Hyphen is open for submissions across various sections on our digital platform: First Draft, Interludes, and Translate! Please read the general submission guidelines carefully before sending us your work.
General Submission Guidelines:
All submissions must be sent via email to submissions@the-hyphen.in with the subject line clearly mentioning the section for which you are submitting and your name.
For example: First Draft - Deepika Surendra or Translate! - Vidya Nedugundi.
All submissions must be original, unpublished works.
We do not accept work that is created using generative AI in any category.
Entries must be sent as Word document, with text formatted in Times New Roman, 12 pt size, double spaced.
Submissions for these sections will remain open on a rolling basis.
All submissions we receive will be reviewed by our editorial team.
We are open for submissions for the following categories:
FIRST DRAFT
Word limit: 800-1000 words
First Draft is a fortnightly column in our features section, where we invite translators to give us a glimpse into their process. We invite you to share the first draft of a paragraph — no more — from a translation you are working on, accompanied by a brief reflection on the decisions, challenges, and discoveries that shaped that particular version.
What we’re looking for:
This column resembles a translator’s diary, a space where we examine and reflect on how the translator’s voice enters the original text. We’re curious to hear from young translators, working across different Indian languages, who have unique perspectives on the act of translation, and how stories shift as they traverse languages.
Before submitting your work, we encourage you to read the existing articles we have published in this section:
Food Tales for Nostalgia: Arunava Sinha reflects on translating a feeling of nostalgia, which the English reader perhaps does not feel in the same way as the Bengali reader.
Listening to the Leaves: Sumana Roy writes with confidence and honesty about the anger that led her to translating Jagdish Chandra Bose’s essays.
INTERLUDES
Word limit: 600-800 words
Interludes is an experimental category in our web section, where we publish short, mood pieces that are meditations on language, literature, and life.
What we’re looking for:
We are looking for pieces that explore language in fresh, original ways — both thematically, as well as formally. You could write about a word and how it migrates across language, its meaning shifting a little every time. Or you could tell us about the various ways in which a sentence can be constructed in your mother tongue.
Some of the pieces we have published in our Interludes section should give you an idea of what interests us:
Translating for a Cat: A thoughtful exploration of how language works – and sometimes fails! – in communicating with our pets.
Languages on Friendship, On Sakhi: An essay on how a word shapeshifts its way across languages.
These are just some prompts for you to get started, but feel free to surprise us with something completely different. We look forward to the unexpected.
TRANSLATE!
Word limit: 600-800 words
This section invites you to write an appeal for works you believe must be translated into English. We are interested in passionate, critically argued submissions from translators, writers, and readers working across Indian languages, especially those that bring lesser-known languages, overlooked texts, or works confined to particular linguistic contexts to a wider readership.
What we’re looking for:
Submissions should be thoughtful and grounded in a close engagement with the original text and its linguistic, socio-political, and historical contexts. We welcome fresh perspectives from those willing to make a case for the stories they believe deserve to cross linguistic boundaries.
