Author Episodes

My guest for today is Thomas Hitoshi Pruiksma — an American writer, poet, and translator who has spent more than two decades of his life inside the Tamil language. Thomas first arrived in Madurai in 1998, almost by accident, planning to study Spanish and ecological ethics, and instead found himself apprenticed to a remarkable teacher, Dr. K. V. Ramakoti.


That apprenticeship reshaped his entire life, drawing him from spoken Tamil into the world of Sangam poetry, Avvaiyar, and eventually the Ti...

Today on Harshaneeyam podcast we are thrilled to speak with author Ann Morgan about her new book, Relearning to Read: Adventures in Not-Knowing.


While many books about reading focus on comfort and coziness, Ann’s latest work takes a refreshing, different approach. The book is built on the realization that if we want to truly read widely, we must first make friends with our own incomprehension. Ann argues that since no one can possibly be an expert in every literature from around the globe, we...

Today we are talking to Iswarya who translated Tamil Writer Jeyamohan's short story collection - 'One Million Footsteps' into English.


In One Million Footsteps, We meet Ousepachan, a jaded, maverick ex-police officer with razor-sharp wit. He turns his gaze inward, dwelling on the complex minds that commit crimes. We trace transgressions back to raw human drives: love, desire, ego, and power.


The Story Collection is layered with history and myth, challenging us to confront deeper truths. To...

Daniel's new book, If This Be Magic: The Unlikely Art of Shakespeare in Translation, is part love letter, part close reading, and part globe-trotting investigation — one that took him from Budapest theatre seats to Zoom calls with translators working in everything from Swahili to Bangla. It's a book that asks: when you change everything, can you still keep everything?

published in April 2026 - If This Be Magic: The Unlikely Art of Shakespeare in Translation by Daniel Hahn is a non-fiction book exploring how Shakespeare's plays are translated, adapted, and re-imagined for global audiences. It investigates the challenges of translating Shakespearean language, wordplay, and poetry across different cultures and languages.

"Welcome to Harshaneeyam Podcast. Today, we enter the intricate, wickedly humorous, and deeply observant world of Swedish author Ia Genberg. Joining us is the acclaimed translator Kira Josefsson, whose English translation of the short story collection - Small Comfort, has been longlisted for the International Booker Prize 2026.


Kira is no stranger to Genberg’s sharp prose; she also translated the 2024 International Booker Prize-shortlisted novel The Details. In Small Comfort, the author shift...

"Welcome to Harshaneeyam. Today, we delve into a powerful work of Bulgarian literature that has recently made its way to the 2026 International Booker Prize shortlist: 'She Who Remains' by Renée Karbash translated into English by Izidora Angel.


The novel explores the life of a 'sworn virgin'—a woman who, according to an ancient Balkan tradition, takes a vow of celibacy and lives as a man to gain the rights and status reserved for men in a patriarchal society. However, Karbash moves beyond the...

"Can a work of art ever truly be washed clean of the hands that funded it? Is it possible to create a masterpiece in the shadow of a monster? Today, we are exploring these haunting questions through the lens of The Director—the latest novel by the brilliant German author Daniel Kehlmann and translated into English by Ross Benjamin. Set against the harrowing backdrop of the late 1930s and 1940s, the story follows the legendary film director G.W. Pabst as he returns to Nazi-occupied Austria.

In this episode we have with us Padma Viswanathan.

Padma Viswanathan is a Canadian-American writer and translator.

Her novels have been published in eight countries and shortlisted for the PEN USA Prize, the Scotiabank Giller Prize, and others. She has published short fiction, essays and translations in Granta, The Boston Review, BRICK, and elsewhere. Full-length translations include São Bernardo, by Brazilian novelist Graciliano Ramos and Where We Stand, by Djamila Ribeiro. Her most recent no...

Today's Guest on Harshaneeyam is Ruth Martin.

Ruth Martin studied English literature before gaining a PhD in German

She has been translating fiction and non-fiction books since 2010, by authors ranging from Joseph Roth and Hannah Arendt to Volker Weidermann and Shida Bazyar.

