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2:00 PM-2:45 PM, IST
Voicing the Hidden: A Conversation
Conversation|Pune International Literary Festival 2025
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Shirname Auditorium
- Language Mixed
The Pune International Literary Festival (PILF) is an annual literary festival held inPune,Maharashtra. It was founded in 2013 and is one of the top eight literary festivals in India. Join us for“Voicing the Hidden: A Conversation”—a thought-provoking panel at the upcomingPune International Literary Festival (PILF) presented by Goethe-Institut Pune in collaboration with Goethe-Institut Mumbai.
This multilingual dialogue brings together acclaimed writers, translators, scholars, and cultural practitioners to explore how translation uncovers layers of meaning that often remain unspoken or invisible.
The session is open to all literature enthusiasts and will be conducted inEnglish and Marathi.
What to expect
This conversation examines theatre, ethics, and emotional labour of multilingual translation. Participants will delve into how translators negotiate cultural memory, idioms, silences, and the nuances embedded within diverse linguistic worlds.
This panel offers an intimate look at the challenges and creative possibilities at the heart of multilingual translation today.
Who should attend
This conversation will benefit:
“Voicing the Hidden” is part of Goethe-Institut’s ongoing commitment to fostering dialogue aroundmultilingualism, literary translation, and cross-cultural exchange. Through conversations that bring together voices from India and Germany, the project highlights translation not just as a linguistic task but as a deeply creative, ethical, and interpretive act.
This PILF session foregrounds how translators navigate:
Dr. Ashutosh Potdar
Playwright · Translator · Scholar
Dr. Potdar is an award-winning Marathi playwright and Associate Professor of Literature, Theatre and Performance Studies at FLAME University. His works—such as F1/105 and Sindhu, Sudhakar, Rum ani Itar—have been staged nationally and internationally. He is the publisher and editor ofहाकारा।hākārā, a peer-reviewed bilingual journal of creative expression.
His translations span plays by Dario Fo, Strindberg, Jean Genet, and contemporary Indian playwrights, alongside fiction and criticism. His research and translation practice explore the intersections of performance, archives, and multilingual storytelling.
Dr. Aruna Dhere
Author · Cultural Theorist · Translator
Dr. Dhere is a celebrated literary figure whose work spans Sanskrit, Marathi, and English. A poet, essayist, cultural historian, and award-winning translator, she has made significant contributions to Marathi literature and cultural studies.
She presided over the 92nd Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Sahitya Sammelan (2019) and is known nationally and internationally for her scholarship on folk traditions, women’s histories, and devotional literature.
Jayashree Hari Joshi
Multilingual Translator · Editor · Cultural Practitioner
Jayashree works with Goethe-Institut Mumbai, where she leads translation and cultural exchange projects between Germany and South Asia. Her work spans poetry, visual arts, fiction, children’s literature, and theatre.
A poet, essayist, and theatre critic herself, she translates across German, English, Hindi, Sanskrit, and Marathi, placing multilingualism at the heart of her practice.
This multilingual dialogue brings together acclaimed writers, translators, scholars, and cultural practitioners to explore how translation uncovers layers of meaning that often remain unspoken or invisible.
The session is open to all literature enthusiasts and will be conducted inEnglish and Marathi.
What to expect
This conversation examines theatre, ethics, and emotional labour of multilingual translation. Participants will delve into how translators negotiate cultural memory, idioms, silences, and the nuances embedded within diverse linguistic worlds.
This panel offers an intimate look at the challenges and creative possibilities at the heart of multilingual translation today.
Who should attend
This conversation will benefit:
- Translators and aspiring translators
- Writers, poets, and literary practitioners
- Students and scholarsof literature, cultural studies, linguistics, or performance studies
- Artists and researchersworking across languages, texts, and mediums
- Festival attendees curious about the intersections of language, culture, and creativity
- Anyone interested in understanding how stories transform as they move across linguistic and cultural boundaries
- Whether you work with languages or simply love them, this session offers rare insights into the invisible layers that shape the act of translation.
“Voicing the Hidden” is part of Goethe-Institut’s ongoing commitment to fostering dialogue aroundmultilingualism, literary translation, and cross-cultural exchange. Through conversations that bring together voices from India and Germany, the project highlights translation not just as a linguistic task but as a deeply creative, ethical, and interpretive act.
This PILF session foregrounds how translators navigate:
- Cultural memory and oral traditions
- Silences, vulnerabilities, and coded historieswithin texts
- Untranslatable elementsthat resist direct transfer
- Shifts between languages, forms, and artistic practices
- By centering the translator’s perspective, the project seeks to amplify the often-unseen work that shapes how literature travels across borders.
Dr. Ashutosh Potdar
Playwright · Translator · Scholar
His translations span plays by Dario Fo, Strindberg, Jean Genet, and contemporary Indian playwrights, alongside fiction and criticism. His research and translation practice explore the intersections of performance, archives, and multilingual storytelling.
Dr. Aruna Dhere
Author · Cultural Theorist · Translator
She presided over the 92nd Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Sahitya Sammelan (2019) and is known nationally and internationally for her scholarship on folk traditions, women’s histories, and devotional literature.
Jayashree Hari Joshi
Multilingual Translator · Editor · Cultural Practitioner
A poet, essayist, and theatre critic herself, she translates across German, English, Hindi, Sanskrit, and Marathi, placing multilingualism at the heart of her practice.