New India Foundation announces translation fellowships

New India Foundation (NIF) has announced its Translation Fellowships for 2026 toJayasree Kalathil and Mini Chandran in Malayalam, Murali Ranganathan in Hindi, and Shefali Jha in Urdu.

Jayasree Kalathil, award-winning bilingual writer and translator, has received the fellowship to translate Adimamakka (children of the enslaved), the autobiography of Adivasi land rights activist C.K. Janu. It is the history of the indigenous movement for land rights in Keralam, according to NIF.

Mini Chandran, professor of English at IIT Kanpur, will translate Olivile Ormakal, the memoir of celebrated playwright Thoppil Bhasi - a prominent Malayalam playwright best known for the play Ningalenne Communistakki (you made me a Communist). “The book spans a short five years – 1948 to 1953 – yet , it is one of the most celebrated autobiographies in Malayalam. It is a valuable addition to the archive of socio-historical texts that document the evolution of Indian States,” according to NIF.

Murali Ranganathan, historian, writer and translator, has been awarded the fellowship for his translation of Tibet Mein Savva Varsh by Rahul Sankrityayan. Originally published in 1934, the book is an account of Sankrityayan’s travels in search of the Buddha from December 1928 to June 1930, which started and ended in Colombo.

“Shefali Jha, anthropologist and scholar will translate Ibrahim Hussain Jalis’ Do Mulk, Ek Kahani, an important work of subjective journalism documenting the turbulent political landscape of post-colonial South Asia. The book chronicles key moments in the making of post-colonial South Asia from the vantage-point of a young Urdu writer and journalist,” according to NIF.