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Hyphen Issue 01 is an anthology of fiction and nonfiction featuring work in seven languages by 17 writers and 11 translators, with Marathi as the Language in Focus. The volume brings together the known and the unknown, emerging and established voices, alongside writing that is both time-tested and experimental. Across genres and languages, these works investigate the human mind, explore diverse cultural contexts, and reflect on the ways in which we seek meaning, connection, and resolution. A translation-focused literary journal or publishing initiative can be much more than a platform for moving texts between languages. When it approaches translation as a deeply human encounter, its role extends beyond the circulation of books. It creates the conditions for listening across linguistic and cultural boundaries, fostering dialogue, empathy, and a richer understanding of one another.
A Note from the Hyphen Desk
In his short reflection “Pebbles”, Tamil author Jeyamohan reckons with the appeal of grandness. However, he discovers that what shapes us are the little joys of life. We also bring to you a Kashmiri play from “The Big Book of Kashmiri Literature,” edited by Oniaza Drabu. In the play, “Adam, Eve and Satan”, written by Ali Mohammad Lone and translated by Azhar Wani, the actors reject the script in an attempt to discover who they might become outside of it. Does it remind you of Pirandello’s “Six Characters in Search of An Author”? Read on to find out.
India’s true essence, reflected in its varied landscapes and languages, finds its voice in the literature of its people. The time has come to share these voices with the world. Hyphen has taken up this task with vision, and I believe this pioneering work will bear lasting fruit.
Perumal Murugan
Author
A triumph for Indian literary diversity, connecting readers to voices that have long awaited translation.
Namita Gokhale
Author
There's something about the way Chittal keeps peeling back layer after layer of memory here — every time you think you've found the "real" origin of the story, he pulls back further and shows you it was actually something even earlier and hazier. It made me think about how much of what we call autobiography is really just fiction that hasn't been labeled as such yet. The bit where he runs into Paru again years later almost felt like its own short story tucked inside the essay. Also just want to say — Sahana Hegde's translation reads beautifully. Nothing about it feels stilted or "translated," the emotional weight of the original really comes through.
Kiran Malode
Reader
In a time when a lot of languages and texts are becoming available in English, there is always a danger of them getting flattened out into a universalised 'esperanto' English. So it would be a very important task for a journal like Hyphen to maintain a distinctiveness of the languages in which the texts are written.
Tejaswini Niranjana
Translator
