‘The AfterWord’ – Mother Tongue Twisters

Curated Contemporary Poetry For Young Readers In Indian Languages

The AfterWord: Voices in Translation

“The AfterWord: Voices in Translation” is a multilingual platform for reflections on language, literature and translation. We hope to bring together diverse experiences with ‘mother tongues’, however complex. This platform derives from the concept of translation or anuvad in the South Asian context as an ‘after-word’ or an echo of one language in another. Submissions can be in the form of an essay, a poem, a translation, an interview or an audio/video piece. There is no restriction on format or language.

Send your ideas and submissions to mothertonguetwisters@gmail.com

Guidelines:

Please submit your piece in an editable Word Format
The word limit is between 1000-1200 words
Please send a 50-word bio and photo (above 2MB) of the author along with the piece
Please use Unicode type form when submitting a piece in a language other than English (with a translation of the title in English and a short abstract for non-speakers)
Please submit only original pieces written by you
For references, please use the MLA style of citations
You can include images in your piece, please include them in jpeg only and send them separately from the Word document
You can submit a piece in an audio or video format as well, please include them in mp3 or mp4 only and send them separately from the Word document

‘Your Smile’: Poetry Translation by Carol D’Souza

Your smile Like a curtain rippling at the door your smile I step forward— And your smile spreads Like fresh pressed oil on water In the morning when no shadows form on the floor it alights like sunshine in an egg Springs back like an unlatched window And like a small road, […]

“All writing is essentially translation”: An interview with Maithreyi Karnoor

Maithreyi Karnoor writes in English and translates from Kannada. She has won the Kuvempu Bhasha Bharati prize for translation and was shortlist for the Lucien Stryk Asian Translation Prize. She is a two-time finalist of the Montreal International Poetry Prize, and her poems are published in Poetry Review, PN Review, Poetry Wales, amongst others. She […]

Poems on the Mother Tongue

Poems on the Mother Tongue By Nabanita Sengupta Her mother tongue I I searched for my language along the uneven surface of Chhotanagpur, words rolled down like pebbles, that we had kicked with the tip of our Bata shoes – jet black, polished to shine and we bantered or laughed. The boys […]

Mother Tongues, Twisted

“I once saw, in Germany, a small exhibition of Samuel Beckett’s correspondence to his German publisher… Beckett wrote to his publisher not in German but in French, a language in which he was of course deeply at home; but in the final year of his life, he switched to English. “Going home,” I thought.” ~ […]