What does it take to carry Shakespeare across languages — not just his plots and his characters, but the very heartbeat of his verse? Today I'm speaking with Daniel Hahn, one of the most celebrated literary translators working today.

With several works to his credit, he has translated fiction, nonfiction, children's books, and plays from across Europe, Africa, and the Americas. He is the recipient of the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize, the International Dublin Literary Award, the Blue Peter Book Award, and the 2023 Ottaway Award for the Promotion of International Literature. In 2020, he was appointed an OBE for his services to literature.

Daniel's new book, If This Be Magic: The Unlikely Art of Shakespeare in Translation, is part love letter, part close reading, and part globe-trotting investigation — one that took him from Budapest theatre seats to Zoom calls with translators working in everything from Swahili to Bangla. It's a book that asks: when you change everything, can you still keep everything?

published in April 2026 - If This Be Magic: The Unlikely Art of Shakespeare in Translation by Daniel Hahn is a non-fiction book exploring how Shakespeare's plays are translated, adapted, and re-imagined for global audiences. It investigates the challenges of translating Shakespearean language, wordplay, and poetry across different cultures and languages.

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"Welcome to Harshaneeyam Podcast. Today, we enter the intricate, wickedly humorous, and deeply observant world of Swedish author Ia Genberg. Joining us is the acclaimed translator Kira Josefsson, whose English translation of the short story collection - Small Comfort, has been longlisted for the International Booker Prize 2026.

Kira is no stranger to Genberg’s sharp prose; she also translated the 2024 International Booker Prize-shortlisted novel The Details. In Small Comfort, the author shifts her focus toward the subtle, often invisible ways that money, status, and debt permeate our most intimate human relationships. From a former child star turned elusive interviewee to a divorced couple feigning marriage to secure an inheritance, these stories take us to the inner worlds of these characters.

Stay with us as we discuss the 'slippery' nature of success, the challenge of finding distinct tonalities for interconnected stories, and why Ia Genberg is a master of making the mundane feel extraordinary."

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***Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by Interviewees in interviews conducted by Harshaneeyam Podcast are those of the Interviewees and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Harshaneeyam Podcast. Any content provided by Interviewees is of their opinion and is not intended to malign any religion, ethnic group, club, organization, company, individual, or anyone or anything.

"Welcome to Harshaneeyam. Today, we delve into a powerful work of Bulgarian literature that has recently made its way to the 2026 International Booker Prize shortlist: 'She Who Remains' by Renée Karbash.

The novel explores the life of a 'sworn virgin'—a woman who, according to an ancient Balkan tradition, takes a vow of celibacy and lives as a man to gain the rights and status reserved for men in a patriarchal society. However, Karbash moves beyond the tradition itself to examine the psychological weight of this choice. It is a story about identity, the cost of survival, and the profound isolation that comes with erasing one's past.

Joining us to discuss this work is the English translator Izidora Angel. Having translated other notable Bulgarian writers like Natalia Deleva, Izidora found this particular project to be uniquely challenging and innovative.

In our conversation, she talks about the experience of the book being recognized by the International Booker Prize—from the initial longlist to the formal invitation to London. We also discuss her translation process, specifically how she approached Karbash’s experimental style and the linguistic shifts required to capture a character who transitions between a female past and a male present. It is a fascinating look at how a translator navigates a text that is as much about what is unsaid as what is written."

Izidora Angel is a Bulgarian-born memoirist, essayist and literary translator based in Chicago. Her translation of She Who Remains by Rene Karabash has been shortlisted for the 2026 International Booker Prize.

Izidora's writing has appeared in A Public Space, Astra Magazine, Electric Literature, Gulf Coast, and elsewhere, and anthologized in Best Literary Translations. She’s been recognized by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Elizabeth Kostova Foundation, PEN/Heim, and others.

Izidora is completing her debut memoir, Solomon’s Daughter, first excerpted in The American Scholar.