She has taught translation at the University of Kent and the Bristol Translates summer school, and is a former co-chair of the Society of Authors Translators Association.

She translated Shida Bazyar’s The Nights Are Quie...

Today we are talking with Gaea Schoeters about her novel, Trofee. Gaea is one of the prominent voices of Flemish literature; she is a versatile creator who writes novels, screenplays, and operas. One of her first published works was Girls, Muslims and Motorcycles, in which she shared the story of her seven-month journey through Iran and Central Asia.

Her novel Trofee (Trophy) has become a huge success across Europe. It won the Sabam Prize for Literature and received a special mention for the Eu...

'Tella Enugu' is a Telugu translation of the novel 'Vellai Yaanai' originally written in Tamil by writer Jeyamohan. The novel is of historical fiction based on certain true incidents during the British Raj of Late 19th Century. In this conversation Jeyamohan talked about the back drop of the novel, the situation of Dalits in those days, How the British Raj used the caste system to exploit and rule India among other things.

The Writer is highly regarded as one of the most creative and Prolific w...

Today on Harshaneeyam Podcast we have Kirupalakshmi and Chaitanya writers , publishers, avid readers of Literature. They will talk about their publication house Manasa Publications and the Manasa Lit Prize - A competition aimed at New Women Writers of Indian origin writing in English.

Chaidhanya has a Master’s in English Literature and writes about literature, aesthetics, and philosophy. Her essays, published in Neeli magazine, introduce overlooked women thinkers with depth and insight. .

Kiru...

Today we have Suchitra Ramachandran talking about Literary translation in India and Mozhi Prize Anthology – I, A House Without Cats and Other Stories Published by SouthSide Books this year. Founded in 2022 by translators Suchitra Ramachandran and Priyamvada Ramkumar, Mozhi is an initiative that aims to bring together literatures from various Indian languages and provide a platform for critical discourse.

Mozhi Prize was instituted in the same year with a mission to discover and inspire new tale...

This is the 100th Episode on Harshaneeyam's Translator Series.

Michael Hofmann is a German-born poet, translator, and critic. The Guardian has described him as "arguably the world's most influential translator of German into English"

Hofmann was born in Freiburg into a family with a literary tradition. His father was the German novelist Gert Hofmann. Hofmann's family first moved to Bristol in 1961, and later to Edinburgh. He was educated at Winchester College, and then studied English Literatu...

"Today on Harshaneeyam, we welcome Nancy Naomi Carlson, a renowned poet, translator, and musician. We delve into her profound connection between poetry and personal loss, exploring how translation serves as a powerful tool for healing. As a musician, Carlson shares insights on the profound influence of musicality in her translation process. We also discuss her collaboration with Seagull Books and her acclaimed translations, including the recent <em>SOLIO</em> by Samira Negrouche. Carlson is a re...

Guest for this Episode is KE Semmel. KE Semmel spoke to us about his life in Literature and his debut novel ' The Book of Losman'.

He is a writer and a translatorfrom Danish to English. His fiction and nonfiction have appeared in Lithub, The Millions, Electric Literature, The Writer’s Chronicle, Washington Post, and elsewhere.

The Book of Losman (SFWP) is his debut novel.

"Daniel Losman, an American translator living a solitary life in Copenhagen, grapples with loneliness after his girlfriend...

Welcome to Harshaneeyam In this episode Damion Searls talked about his new book ‘The philosophy of translation. For any one who is interested in the creative process of translation , this is the book that you should pickup and read. There is a link provided in the show notes to buy the book.

https://tinyurl.com/Damionphil

Damion Searls is a translator from German, Norwegian, French, and Dutch, and a writer in English. He has translated about sixty books, including ten by this year's Nobel Priz...

పదకొండేళ్ళ రిషి హైదరాబాద్ లో 'సాధన ఇన్ఫినిటీ ఇంటర్నేషనల్ స్కూల్' లో ఏడో తరగతి చదువుతున్నాడు . 'ది బెటర్ మీ' అనే పుస్తకం ఆరు కథలతో రాసి పబ్లిష్ చేసాడు . రిషి వాళ్ళ స్కూల్లో ఇంగ్లీష్ టీచర్ దేబశీష్ మామ్ రెండో క్లాసునించీ పిల్లలకి కథలు ఎలా రాయాలో నేర్పిస్తున్నారు .

