In this episode, I’m joined by poet, scholar, and renowned translator Radha Chakravarty for a powerful conversation on the crossroads between translation and literature, feminism in writing, and the inner work of creating across languages.
We explore Radha’s life as a multilingual writer in India, her deep relationship with Tagore’s work, and what it means to be a translator of emotion, memory, and resistance. From pandemic poetry to the importance of community, we unpack the responsibility—and courage—of those who carry words across borders. We also discuss Radha’s latest work, Subliminal, a poetry collection probing beneath surface realities to tease out submerged narratives from everyday experiences.
If you care about women in literature, literary translation, and writing that honours both heritage and innovation, this episode is for you.
Show highlights
- Translation and literature as emotional labour
- What it means to be a multilingual writer in today’s world
- Writing through loss: pandemic poetry and global connection
- The impact of South Asian literature and Indian poetry
- How feminism shapes Radha’s work and what she calls literary activism
“I assert that the translation becomes an original work in its own right, no doubt born of the earlier work, but it acquires an independent identity of its own. I think one tries to bring alive the spirit of the original in another language and bring the spirit alive rather than a word by word kind of fixed and dead process.”
Radha Chakravarty
Speaking with Radha was such an inspiration, and I hope you enjoy this episode as much as I enjoyed making it.
Subliminal is available now, and you can order a copy here.
Got any thoughts on this episode or want to suggest authors you’d like to see on the show? Send me a note here.
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About Radha Chakravarty
Radha Chakravarty is a poet, critic and translator based in Delhi, India. She was Professor of Comparative Literature & Translation Studies at Dr. B. R. Ambedkar University Delhi. She has published 23 books, including “The Essential Tagore” (Harvard & Visva-Bharati; co-edited with Fakrul Alam), nominated Book of the Year 2011 by Martha Nussbaum, “Mahasweta Devi: Writer, Activist, Visionary”, “Feminism and Contemporary Women Writers”, and “Novelist Tagore”.
Her Tagore translations include “Gora”, “Chokher Bali”, “Boyhood Days”, “Farewell Song: Shesher Kabita”, “Four Chapters” and “The Land of Cards: Stories, Poems and Plays for Children”. Her other books in translation are Bankimchandra Chatterjee’s “Kapalkundala”, Kazi Nazrul Islam’s “Selected Essays”, Mahasweta Devi’s “Our Santiniketan” and” In the Name of the Mother” (nominated for the Crossword Translation Award, 2004), Vermillion Clouds: Stories by Bengali Women, and Crossings: Stories from Bangladesh and India.
She has edited the anthologies “Shades of Difference: Selected Writings of Rabindranath Tagore” and “Bodymaps: Stories by South Asian Women”, and co-edited “Writing Feminism: South Asian Voices” and “Writing Freedom: South Asian Voices”.
“Subliminal”, her debut volume of poems, was named one of the best books from South Asia in 2024, by the journal “Ars Notoria” (UK). Her poems have also appeared in numerous books and journals. She contributed to “Pandemic: A Worldwide Community Poem” (Muse Pie Press, USA), nominated for the Pushcart Prize 2020.
About SUbliminal
Everything has a secret story. Radha Chakravarty’s Subliminal probes beneath surface realities to tease out these submerged narratives from the minutiae of our everyday lives and our relationships with the human and natural realms we inhabit. Infused with our inner longings, memories, fears and anxieties, familiar things appear in a different light, confronting us with unexpected, sometimes conflicting versions of the self and the world.
Guest’s links
Buy Subliminal: Amazon
Connect with Radha on X: https://x.com/radhachakravar2
Host’s links
Book a one-on-one with Lola: https://wordcaps.com/coaching/
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