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 ...

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 degr ...

. His research area is in

Bengali language Bengali ( ), generally known by its endonym Bangla (, ), is an 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 most widely spoken ...

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 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 Andrew Norman Wilson (born 27 October 1950)"A. N. Wilson"
''Encyclopædia Britannica''.

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 resh ...

poems, Soaring High, 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's ongoing transcreation 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 in chief, editor of Penguin Classics, and vice-president of the Classical Association. Her English translations of classical and medi ...

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 separa ...

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