The Hindu : National : French honour for book fair director

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jun 20, 2007
ePaper

National

National

French honour for book fair director

Staff Reporter

KOLKATA: Kolkata Book Fair director Kalyan Shah has been awarded the ‘Chevalier de l’Ordre National du Merite’ (Knight of the Order of Merit) by the French Government for his contribution to the development of Indo-French relations, particularly in publishing.

This was announced by the Publishers and Booksellers Guild, organisers of the book fair, in a statement.

“I had tried to introduce Indian, especially Bengali publishers, to their French counterparts to open up the way for translation and printing of the works in their respective languages,” Mr. Shah said. Publishers in West Bengal, unsure of the marketability of the products, were often reluctant to get French works translated. “They were gradually convinced, and in many cases, the cost was shared by the French Embassy, which would also buy multiple copies to help the publishers,” Mr. Shah said.

The French publishers were also interested in Bengali classics, most notably the works of Rabindranath Tagore (with a marked preference for his short stories), as well as those by Satyajit Ray and Bibhutibhushan Bandhopadhyay. “Translation is now developing into a continuous process as a voluminous amount of literary output is involved,” he said.

The award given to Mr. Shah, president of the Guild between 2004-06, also recognised his contribution when France was the focal ‘Theme Country’ during the 2005 book fair.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

National

News Update

Stories in this Section