Announcing Our Inaugural International Translator in Residence – Deepa Bhasthi
We are thrilled to announce the 2025 International Booker Prize winner Deepa Bhasthi as Wasafiri's inaugural International Translator in Residence.
Deepa Bhasthi’s appointment for 2025/26 will kick off Wasafiri’s brand-new three-year partnership with The SALT (South Asian Literature in Translation) Project, which supports and promotes English-language translations of literature written in the languages of South Asia. Speaking of the partnership, SALT co-directors Jason Grunebaum and Daniel Hahn commented: ‘The SALT Project is thrilled to establish a partnership with Wasafiri, and build up on their visionary Translator in Residence programme with the appointment of 2025 International Booker Prize winner Deepa Bhasthi. We are excited to witness the emergence of the next generation of translators working from South Asian languages at a moment when new voices from the Subcontinent are urgently needed.’
Wasafiri was founded in 1984 in the spirit of recognising the largest possible literary community and has since platformed the voices of multilingual writers and writing that traverses linguistic and geographical boundaries. We remain committed to forging and mapping new landscapes in contemporary international writing by nurturing and championing diverse, plural, and often overlooked perspectives. Translation is a vital act of understanding and meaning making — as Wasafiri continues to find new ways to support both translators and the art and praxis of translation, we are incredibly proud to have Deepa Bhasthi join us this Women in Translation month.
Wasafiri's Editor and Publishing Director Sana Goyal commented: 'We are hugely pleased to be partnering with the prestigious SALT Project on our International Translator in Residence programme and doubly pleased to share that we’ve appointed Deepa Bhasthi for the role in 2025/26. As part of this partnership, and over three years, Wasafiri will appoint translators working from South Asian languages with the aim to champion and celebrate the rich, multitudinous landscape of languages in the region. We hope this programme helps bring minoritised language literatures to the mainstream – and to new audiences in the Global North – and are deeply excited to see what conversations this will spark in the field of translation.’
Commenting on her appointment, Deepa Bhasthi said: ‘I am deeply honoured to be appointed Wasafiri's inaugural International Translator in Residence, and very much look forward to working with the team in the coming year. I am inspired by the magazine's commitment to stretch and pierce through the artificiality of various political and cultural borders to nurture excellent writing from the Global Majority. We are in an especially dangerous world today, with the political right enjoying popularity and support so unashamedly, overtly on display in many countries. What I turn to, when I am desperate for a sliver of hope, is always literature, art, music ... and how lucky I am that I get to be part of this creative community, and share writing from my home language, whether in translation or otherwise. I am very excited about exchanging ideas and stories and languages with the readers and makers of Wasafiri during this residency.’
During her nine-month remote residency at Wasafiri, Deepa Bhasthi will tutor four online writing workshops, take part in Wasafiri events, and contribute to the print magazine and Wasafiri.org.
We're also excited to announce Deepa’s first live event on 29 August, 2025 – at the second Bhashavaad: National Translation Conference in New Delhi – as our International Translator in Residence: 'No Story is Small'.
The event – organised by the Ashoka Centre for Translation with The New India Foundation – will see Deepa in conversation with translator and journalist, Sayari Debnath, and Wasafiri's Editorial Director, Sana Goyal. Taking place 29-30 August at the India International Centre, New Delhi, BHASHAVAAD 2.0 will bring together translators, writers, publishers, and scholars working across Indian languages to reflect on the practice, politics, and possibilities of translation in contemporary India.
When: Friday, 29 August, 7.50-8.30pm
Where: India International Centre, New Delhi
Keep an eye out on our website and social media channels for further details.
Deepa Bhasthi is a writer and International Booker Prize winning writer-translator based in Kodagu, South India. Her essays, cultural criticism, and columns have been published extensively in India and internationally in anthologies and in various other publications. Her published translations from Kannada include two collections of short stories and one novel. She is currently working on her debut non-fiction book.