The Shehnai Virtuoso Launch at Deep Vellum Books w/ translator Jenny Bhatt

3000 Commerce Street,Dallas TX 75226

26 July, 2022

Description

Join Deep Vellum Books and Publishing for the official launch of The Shehnai Virtuoso and Other Stories by Dhumketu with translator Jenny Bhatt, who will read from and discuss this landmark work of Indian short fiction. It is the first substantial collection of Dhumketu's work to be available in English and the first ever Gujarati-to-English translation to be published in the US. This ticket option includes free access to the event, complimentary drink and snacks, and does NOT include a book. Signed book copies will be available for purchase. NOTE: Space is limited to 40-45 attendees so please book early as we'd love to see everyone. About the book“Dhumketu is a wonderfully gripping storyteller . . . Bhatt has certainly done him justice in this excellent selection.” ~JENNIFER CROFT, translator of The Books of Jacob by Olga Tokarczuk “. . . a love letter to the power of art and the human spirit . . . These stories invite readers to rediscover the wonder in the quotidian.” ~KIRKUS REVIEWS “Complex characters, vibrant imagery, and descriptions of rural Gujarat State bolster each of the stories. Readers are in for a treat.” ~PUBLISHERS WEEKLY When Dhumketu’s first collection of short stories, Tankha, came out in 1926, it revolutionized the genre in India. Characterized by a fine sensitivity, deep humanism, perceptive observation, and an intimate knowledge of both rural and urban life, his fiction has provided entertainment and edification to generations of Gujarati readers and speakers. The Shehnai Virtuoso brings together the first substantial collection of Dhumketu’s work to be available in English in the US. Beautifully translated for a wide new audience by Jenny Bhatt, these much-loved stories — like the finest literature — remain remarkable and relevant even today. About the authorDhumketu (1892–1965) was the pen name of Gaurishankar Govardhanram Joshi, one of Gujarat’s most prolific writers in the early-20th century. During his lifetime, he wrote some 600 short stories in 26 volumes, 29 historical and 7 social novels, various plays, travelogues, memoirs, and more. He was also an avid translator of Rabindranath Tagore and Khalil Gibran. It is fair to say that Dhumketu is the Gujarati Chekhov or Tagore. He pioneered the short story form in Gujarati literature, taking it beyond mere storytelling to a creative art form with advanced literary devices, universal themes, and characters drawn from all walks of life — rural to royal, young to old. In particular, his strong, independent-minded women and emotionally sensitive men were well ahead of their time. About the translatorJenny Bhatt is a writer, literary translator, and book critic. She is the founder of Desi Books, a global forum that showcases South Asian literature from the world over. And she teaches creative writing at Writing Workshops Dallas and the PEN America Emerging Voices Fellowship Program. Her 2020 debut story collection, Each of Us Killers: Stories, won a 2020 Foreword INDIES award in the Short Stories category and was a finalist in the Multicultural Adult Fiction category. Her 2020 literary translation, Ratno Dholi: Dhumketu’s Best Short Stories, was shortlisted for the 2021 PFC-VoW Book Awards for English Translation from Regional Languages. One of her short stories was included in The Best American Mystery and Suspense 2021. Her nonfiction has been published in various venues including NPR, The Washington Post, BBC Culture, The Atlantic, Publishers Weekly, Dallas Morning News, Literary Hub, Poets & Writers, Los Angeles Review of Books, The Star Tribune, and more. The US version of her Dhumketu translation, The Shehnai Virtuoso and Other Stories, launches in July 2022. Sign up for her popular, free, weekly newsletter, We Are All Translators.