India, Oct. 15 -- Have you heard of Bano Mushtaq, the Booker prize winner in 2025, and of Geetanjali Shree the winner of the Booker prize in 2022? Probably. And of Damayanti Naregal? Outside of Karnataka, probably not. Though her work is no less worthy, and has won many prestigious prizes in Karnataka, she has not been translated into other national or international languages. Therein lies the importance of translation.

Each region and state of India has a rich literary tradition, yet the literature that is available to the ordinary outside reader is minuscule. And this is especially true of writing by women. If we are to compare the writing by women from different regions and languages it is clear that women's lives are remarkably simil...