Pride Month: English translation of the queer fiction of Krishnagopal Mallick to be launched in Kolkata

To mark the occasion this year, Delhi-based publisher Niyogi Books, will be unveiling ‘Entering the Maze: The Queer Fiction of Krishnagopal Mallick’, translated by Niladri R. Chatterjee.

According to Trisha De Niyogi, COO & Director Niyogi Books, “These translations of short stories and a novella by Krishnagopal Mallick bring some hidden gems of Bengali queer literature to a wider audience. While taking a nostalgic look at Kolkata, the stories are also hard hitting in their depictions of sexual encounters and behaviour.”

Said Prof. Niladri R. Chatterjee, “I thought that the time has come to uphold his [Krishnagopal Mallick; 1936-2003] work as a major contribution not only to Bengali literature in general, but to Bengali queer literature in particular. He had gathered the dust of homophobic neglect long enough. It was time for him to claim his rightful place in the world of letters.”

The book (paperback; Rs 350) will be unveiled on June 9 in Kolkata in the presence of theatre artist Chapal Bhaduri, actor Sujoy Prasad Chatterjee, academic, author and translator Rimi B. Chatterjee (who will be moderating the programme) and author and translator Niladri R Chatterjee.

About the translator

Chatterjee, a professor in the Department of English, University of Kalyani, West Bengal, is the recipient of Fulbright Scholarship and the British Council-Charles Wallace Fellowship; he has co-edited ‘The Muffled Heart: Stories of the Disempowered Male’ and ‘Naribhav: Androgyny and Female Impersonation in India’. He is also the author of a novel called ‘The Scholar’. His areas of interest are Masculinity Studies and Queer Studies.

What: Book Launch - Entering the Maze:The Queer Fiction of Krishnagopal Mallick

Where: Oxford Book Store, Kolkata

When: June 9, 2023; 6.30pm onwards