Challenge and opportunity for Bangla Academy

By 2030, more people in India will be reading English fiction and non-fiction than in Europe and North America. This population is estimated to be 500 million (half a billion). It is no wonder Western publishers are making book launches more and more in India these days. India is where an emerging English fiction and non-fiction reading market lies. More and more words, phrases and caricatures of South Asian origin are entering English literature. With a wave of freshness and originality, authors of Indian origin have changed the landscape of English literature and created a new wave and genre totally of their own. This genre is different because the Soul of South Asia is different --- rich in variety, deep in history and tradition.
Writers from Bangladesh and of Bangladeshi origin have a bright prospect to exploit this emerging market. Bangladesh and India share more than one common heritage. From a different spectrum, Bangladesh, West Bengal and Tripura are historically bonded together through the Bangla language. And thus share a bondage that transcends artificial political boundaries. Writers from Bangladesh and of Bangladeshi origin have a wonderful prospect to exploit an emerging and booming English fiction and non-fiction market in India first and then in South Asia. The recently concluded Hay Festival in Dhaka is a door of opportunity for Bangladeshi writers and writers of Bangladeshi origin. Bangla Academy being the host of the Hay Festival this year has created a basis for making this opportunity more than a reality.
Created in 1955, from the Language Movement of 1952, Bangla Academy has been a torchbearer of the Bangla language and the spirit of the Bangladeshi people for more than half a century. With original research, the academy has contributed in making Bangla move forward. With the Ekushey February Boi Mela, every year Bangla Academy injects a breath of life to the book publishing industry in Bangladesh. However, with the world moving on, and the world becoming more and more inter-connected, Bangla Academy is now faced with a new challenge --- to take Bangla literature and the writings of Bangladeshi authors to a wider global audience.
If Bangladeshi writers and writers of Bangladeshi origin want to exploit a global market, and an emerging market for English fiction and non-fiction in India and South Asia, then they need to adapt with the changing times and tide of a more inter-connected global audience. Adapting does not mean selling out or embracing all that is foreign. Rather it means keeping true to one's tradition, history, culture and heritage. And by doing so, Bangladeshi writers can present themselves and Bangladesh to a wider audience.
Orhan Pamuk and Paulo Coelho, to name only two, write in their own languages. They present a tradition of mastery of story telling that is unique to their native countries, Turkey and Brazil. Today English is not only a language. It is also a tool for communication. Through well translated transliterations, the Turkish and Brazilian Souls have moved away from the political boundaries of Pamuk and Coelho's native countries and reached households around the globe. Pamuk and Coelho are household names in Bangladesh like any other country of the world. This has been possible due to their genius and also transliteration of their works.
The Soviet Union and the ideals of socialism have collapsed for reasons that will remain the subject of debate for a long time to come. When socialism was alive and very much vibrant, Progress Publishers (Progoti in Bangla), a state agency, was instrumental in disseminating the masterpieces of Russian literature to the world. The Russian litterateurs wrote in their own language, expressing the Soul of their people, culture and heritage. Through well done transliterations, their works became a part of a global heritage and known outside the boundaries of the Soviet Union.
Besides being a torchbearer of the Soul of Bangla literature, and a proud patron to the book publishing industry in Bangladesh, the Hay Festival has put Bangla Academy in a wonderful position to take the works of Bangladeshi writers and writers of Bangladeshi origin to a wider global audience through their works in Bangla or in English. Bangla Academy is a state institute that has proudly stood the test of time. By creating a pool of good translators, Bangla Academy holds the key to enabling Bangladeshi writers write in their own language with the flair of a heritage that is older and richer than those of many other cultures, and to present themselves and represent Bangla and Bangladesh to a global audience.
The Hay Festival in Dhaka, 2012, raises two vital questions and opportunities that have been revealed. First: Bangladesh shares a common heritage with India and South Asia, and even more with West Bengal and Tripura. As Bangladesh argues for India to open its markets to Bangladeshi goods, it may well be fruitful to think of opening access to intellectual products of Bangladeshi writers. This will create an opportunity for Bangladeshi writers and writers of Bangladeshi origin to exploit an emerging and booming books market in India and South Asia. Second: Bangla Academy stands at a crossroads. Through transliteration of the works of Bangladeshi writers, Bangla Academy can take its role as a torchbearer of Bangla literature to South Asia and to even wider audiences across the globe. There is no doubt Bangla Academy has the intellectual resources and institutional capacity to perform this role. History bears testimony to that. The question for time to unravel is: does Bangla Academy have the passion and the pride to take Bangla and Bangladesh to a global audience? The nation will not want to be proved wrong.

Asrar Chowdhury teaches economic theory at Jahangirnagar University and North South University. Email: [email protected]