Daisy Rockwell

Daisy Rockwell
Bornc. 1969
Western Massachusetts, U.S.
Alma materUniversity of Chicago
Known forWriter, painter and artist, and Hindi and Urdu text translator
FamilyNorman Rockwell (grandfather)
AwardsInternational Booker Prize
2023 Vani Foundation Distinguished Translator Award
2023 Warwick Prize for Women in Translation

Daisy Rockwell (born 1969)[1] is an American Hindi and Urdu language translator and artist. She has translated a number of classic works of Hindi and Urdu literature, including Upendranath Ashk's Falling Walls, Bhisham Sahni's Tamas, and Khadija Mastur's The Women's Courtyard. Her 2021 translation of Geetanjali Shree's Tomb of Sand was the first South Asian book to win the International Booker Prize. Rockwell was awarded the 2023 Vani Foundation Distinguished Translator Award by the Vani Foundation and Teamwork Arts, during the 2023 edition of the Jaipur Literature Festival.[2][3] Tomb of Sand also won her the 2022 Warwick Prize for Women in Translation.[4]

Personal life

Rockwell grew up in western Massachusetts. Both her parents are artists. She is the granddaughter of the painter, illustrator, and author Norman Rockwell,[5] and is an established painter in her own right.

Education

Rockwell has been a student of Hindi, Latin, French, German, and ancient Greek for many years. She received her PhD in South Asian Literature from the University of Chicago, where she studied Hindi literature, translation, and social sciences under A K Ramanujan, Susanne Hoeber Rudolph[6] and Colin P Masica. In 1998, she received a grant to write her PhD dissertation on the Hindi author Upendranath Ashk.[7]

Works

Rockwell has published numerous translations from Hindi and Urdu, including her collection of translations of selected stories by Upendranath Ashk, Hats and Doctors (Penguin, 2013),[8] Ashk's Falling Walls (Penguin, 2015), Bhisham Sahni’s Tamas (Penguin, 2016), and Khadija Mastur’s The Women’s Courtyard (Penguin, 2018). Her translation of Krishna Sobti’s final novel, A Gujarat Here, A Gujarat There (Penguin, 2019) is the first South Asian book to be awarded the Aldo and Jeanne Scaglione Prize for a Translation of a Literary Work in 2020.[9][10] Her translation of Geetanjali Shree’s Tomb of Sand (Tilted Axis Press, 2021) was the first South Asian book to be shortlisted for the International Booker Prize;[11][12][13][14][15][16][17] it went on to win the 2022 edition.[18]

Rockwell is also a writer, painter and artist.[19][20] She has published a critical biography of Upendranath Ashk (2004, Penguin),[21] and a novel titled Taste (Foxhead Books, 2014). In 2012, she published The Little Book of Terror (Foxhead Books), a volume of paintings and essays on the Global War on Terror. She also paints under the alias Lapata, which means "missing" or "disappeared" in Urdu.[22]

English-Language Title English-Language Publication Year Original-Language Author Original-Language Title
Hats and Doctors[23] 2013 Upendranath Ashk N/A
Falling Walls[24] 2015 Upendranath Ashk Girti Deevarein (Hindi)
Tamas[25] 2016 Bhisham Sahni Tamas (Hindi)
The Women's Courtyard[26] 2018 Khadija Mastur Aangan (Urdu)
In the City a Mirror Wandering[27] 2019 Upendranath Ashk Sheher Mein Ghoomta Aina (Hindi)
A Promised Land[28] 2019 Khadija Mastur Zameen (Urdu)
A Gujarat Here, A Gujarat There[29] 2019 Krishna Sobti Gujarat Pakistan Se Gujarat Hindustan (Hindi)
Fifty-five Pillars, Red Walls[30] 2021 Usha Priyamvada Pachpan Khambe, Laal Deewaarein (Hindi)
Tomb of Sand[31] 2022 Geetanjali Shree Ret Samadhi (Hindi)

