Anudita Katha Samagra Translated by Raju Alauddin [Hardcover]

In the mid-1980s, a group of young literary Turks emerged in Bangladeshi literature—consciously and deliberately engaged in the creation of new sensibilities and language. At the same time, their reading and intellectual engagement extended beyond Eurocentrism toward Latin America and Africa. They didn’t just read these literatures—many of them also took on the labor-intensive work of translation. Among them, Raju Alauddin stands as a leading figure. His passion for translating and analyzing Latin American literature—especially the works of Borges—has made him a pioneering presence in this field in Bangladesh. Beyond literary translation, one of his special interests lies in translating interviews with world-renowned writers, philosophers, and thinkers. Over the past three decades, he has translated interviews with countless global intellectuals from across all continents. Until now, these translations had remained scattered. Yet, in today’s global context, their relevance is immense—because they contain the distilled words and insights of the world’s great minds, whose multidimensional wisdom will never lose its significance. This book is a collection of those translated interviews. I had the good fortune to read many of these conversations when they were first published in various magazines and journals. Based on that experience, I can say without hesitation that both Raju Alauddin’s choice of subjects and his translation style are rich and engaging. Often, we forget that we’re reading a translation at all. Instead, through these pieces, we unknowingly travel through the intellectual landscapes of diverse and multidimensional thinkers—immersing ourselves, and emerging from the experience enlightened. — **Saikat Habib**, poet