In 2025, Deepa Bhasthi became the first translator of colour to win the Booker Prize, marking this moment as historic in the field of world literature. Bhasthi has since then spoken and written about translating with an accent and approaching language and translations with a sense of play and rebellion. In an article for PEN, Bhasthi extended her understanding of translation to her readers: “instead of trying to contort the source language to fit the English idiom, look for ways to stretch English so that it too can speak somewhat with the accent of the original language.”
In this session, Deepa Bhasthi, in conversation with Thirangie Jayatilake, will talk about the act of translation, of being a writer and a writer–translator, of translating a work that is in itself embedded with multiple languages and social nuances, of untranslatability and what writers of translation and non-standard Englishes would like editors to know about the process of translation.
PRESENTER
Deepa Bhasthi is a writer and International Booker Prize–winning literary translator working in Kannada and English. Deepa is the first Indian translator and the first translator of colour to be awarded the International Booker Prize.
Her cultural criticism, essays, columns and journalism have been published extensively in Indian and international publications, anthologies and art book projects. She is the author of a children’s book, titled Champi and the fig tree. Her published book-length translations from Kannada include works by Kota Shivarama Karanth, Kodagina Gouramma and Banu Mushtaq. Deepa lives and works in Kodagu in southern India.
Cost: IPEd members & affiliate organisations AUD25 (approx. NZD27.43), IPEd student & concession members AUD10 (approx. NZD10.97); non-members AUD40 (approx. NZD43.45). Exchange rates as of 18 August 2026
For more information click here
