William Radice is a poet, writer and translator. He is the senior lecturer in Bengali in the

School of Oriental and African Studies SOAS University of London (; the School of Oriental and African Studies) is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, SOAS is located in the Bloomsbury ar ...

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

. His research area is in

Bengali language Bengali ( ), generally known by its endonym Bangla (, ), is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language native to the Bengal region of South Asia. It is the official, national, and most widely spoken language of Bangladesh and the second m ...

and literature. He has translated several

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

works, and works by

Rabindranath Tagore Rabindranath Tagore (; bn, রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter. He resh ...

and

Michael Madhusudan Dutt Michael Madhusudan Dutt ((Bengali: মাইকেল মধুসূদন দত্ত); (25 January 1824 – 29 June 1873) was a Bengali poet and playwright. He is considered one of the pioneers of Bengali literature. Early life Dutt ...

.SOAS
/ref> He adapted the text '' Debotar Grash'' by

as an opera libretto, which was set to music by

Param Vir Param Vir is a British composer originally from India. Born in Delhi into a family life permeated with Indian classical music, Param Vir's strong interest in music developed as a teenager when attending a Catholic school, Roman Catholic secon ...

as Snatched by the Gods. He wrote the libretto for a children's opera ''Chincha-Chancha Cooroo'' or ''The Weaver's Wedding'' with music by

Bernard Hughes Bernard Hughes (18081878) was a nineteenth century Irish industrialist and politician. He was born in Co. Armagh but moved to Belfast in 1826. Hughes set up his bakery in 1840 and by 1870 he had the largest baking and milling industry in Irela ...

. He has published nine volumes of poetry ranging from ''Eight Sections'' (1974), ''Strivings'' (1980), ''Louring Skies'' (1985) and ''Gifts'' (2002) to his latest two books ''This Theatre Royal'' (2004) and ''Green, Red, Gold, a novel in 101 sonnets'' (2005) which were hailed by A. N. Wilson in ''The Daily Telegraph'' as stunning. He has also fore-worded the a collection of translated

Tagore Rabindranath Tagore (; bn, রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter. He resha ...

poems,

Soaring High Soaring may refer to: * Gliding, in which pilots fly unpowered aircraft known as gliders or sailplanes * Lift (soaring), a meteorological phenomenon used as an energy source by some aircraft and birds * ''Soaring'' (magazine), a magazine produced ...

, written by Mira Rani Devi. In 2002, he published the voluminous (784 pages) ''Myths and Legends of India'', a collection of 112 of his own retellings with selections from

P. Lal Purushottama Lal (28 August 1929 – 3 November 2010), commonly known as P. Lal, was an Indian poet, essayist, translator, professor and publisher. He was the founder of publishing firm Writers Workshop in Calcutta, established in 1958. Life a ...

's ongoing

transcreation Transcreation is a term coined from the words "translation" and "creation", and a concept used in the field of translation studies to describe the process of adapting a message from one language to another, while maintaining its intent, style, tone ...

of the ''Mahabharata''. Along with the major Hindu myths, he has included legends and folk tales from Muslim, Buddhist, Jain, Syrian Christian and tribal sources. His mother was the editor and translator

Betty Radice Betty Radice (3 January 1912 – 19 February 1985) was a literary editor and translator. She became joint editor of Penguin Classics, and vice-president of the Classical Association. Her English translations of classical and medieval Latin texts ...

Major publications

William Radice's main publications include: *''Eight Sections'' (poems, Secker & Warburg, London, 1974) *''Strivings'' (poems, Anvil Press, London, 1980) *''The Stupid Tiger and Other Tales'' (tr. from Bengali, Andre Deutsch, London, 1981, 1988; Rupa & Co., Calcutta, 1987; HarperCollins, Delhi, 2000) *''Louring Skies'' (poems, Anvil Press, London, 1985) *''Selected Poems'', 1970–81 (Writers Workshop, Calcutta, 1987) *''Rabindranath Tagore: Selected Poems'' (tr., Penguin, 1985, rev. 1987; new ed., 1995; Penguin India, 1995) *''The Translator's Art: Essays in Honour of

'' (ed. with Barbara Reynolds, Penguin, 1987) *''Char Baktrita'' ('Four Lectures', Bangla Academy, Dhaka, 1990) *''Rabindranath Tagore: Selected Short Stories'' (tr., Penguin, 1991, rev. 1994; Penguin India, 1995) + ''Cuentos'' (tr. Angel Garcia Galiano, Madrid: PPC, 1996) and ''L'esquelet i altres narracions'' (tr. Marta Marín, Barcelona: Editorial Empúries, 2002) *''Sakuntala'' (ed., Folio Society, London, 1992) *''Snatched by the Gods,'' a libretto based on Tagore for an opera by Param Vir (Novello, London, 1992) *''Rozsa Hajnoczy: Fire of Bengal'' (tr. from Hungarian by David Grant & Eva Wimmer, ed., University Press Ltd., Dhaka, 1993) *''Juan Mascaró: The Creation of Faith/La Creació de la Fe'' (ed., Editorial Moll, Palma de Mallorca, 1994; Rupa & Co., Delhi, 1995; Bayeux Arts, Calgary, 1999) *''The Retreat'' (poems, University Press Ltd., Dhaka, 1994) *''Teach Yourself Bengali'' (Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1994) *''Martin Kämpchen: The Honey-seller and Other Stories'' (tr. from German, Rupa & Co., Delhi, 1995) *''Before and After'' (poems, Writers Workshop, Calcutta, 1995) *''Rabindranath Tagore: The Post Office'' (play, tr., The Tagore Centre UK, 1995) *''The One and the Many, readings from Tagore with photographs by John Berridge'' (ed., Bayeux Arts, Calgary, 1997) *''Swami Vivekananda and the Modernisation of Hinduism'' (ed., OUP, Delhi, 1997, 1999) *''Particles, Jottings, Sparks: The Collected Brief Poems of Rabindranath Tagore'' (HarperCollins, Delhi, 2000; Angel Books, London, 2001) *''Myths and Legends of India'' (retold by W.R., Folio Society, London, 2001; Penguin India, 2002) *''Gifts: Poems 1992–1999'' (Grevatt & Grevatt, Newcastle upon Tyne, 2002) *''

Sigfrid Gauch Sigfrid Gauch (born 9 March 1945) is a German writer. He lives in Mainz. Gauch is the son of Hermann Gauch, a Nazi official and member of the SS. He was born in Offenbach-Hundheim in the last few weeks of the Second World War. His parents separ ...

: Traces of My Father'' (tr. from German, Northwestern University Press, Illinois, 2002) *''A Hundred Letters from England'' ( Indialog Publications, New Delhi, 2003) *''Poetry and Community: Lectures and Essays 1991–2001'' (DC Publishers, Delhi, 2003) *''Beauty, Be My Brahman: Indian Poems'' (Writers Workshop, Kolkata, 2004)

References

External links

*
William Radice
Biography and photograph at

W11 Children's Opera W11 may refer to: * Hansa-Brandenburg W.11, a 1917 fighter seaplane * Mercedes-Benz W11, a road car produced by Mercedes-Benz between 1929 and 1934 * Mercedes-AMG F1 W11 EQ Performance, a Formula One car produced by Mercedes-Benz to compete in the ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Radice, William Academics of SOAS University of London Bengali–English translators Bengali poetry in English translation 1951 births Living people