References

  1. ^ "Daisy Rockwell". The Booker Prizes. Retrieved May 28, 2022.
  2. ^ "'Tomb of Sand' translator Daisy Rockwell gets 2023 Vani Foundation Distinguished Translator Award". Scroll.in. January 10, 2023. Retrieved January 22, 2023.
  3. ^ "Daisy Rockwell to receive Vani Foundation Distinguished Translator Award". Deccan Chronicle. January 12, 2023. Retrieved January 22, 2023.
  4. ^ Scroll Staff (November 25, 2022). "Geetanjali Shree's 'Tomb of Sand' shares 2022 Warwick Prize for Women in Translation with 'Osebol'". Scroll.in. Retrieved July 3, 2023.
  5. ^ "'It's the best way to live!': International Booker winners Geetanjali Shree and Daisy Rockwell". TheGuardian.com. May 27, 2022.
  6. ^ "An Interview with Daisy Rockwell, Author, Artist and a Hindi-Urdu Translator | Jaya's blog". Retrieved April 10, 2022.
  7. ^ Joshi, Sonam. ""Booker nod is a big win. It will create awareness about Hindi translations," say Geetanjali Shree and Daisy Rockwell – Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved April 9, 2022.
  8. ^ Gupta, Trisha (May 13, 2018). "Meet the American who translates some of India's finest Hindi writers into English". Scroll.in. Retrieved April 18, 2022.
  9. ^ "Daisy Rockwell – Words are Bridges". Jaipur Literature festival. September 17, 2013. Retrieved April 18, 2022.
  10. ^ "Daisy Rockwell". Tilted Axis Press. Retrieved April 18, 2022.
  11. ^ "Tomb of Sand | Geetanjali Shree: 'Tomb of Sand' writes history – Geetanjali Shree's translation is 1st Hindi novel in Booker prize longlist". The Economic Times. Retrieved April 18, 2022.
  12. ^ "International Booker prize announces longlist 'tracing ring around the world'". the Guardian. March 10, 2022. Retrieved April 18, 2022.
  13. ^ Marshall, Alex (April 7, 2022). "Women Dominate Shortlist for International Booker Prize". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved April 18, 2022.
  14. ^ "Geetanjali Shree's 'Tomb of Sand' first Hindi novel on International Booker shortlist". ThePrint. April 7, 2022. Retrieved April 18, 2022.
  15. ^ "Discover the longlist: Daisy Rockwell, 'I think of the translator and the author as ballroom dancers' | The Booker Prizes". thebookerprizes.com. Retrieved May 2, 2022.
  16. ^ Mani Jha, Aditya (April 8, 2022). "Daisy Rockwell: Meet the translator of the first Hindi novel to be nominated for the Booker Prize". India Today. Retrieved May 2, 2022.
  17. ^ Rockwell, Daisy (March 13, 2022). "How Daisy Rockwell translated the first Hindi novel to be on the Booker International longlist". Scroll.in. Retrieved May 2, 2022.
  18. ^ "Geetanjali Shree is first Indian winner of International Booker Prize". BBC. May 27, 2022. Retrieved May 27, 2022.
  19. ^ Jones, Alexina. "Daisy Rockwell". Bennington Museum | Grandma Moses | Vermont History and Art. Retrieved April 18, 2022.Archived 2023-05-18 at the Wayback Machine
  20. ^ Rockwell, Daisy (July 8, 2016). "Why Daisy Rockwell is painting portraits of Black women who committed suicide in US jails". Scroll.in. Retrieved May 2, 2022.
  21. ^ "Daisy Rockwell". Penguin Random House India. Retrieved April 18, 2022.
  22. ^ "Daisy Rockwell – JLF Colorado". JLF. September 17, 2013. Retrieved April 10, 2022.
  23. ^ Ashk, Upendranath Ashk (2013). Hats and Doctors. Translated by Daisy Rockwell (translation ed.). New Delhi: Penguin Random House India. ISBN 9780143417187.
  24. ^ Ashk, Upendranath (2015). Falling Walls. Translated by Daisy Rockwell. New Delhi: Penguin Random House India. ISBN 9780143423690.
  25. ^ Sahni, Bhisham (2016). Tamas. Translated by Daisy Rockwell. New Delhi: Penguin Random House India. ISBN 978-0143063681.
  26. ^ Mastur, Khadija (2018). The Women's Courtyard. Translated by Daisy Rockwell. New Delhi: Penguin Random House India. ISBN 978-0-670-09136-2.
  27. ^ Ashk, Upendranath (2019). In the City a Mirror Wandering. Translated by Daisy Rockwell. New Delhi: Penguin Random House India. ISBN 9780143425991.
  28. ^ Mastur, Khadija (2019). A Promised Land. Translated by Daisy Rockwell. New Delhi: Penguin Random House India. ISBN 9789353055868.
  29. ^ Sobti, Krishna (2019). A Gujarat Here, A Gujarat There. Translated by Daisy Rockwell. New Delhi: Penguin Random House India. ISBN 9780143453482.
  30. ^ Priyamvada, Usha (2021). Fifty-five Pillars, Red Walls. Translated by Daisy Rockwell. New Delhi: Speaking Tiger. ISBN 978-8194490821.
  31. ^ Shree, Geetanjali (2022). Tomb of Sand. Translated by Daisy Rockwell. New Delhi: Penguin Random House India. ISBN 978-0143448471.