రిషి తాను రాయడం పుస్తకం ప్రచురించడం, తాను రాయబోయే పుస్తకం వీటి గురించి తన ఆలోచనలను మనతో పంచుకున్నాడు .

రిషి రాసిన పుస్తకం కొనడానికి షో నోట్స్ లో ఉన్న లింక్ ఉపయోగించండి -

https://www.bribooks.com/bookstore/the-better-me

https://www.you...

The guest for this Episode is Vineet Gill. He spoke about his pursuit of literature, the Hindi Writer Nirmal Verma, and the State of Literary Translations in India.

A well-known name in Hindi literature, Nirmal Verma is known mainly for his fictional works. Born on April 3, 1929, he obtained an M.A. in history from Delhi University. He studied Czech at the Oriental Institute in Prague and has been a Fellow of the International Institute for Asian Studies. Nirmal Verma is a recipient of India's ...

Today We have Benjamin Balint with us speaking about his book 'Kafka's Last Trail'.

Kafka’s Last Trial begins with Kafka’s last instruction to his closest friend, Max Brod: to destroy all his remaining papers upon his death. But when the moment arrived in 1924, Brod could not bring himself to burn the unpublished works of the man he considered a literary genius—even a saint. Instead, Brod devoted his life to championing Kafka’s writing, rescuing his legacy from obscurity and physical destructio...

మధురాంతకం నరేంద్ర గారు తన రచనా వ్యాసంగాన్ని నలభై ఆరేళ్ళ క్రితం ప్రారంభించారు. వారిది సాహిత్య కుటుంబం. వారి తండ్రి గారు మధురాంతకం రాజారామ్ గారు , సోదరుడు మహేంద్ర గారు కూడా సుప్రసిద్ధ తెలుగు కథా రచయితలు.

వృత్తిరీత్యా ఆంగ్ల అధ్యాపకులు.

మన సమాజంలో, మన వ్యక్తిత్వాలలో వుండే వైచిత్రిని , అనేక రకాలైన సంఘర్షణలని అతి సుతారమైన తనదైన శైలిలో , అత్యంత సహజంగా చిత్రీకరించడమే ఆయన రచనలలో వుండే ప్రత్యేకత.

ఒక సకారాకాత్మకమైన మార్పు , కథ చదివే ప్రతి వ్యక్తిలో, తద్వారా మన సమాజంలో తీసుక రావాలని ఆశించే రచయిత.

అత్యంత...

The Guest for this Episode is Michelle Woods. She spoke about Analyzing translations, the 'Objective subjectivity' of translators, and different translations of Kafka over the years, and how each of these provided us with great insights into Kafka's work.

Michelle Woods is a Professor of English at SUNY New Paltz. She is the authoer of Kafka Translated: How Translators Have Shaped Our Reading of Kafka (2014), Censoring Translation: Censorship, Theatre and the Politics of Translation (2012), and...

In this Episode, Harshaneeyam Speaks to Writer Jeyamohan on the eve of his 'Aram' Stories getting translated into Telugu. The book is titled ‘Nemmi Neelam’ and translated by Bhaskar Avineni. Chaaya Resources is the Publisher.

Bhaskar Avineni is an acclaimed translator from Tamil to Telugu and it is his second Publication. Aram Stories were translated into English as ‘Stories of the True’ by Priyamvada Ramkumar shortlisted for the ALTA Prize in 2023.

Writer Jeyamohan is highly regarded as one o...

Today, we have Chad Post gracing Harshaneeyam.

Chad W. Post is a powerhouse for promoting international literature. He leads Open Letter Books, publishing global voices. He is the managing editor of Three Percent, a blog and review site promoting literature in translation. He is home to the Translation Database (now housed at Publishers Weekly), the Best Translated Book Awards, and the Three Percent and Two Month Review podcasts. He is also the author of The Three Percent Problem: Rants and Res...