Valley of Words has announced the winners of all eight categories of its book awards — celebrating the best of English and Hindi writing. The VoW Book Awards 2023 is currently in its seventh edition as the most comprehensive independent literary award programme in India.
Winner of the Kalinga Literary Festival Book Award in 2022 for his English translation of the classic Maithili novel, Kanyadan, Lalit Kumar has explored the development of printing in Mithila, a cultural region spanning parts of Bihar, Jharkhand and Nepal. He teaches English at Deen Dayal Upadhyaya College, University of Delhi. In this interview, he talks about the history of Maithili and the challenges it has faced to develop a print culture
The novel not only becomes an authentic source for understanding the impact of colonial modernity on Bihar but also offers us a window to know in great detail the cultural distinctiveness of Mithila