BHUBANESWAR: The Lost Daughter and Other Stories, a collection of short stories authored by noted writer SKB Narayan, popularly known as Japani Babu in the literary circle, and translated into English by Purabi Das was released at Rotary Bhawan in Bhubaneswar on March 6.
Speaking on the occasion, eminent translator, literary critic and editor of the collection Dr Jatindra Kumar Nayak outlined the uncontrived art and the powerful emotion which lay beneath the deceptively simple nature of the stories in the book. Japani Babu said that he has narrated the stories as they were, culled from real life but without any attempt to impart a message.
The collection has been designed by poet and artist Saroj Bal and the book published by AuthorsPress in New Delhi.Another collection released in the event was ‘The Art of God and other Poems’ which is a collaborative effort by Purabi Das and her son Amrit Patnaik, who is an engineer and a digital artist. While Purabi has penned 20 poems, Amrit wrote four besides doing the digital illustrations and cover design of the book. The collection was published by Timepass Publication in Bhubaneswar.
Speaking at the event, Sahitya Akademi awardee Sangram Jena said the poets’ mature sensibility was suffused with love, life, pain and loss. Jena was also all praise for the concluding lines of the first poem of the collection, ‘but the universe, unsaid behind words, waiting to be born into poetry’.