Write Assamese

This project is a collaboration between Untold in the UK and BEE Books in Kolkata, to promote Indian literature in translation. The project focuses on new unpublished Assamese writers.

The translation ecosystem in India suffers from a lack of training opportunities. At the same time, aspiring fiction writers are often marginalised due to circumstance, language, and lack of opportunities to develop their work. This project carves out a space for consistent, quality translations emerging from Assam to generate new fiction for international audiences.

The stories from the project are published in A Fistful of Moonlight: Stories from Assam (Bee Books, India, January 2023). The anthology will be published by MacLehose Press/Hachette UK in October 2023.

Project Team - Write Assamese

Lucy Hannah – Project Director

Lucy specialises in setting up and delivering creative initiatives with marginalised communities. She founded and led Commonwealth Writers which operates across 53 countries, particularly in areas with little or no creative industries. While at the BBC, she established BBC Writer’s Room which discovers, develops and champions new writing talent across the UK. She has worked with writers in areas of conflict and post-conflict, including: Afghanistan, Chechnya, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, South Sudan and N.E. Nigeria. She is a Visiting Research Fellow at King’s College, London, and Director of the BOCAS LitFest in Trinidad.

Esha Chatterjee – CEO of Bee Books

Esha runs the publishing house BEE Books and loves the art of making beautiful books. BEE Books publishes everything from translations, fiction, non-fiction, essays to graphic novels and corporate coffee table books. She also is the Managing Director for Patra Bharati and heads the marketing wing for the Bengali publishing press. She actively participates in structuring the events and looks after national and international collaborations, participates in various book fairs. She is also a book reviewer, critic, and moderator for literary events.