Summary: (http://kamlashow.com/podcast/wp-content/uploads/irapande_2-150x150.jpg)Shivani and Manohar Shyam Joshi are two well-known Hindi writers, whose work until a few years ago was confined to Hindi readers. However in the last few years Shivani and Joshi's books were translated in English by Shivani's daughter Ira Pande, who is an author herself. Shivani's (http://www.streeshakti.com/bookG.aspx?author=6) Diddi and Apradhini (http://www.hindu.com/lr/2011/06/05/stories/2011060550260600.htm) and Joshi's T'Ta Professor (http://www.livemint.com/Articles/2008/07/11235748/Fool8217s-paradise.html)were translated into English by Ira. In Part-1 of our conversation Ira talks about how and why she translated these books into English and the change in Indian publishing landscape and the impact of Chetan Bhagat. Apradhini is an unusual collection of stories from 3 different perspective on the same subject - women in prison for committing crimes of passion. Ira shares how her mother got the idea to write about women in prison. Sometime in 1971 Shivani received an invitation from a doctor in a Lucknow prison to come and meet the female inmates and listen to their stories. What started out as a visit turned into a powerful experience for Shivani, and she then became the medium for these women as Ira puts it. Shivani did not write to titillate as Ira put it, and instead wrote about crime without diluting the moral dimensions. Ira is the chairperson of The DSC Prize for South Asian Literature for the 2012 Jaipur Literary Festival. She has worked in the publishing industry for many years, and was the managing editor of Dorling-Kindersley and chief editor of Roli Books India (http://www.rolibooks.com/). Currently, she is the chief editor at India International Center (http://www.iicdelhi.nic.in/). Tune back in for Part-2 where Ira talks about the changes in Indian publishing and Jaipur Literary Festival (http://jaipurliteraturefestival.org/). Previous podcast interview (http://kamlashow.com/podcast/2006/03/18/ira-pande-remembers-shivani/) with Ira on her mother Shivani.
