Sarkar said.

He has recently also won the Sahitya Akademi Translation Prize for his Bengali translation of the book ‘My Father Baliah’ (Autobiography) originally written by YB Satyanarayana as ‘Amar Baba Balaiah.’ “I found the book, which speaks of four generations of a Dalit family, heartrending. After reading it repeatedly, I felt it deserves to be translated to reach readers in Bengali,” Sarkar said.

Along with Sarkar, twelve more literary personalities were given the memorial awards. Nirmalya Mukhopadhyay, Subhasish Mukhopadhyay, Samragnee Bandyopadhyay to Samiran Das, Debarati Mitra and other authors were awarded at the fair, which will be on till January 15 from 2 pm to 8 pm.

Over 300 little magazines and small-time publications having rich literary content participated at the Sahitya Utsav and Little Magazine Mela 2023, which started from Wednesday. The five-day literary fair at the Nandan-Bangla Academy premises will also witness the participation of 550 poets and litterateurs.

The fair was inaugurated in the presence of state Education minister Bratya Basu, also the president of Paschimbanga Bangla Akademi, minister Indranil Sen (chief guest), veteran writer Amar Mitra and popular poet Debdas Achariya at 4 pm at Nandan-Bangla compound.