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239. Stories from Goa (with Damodar Mauzo & Vivek Shanbhag)
A Glimpse into the Heart
Speakers
Renowned author and Sahitya Akademi awardee Damodar Mauzo engages in a conversation with author and playwright Vivek Shanbhag discuss Mauzo’s collection of 14 stories titled “Teresa’s Man and Other Stories from Goa.” These tales provide a profound glimpse into the world of Goan-Konkani literature, a realm shaped by both remarkable achievements and challenges.
Konkani, considered the “oldest of modern Indo-Aryan tongues,” has faced various obstacles throughout its history. It has encountered persistent pressure from dominant regional languages like Marathi and Kannada, and it endured violent suppression during the Inquisition years in Goa from 1560 to 1812. The language struggled for survival amidst waves of diaspora and underwent a fervent postcolonial agitation. Eventually, in 1992, Konkani gained official recognition as a language under the Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution.
Within “Teresa’s Man,” Mauzo skillfully captures the essence of Goa and its Konkani-speaking population. These stories, translated from Konkani to English by Xavier Cota, offer a blend of local flavour and universal themes that evoke a range of emotions and ideas. In this episode, adapted from a session at Bangalore Literature Festival 2022, Mauzo and Shanbhag delve into the inspirations, characters, and themes that shape the collection.
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Speakers
Damodar Mauzo
Born in a coastal village, Majorda in South Goa, Damodar Mauzo is a short fiction writer and novelist writing in Konkani. He is also a columnist, critic and script writer. He has so far 18 books in Konkani and one in English to his credit, besides a few more on the anvil. Among his many awards are the Sahitya Akademi Award, Katha Award, World Konkani Centre’s V. V. Pai Sahitya Puraskar, Janaganga Puraskar and several state level literary awards. His short story collection Teresa’s Man was nominated for the prestigious Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award in 2015.
The most widely translated author of Konkani, his Sahitya Akademi award-winning novel, Karmelin, has gone into over a dozen languages. These Are My Children, a collection of stories in translation published by Katha, was first released at the Paris Book Fair. ‘Rumadful’ is a collection of long stories which is translated into Marathi as Shantateche Ghan and into English as Mirage, published by Under the Peepal Tree. His novel for young adults, Tsunami Simon, has been published in translation into English by Ponytale Books, New Delhi. Another collection of translated short stories published by Rupa Publications was launched at the Frankfurt Book Fair in 2014.
Kuvempu Bhasha Bharati Pradhikara has published a Reader, Damodar Mauzo Vachike in 2017. Damodar Mauzo has written scripts for many feature and short films and was awarded the Best Screenplay Award (2005) and twice the Best Dialogues Award (2003 & 2010) at the Goa State Film Festivals. He is a co-founder and co-curator of the Goa Arts & Literature Festival.
He was conferred the 57th Jnanpith Award, India’s highest literary prize.
Vivek Shanbhag
Vivek Shanbhag writes in Kannada. He has published five short story collections, three novels and two plays. He has edited two anthologies, one of which is in English. Vivek was the founding editor of the literary journal Desha Kaala. His critically-acclaimed novel Ghachar Ghochar is translated into 18 languages worldwide. He is the co-translator of U R Ananthamurthy’s book Hindutva or Hind Swaraj into English. He is an engineer by training and lives in Bangalore, India.
