Indian Embassy in Madagascar organises 11th Edition of LaLitTana
Feb 13, 2021
Antananarivo [Madagascar], February 13 : The 11th Edition of LaLitTana was held at the Embassy of India in Antananarivo on Friday. The theme of the conversation was 'Challenges of writing and publishing' between translator and novelist Katia Novet Saint Lot, and poet-diplomat Abhay K.
Katia Novet Saint-Lot has translated several books from French into English and is the author of Amadi's Snowman, illustrated by Dimitrea Tokunbo (Tilbury House, Publishers).
She thrives on diversity and feels very privileged to have a family hailing from France, Spain, Haiti, and the US, two beautiful daughters, an expatriate life that has taken her to seven countries, and counting.
A translator by trade, she tries to carve more time for her writing, and is currently working on several picture books, each set in a different country, and has completed one novel set in India.
She talked about her book Amadi's Snowman which she wrote when she was in Nigeria and got inspiration from the children's life there.
Abhay K. is the author of nine poetry collections, most recently of The Alphabets of Latin America (Bloomsbury), and the editor of The Bloomsbury Book of Great Indian Love Poems, CAPITALS, and New Brazilian Poems. His poems have been published in several literary journals. His 'Earth Anthem' has been translated into over 50 languages. He has received SAARC Literary Award 2013 and was invited to record his poems at the Library of Congress, Washington DC in 2018.
He related his journey of writing his poetry collections, the 100 Great Indian Poems, and how got them published in India, in many other countries, and how he got some of them translated into many other languages including in Malagasy.
The conversation took the form of sharing experiences on the challenges of writing while having many responsibilities at the same time, moving from one country to another, the whole process of publishing, and the difficulties related to that.
They also shared their joy and passion for writing.
