Betrayed by Hope
Kitaabnama
India’s national broadcaster, Doordarshan, which has over 90 percent footprint across the country and a commitment to cultural coverage, launched a unique book show from Sunday, the 25 th of August, 2013. ‘Kitaabnama: Books and Beyond’ has been weekly on Sundays at 8:00 PM on DD Bharati and on Saturdays at 6:00 PM on DD National.
Addressing literary issues of contemporary interest through dialogue and conversation, ‘Kitaabnama’ features books, readings and encounters with writers from the spheres of Hindi, English, and various Indian languages, as well as guest appearances from international names and voices.
Conceived and curated by writer and literary activist Namita Gokhale, the programme has a participatory and inclusive format and showcase the multilingual diversity of Indian literature. ‘Kitaabnama: Books and Beyond’ is an unfolding kaleidoscope of books, authors and readings’.
Twice Told Tales
‘Twice Told Tales: Indian stories in Translation’ is a show that celebrates literature and language, bringing to the radio audience, narratives from across India and South Asia. The concept is to bring the world of literature in translation into the realm of radio.
The stories have been translated into English from Indian languages while carrying the flavour and dialect of the original language in the form of dialogues. The show attempts to give the audience a glimpse of the different languages, dialects, cultural nuances and musical traditions of South Asia.
Ms Namita Gokhale and Ms Sangita Misra conceived of this project to meet the huge demand of a radio audience as well as the potential of translation in a land rich with languages. The idea was to marry the two and introduce a new audience to established works in translation. They constitute the team which includes production, coordination, commissioning of translations, scripts, obtaining copyright and other activities.