Virudhunagar :

A retired government officer based in this district has bagged the latest Sahitya Akademi award for the best translated novel in Tamil. S Devadoss’ work, Ladakhilirundhu Kavizhum Nizhal is the Tamil version of an English novel, Shadow From Ladakh by Bhabani Bhattacharya.  The award was announced on Monday.

Devadoss said the novel was about a love story in Ladakh during the Sino-Indian War of 1962. He said, “The Sahitya Akademi  Award for the novel is a good recognition for me and I am very happy.”

S Devadoss, from Nadayaneri village, has settled in Rajapalayam taluk in Virudhunagar district after retiring as a deputy registrar, Cooperative Societies department.

He said he completed his MA Tamil from Madurai Kamaraj University which kindled his interest in reading novels written by authors from other countries.

While reading those novels he felt there was a need to translate them into Tamil, which is one of the oldest languages, so that our people would know the culture of the other countries when they read these novels.

He said, “Though I was working as a government employee I gave lots of importance to my literary work. I used to wake up early to work on translation.”

He began his literary pursuit in 1990 and has so far translated 25 novels, short stories and non-fictional works. “One of my best works is ‘Platerovum Naanum” which was translated from the novel Platero and I written by a Spanish writer Juan Ramón Jiménez who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. This is a very simple novel and the narration style is different. This novel will be an inspiration for new writers,” said Devadoss.

He said he also translated the works of  veteran Spanish director Luis Buñuel and the works of well-known Chilean poet, Pablo Neruda.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Tamil Nadu / by Kauhik Kannan / March 12th, 2015