Professor Wins Prize for Monumental Translation of Epic Poem
In the epic Tamil poem from the ninth century, Tiruvāymoḻi, Nammāḻvār sings of his ecstatic devotion to God. Thanks to Archana Venkatesan, UC Davis professor of religious studies and comparative literature, the poem sings in English as well. Her translation, Endless Song, has won the 2021 Lucien Stryk Asian Translation Prize from the American Literary Translators Association. The judges said of the work: “Venkatesan has crafted a translation that one can experience not only as a well-annotated, definitive work of scholarship, but also as a living, breathing work of contemporary poetry, too.”
Read more about Venkatesan’s monumental undertaking translating 1,102 interlinked verses.