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Join the Transnational Literature Series at Brookline Booksmith for a virtual event with translator Jenny Bhatt to celebrate her new book, The Shehnai Virtuoso and Other Stories by Dhumketu, a pioneer of the modern Gujarati short story. She will be in conversation with historian and professor, Aparna Kapadia, as they explore the politics and evolution of Gujarati literary traditions during the early-twentieth century.

Dhumketu (1892–1965) was the pen name of Gaurishankar Govardhanram Joshi, one of Gujarat’s most prolific writers in the early-20th century. During his lifetime, he wrote some 600 short stories in twenty-six volumes, twenty-nine historical and seven social novels, various plays, travelogues, memoirs, and more. He was also an avid translator of Rabindranath Tagore and Kahlil Gibran. He pioneered the short story form in Gujarati literature, taking it beyond mere storytelling to a creative art form with advanced literary devices, universal themes, and characters drawn from all walks of life. When Dhumketu’s first collection of short stories, Tankha, came out in 1926, it revolutionized the genre in India. Characterized by a fine sensitivity, deep humanism, perceptive observation, and an intimate knowledge of both rural and urban life, his fiction has provided entertainment and edification to generations of Gujarati readers and speakers.

The Shehnai Virtuoso brings together the first substantial collection of Dhumketu's work to be available in English in the US. Beautifully translated for a wide new audience by Jenny Bhatt, these much-loved stories—like the finest literature—remain remarkable and relevant even today. This book is also the first ever Gujarati to English translation published in the US, where Gujarati is the third most spoken language in the South Asian diaspora.

Jenny Bhatt is a writer, literary translator, and book critic. She is the founder of Desi Books and teaches creative writing at Writing Workshops Dallas.  The Shehnai Virtuoso and Other Stories by Dhumketu is Bhatt’s latest literary translation. Her debut story collection, Each of Us Killers: Storieswon a 2020 Foreword INDIES award. Her literary translation, Ratno Dholi: Dhumketu’s Best Short Stories was shortlisted for the 2021 PFC-VoW Book Awards. Her writing has appeared in various venues including The Atlantic, NPR, BBC Culture, The Washington Post, Literary Hub, Poets & Writers, and more. She runs the popular weekly newsletter, 'We Are All Translators.'

Moderator Aparna Kapadia is a historian of South Asia and associate professor at Williams College. She received her PhD in 2010 from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. Kapadia works on the social history of early modern and modern India (1400-present) with a focus on Indian Ocean networks as well as regional cultures, identities, and power structures. Her book, In Praise of Kings: Rajputs, Sultans and Poets in Fifteenth-Century Gujarat, investigates the fascinating world of Gujarat’s royal courts through close readings of rarely used literary works in Sanskrit and Gujarati. Kapadia is also the co-editor of The Idea of Gujarat: History, Ethnography and Text. She is currently working on a new book project that investigates the rise and shaping of a western Indian business community, the Gujarati Bhatias, and their role in the making of the colonial port city of Bombay. Kapadia also serves as Associate Editor on The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society's Editorial Board and writes a column on history called ‘Off Centre’ for Scroll.in.