At the musical evening of Bohoman Kobita Adda at Rag Anurag Music Research Academy, Antonym Collections debuted the First Bilingual Yearbook of Bengali Poetry in Translation, Chime of Time, in anticipation of the arrival of the monsoon season in Kolkata. Editors Anindita Mukherjee and Amanita Sen have curated the Chime of Time book, a ground-breaking compilation of 50 poets’ works that unites some of Bengal’s most potent and urgent poetic voices.

The translators and editors began the evening by discussing the project’s journey from conception to compilation. Amanita Sen and Anindita Mukherjee discussed the challenges of editing and translating a book as extensive as Chime of Time. Translators Moulinath Goswami and Amitava Sen discussed their experiences translating poetry while preserving the subtleties of both languages, as well as the gaps in spoken languages. In order to represent Bengali poetry and its many flavors with Amanita Sen, Satadal Mitra underlined that gathering the poems from different sources was a more inclusive approach. To prepare for the formal book launch by Ramchandra Pramanik, Satadal Mitra, Anindita Mukherjee, Yashodhara Roy Chowdhury, Amanita Sen, and Biswadip Chakraborty, the conversation explored the translation process from both personal and creative viewpoints, as well as the challenges it presented.

The audience enjoyed the evening, which celebrated the love of literature, the passion for translations, and the space for more potent poetry shared by translators and contributing poets.

Priyanka Dutta