If you enjoy Harshaneeyam Podcast please follow the show on Apple, Spotify, or your favourite podcasting platform and leave a review for us. It will help truly help us; and don't forget to Share our podcast link with your other friends who enjoy similar content.

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***Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by Interviewees in interviews conducted by Harshaneeyam Podcast are those of the Interviewees and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Harshaneeyam Podcast. Any content provided by Interviewees is of their opinion and is not intended to malign any religion, ethnic group, club, organization, company, individual, or anyone or anything.

In this episode, Harshaneeyam Host Anil sits down with Sruthi, a long-time listener of the show, to talk about the launch of the website, harshaneeyam.com.

They discuss what’s coming next for the podcast and explore how the site serves as a complete library for all episodes. Now, it is easy to find favorite shows by category, leave detailed reviews, and sign up for the newsletter to stay updated.

Head over to www.harshaneeyam.com and take a look around—explore everything the platform has to offer.

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***Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by Interviewees in interviews conducted by Harshaneeyam Podcast are those of the Interviewees and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Harshaneeyam Podcast. Any content provided by Interviewees is of their opinion and is not intended to malign any religion, ethnic group, club, organization, company, individual, or anyone or anything.

Guest for this Episode is Writer, Translator Lin King -

Lin King is a writer and translator based in Taipei and New York

Her fiction has appeared in One Story, Boston Review, and Joyland, among others, and has received the PEN/Dau Short Story Prize for Emerging Writers.

Translations include the graphic novel series The Boy from Clearwater by Yu Pei-Yun and Zhou Jian-Xin.

Her debut novel, Weeb, is forthcoming from Holt.

Her translation of the novel Taiwan Travelogue by Yáng Shuāng-zǐ, which won the 2024 National Book Award in Translated Literature. 'Taiwan Travelogue' is longlisted for the International Booker Prize 2026.

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***Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by Interviewees in interviews conducted by Harshaneeyam Podcast are those of the Interviewees and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Harshaneeyam Podcast. Any content provided by Interviewees is of their opinion and is not intended to malign any religion, ethnic group, club, organization, company, individual, or anyone or anything.

In this episode we have with us Padma Viswanathan.

Padma Viswanathan is a Canadian-American writer and translator.

Her novels have been published in eight countries and shortlisted for the PEN USA Prize, the Scotiabank Giller Prize, and others. She has published short fiction, essays and translations in Granta, The Boston Review, BRICK, and elsewhere. Full-length translations include São Bernardo, by Brazilian novelist Graciliano Ramos and Where We Stand, by Djamila Ribeiro. Her most recent novel, The Charterhouse of Padma, was published in 2024.

She is Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Arkansas-Fayetteville, where she is Founding Director of the Arkansas International Writer-at-Risk Residency Program.

Her English language translation of On Earth As it is Beneath by Ana Paula Maia was longlisted for the International Booker Prize 2026.

Author photo © Alex Tran

Today we have David Mckay on Harshaneeyam Podcast.

Born and educated in the United States, David McKay is an award-winning translator of Dutch fiction and non-fiction

He holds degrees in philosophy, linguistics and international relations, and has lived in and around The Hague since 1997.

His literary translations include War and Turpentine by Stefan Hertmans, which was longlisted for the International Booker Prize in 2017, and Multatuli’s classic Max Havelaar , as well as contributions to the Penguin Book of Dutch Short Stories.

He has given talks, led workshops, and written articles on translation topics, served as a judge for translation prizes, contributed to Dutch-English dictionaries, and acted as an adviser to the American Translators Association and the Dutch Foundation for Literature.

He is the translator of Anjet Daanje’s The Remembered Soldier, which was longlisted for the International Booker Prize 2026.

Link to David's Website -

https://openbooktranslation.com/

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***Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by Interviewees in interviews conducted by Harshaneeyam Podcast are those of the Interviewees and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Harshaneeyam Podcast. Any content provided by Interviewees is of their opinion and is not intended to malign any religion, ethnic group, club, organization, company, individual, or anyone or anything.