Shyamal Kumar Pramanik is one of the most influential writers of Bangla Dalit literary movement whose evocative and powerful fictional worlds unveil the oppressive structures of caste discrimination in India. This volume brings his writings to a new readership with English translations of a selection of his most influential works.

Part of the Voices from the Margins series, this book seeks to make visible literary texts and traditions from various Indian languages and bring Dalit writers and literature to the centre-stage. Pramanik's work focuses on lives and lifestyles of the people in the Sunderbans, one of the largest mangrove forests in the world, and an ecologically vital zone. Drawn from personal experience, many of these stories paint in vivid colours the deprivations that shape life in this part of the world. His fiction throws into sharp relief the workings of caste in Bengal, and elsewhere in India. His poetry, on the other hand, has a more overtly activist tone and makes strident demands for social change. These translations are buttressed by an in-depth interview with the writer which includes his reflections on his life, society and on his writings, opening up new possibilities of understanding his work in its larger social context. The book also creates an academic framework within which Pramanik's fiction and poetry can be read and critically analysed.

This critical edition will be of interest to students and researchers of literature, especially those engaged with contemporary Indian/South Asian literary cultures, comparative literature, modern Indian literature, minority studies, and Dalit studies. It will also be useful to students and researchers of social sciences and humanities, literature, culture, history and sociology.

Shyamal Kumar Pramanik (b. 1959) is one of the foremost writers of Bangla Dalit literature. A first-generation literate, he has an MA in History and retired from Reserve Bank of India. He writes short stories, novels and poetry. Caste remains one of the abiding concerns of his fiction. He was instrumental in setting up the Bangla Dalit Sahitya Sanstha and its publication wing, Chaturtha Duniya. His collections of short stories include Rupanaraner Majhi (1982), Khilipaner Meye (1996), Akalmegher Katha (2002), Nibaran Mondaler Upakhyan (2007), Chaturtha Bharatbarsha (2014), and Shambuk O Anyanya Galpo (2021). Pramanik is also author of two novels, Basat Hariye Jay (2005), and Baikunthapurer Katha (2017), and several poetry anthologies such as Roudra Jhorechhe (1992), Kakhono Akash, Kakhono Mati (1994), Shono, Eikhane Rekhe Gelam (1996), Aguner Barnamala (2000), Bipanno Dinguli Hete Ashe (2004), Bhango Pathor Bhange (2007), He Kalbelar Prohor Shakshi (2012), Jakhon Astitwa Bipanna (2016) and Kobe Abar Gaibo Swadhinatar Gaan (2021). He has also authored two research-based books, Poundradesh OJatir Itihas (1998) and Paschimbanger Tapashili Jati O Adivasi (2017).

Sayantan Dasgupta teaches Comparative Literature at Jadavpur University and is Coordinator of the Centre for Translation of Indian Literatures there. He is currently Joint Director, School of Media, Communication and Culture at Jadavpur University, and member, Advisory Board (English), Sahitya Akademi. He is also secretary of the Comparative Literature Association of India, and EC member, International Comparative Literature Association. He currently edits the Jadavpur Journal of Comparative Literature. His latest publications are the edited volumes, Celebrating the City: Kolkata in Indian Literature (2021) and Dalit Lekhika: Women's Writing from Bengal (2021), co-edited with Kalyani Thakur Charal. He is also editor of A South Asian Nationalism Reader and author of books such as Indian English Literature: A Study in Historiography and Shyam Selvadurai: Texts and Contexts.