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The Churn and Churning of the Word
English Translations of Bendre’s Kannada Poetry
Speakers
In this session, Deepa and Madhav will discuss Da Ra Bendre and his place in Kannada and world literature. They will explore his multifaceted personality, the phenomenon of Ambikatanayadatta (the poetic shakti) and, of course, Bendre’s heaven-touched poetry.
They will also discuss Madhav’s ‘discovery’ of Bendre the man and his poetry, his years-long engagement with both, and his journey towards the publication of The Pollen Waits On Tiptoe, his recent book comprising his English translations of selected Bendre poems. The session will be interspersed with poetry recitations by Madhav and audio recordings of Bendre’s own readings of his poetry.
A Q&A with the audience will follow the discussion.
Speakers
Madhav Ajjampur
Madhav Ajjampur is a writer and translator. He writes for various reasons, the most important being his wish to be engaged actively with the world around him. His essays, poems, and translations have appeared or are forthcoming in publications including The Hindu, Bengaluru Review, EKL Review, Autumn Sky Poetry Daily, Kyoto Journal, and Modern Poetry in Translation. He is presently the Arts and Culture Editor (Karnataka) for The South First, an online news portal.
As a translator, his focus has been the magical poetry of Da Ra Bendre, the heaven-touched poet of Kannada literature. He has been translating Bendre’s poetry for the better part of a decade. His first book, The Pollen Waits On Tiptoe (Manipal Universal Press 2022), contains his English translations of selected Bendre poems.
Madhav is a graduate in Mathematics from Carleton College, Minnesota. The liberal arts education he received there introduced to him whole new worlds and was responsible for his gradual move away from Mathematics. Nevertheless, he retains an interest in the subject and was, until recently, a Maths Curriculum Designer in the EdTech space.
Deepa Ganesh
Deepa Ganesh served as Deputy Editor at The Hindu for two decades. Currently she is Professor and Executive Director, Centre for Visual and Performing Arts, RV University. She is the author of A Life In Three Octaves – The life and Times of Gangubai Hangal. Ganesh has also translated U.R. Ananthamurthy’s short stories, and the memoir of the early Kannada writer Saraswati Bai Rajwade by Vaidehi. Ganesh is a translator and journalist.
