With the objective of making French literature more accessible to the people in India, The French Institute in India has decided to launch French corners entitled ‘Pardon My French' in independent bookshops all around the country.
In Jaipur, this corner has been put up at the Rajat Book Corner in Jaipur. This dedicated book space will feature translated French literature, ranging from classics to contemporary works. Writings of renowned writers like Emile Zola, Albert Camus, Annie Ernaux, among others will be featured here along with some books in French itself. There will also be works of a wide array of contemporary authors like Catherine Poulain, and a host of graphic novels for children and young readers.
To mark the inauguration of the book corner, a panel discussion on Culture & Reading was held at 28 Kothi in Jaipur. The panelists for the discussion included Designer, Brigitte Singh; Writer/Translator, Saudamini Deo; Head of books and Ideas office, Embassy of France in India, Julia Trouilloud; Bookseller and Curator, Mohit Batra and Director of Alliance Francaise, Jaipur, Sanjana Sarkar.
On the occasion, Julia Trouilloud giving the example of France said that owing to government policies books are sold at uniform prices across online platforms and book shops. This helps to promote a strong network of independent book stores. Such an initiative is important to promote reading culture in India.
Sanjana Sarkar said that this initiative is a way to make literature in translation more accessible and to popularize French books in Jaipur that for years have remained crowd favourites or have begun to make waves in the contemporary scene.
Mohit Batra laid emphasis on the importance of physical books and reading in today's digital era. He said the fact that the digital devices are trying to match up to the look and feel of a physical book is a testament to the fact that book is the more advanced technology.
As a translator, Saudamini Deo underlined that during translation one is able to realize the nuances behind the construction of a sentence. Brigitte Singh stressed on the need for more literature in Hindi and Indian languages to be made available, especially for children. She recalled reading French books in English translation as these were the only available versions but now thanks to this initiative people will be able to buy books in French including bilingual books for children, she added.
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