Maya Mardikar Writes In Marathi Language From Bristol, UK Using Penname Manaswini.
More information: Anubhuti
Bristol author and resident Maya Mardikar has started publishing her works in Marathi language. Her first book Anubhuti is a collection of 123 poems and it went on sale on 15th of May, followed by her first book of short stories Athwani – 1 written in Laghukatha style on 28th of May. One would imagine Marathi books published from Bristol, UK? Place and language is not a barrier for the bold and unbounded! Yes, in this DNAge with so many free publishing tools and e-publishing platforms writing in a non-english language isn\’t a problem.
Manaswini as she prefers to be called, has published using Smashwords, a Los Gatos, California based publishing company, the leading distributor of self-published ebooks. Her titles
Anubhuti and Athwani – 1 became available to major online retailers such as iBarnes & Noble, Sony, Apple iPad iBookstore, Kobo and the Diesel eBook Store, and to all major smart phone platforms via app providers such as Aldiko, Page Foundry, Kobo and Word-Player. Google transliterate makes typing in Marathi a piece of cake and best of all – its all free! All you need is time and efforts and you can express yourself in Marathi (or whichever language you prefer!)
Anubhuti is her unique collection of Marathi poems which capture different walks of life, in different moods and cover a wide range of topics from personal feelings to social norms, questioning \’right and wrong\’. There are dialogues with the self, satire, politics, environment with lots of introspection. Manaswini, is currently working on Athwani – 2, the second book of the series of four books titled \’Athwani\’. Athwani are memoirs, but slightly different, as short stories are put in the mouth of an ageless character. Manaswini\’s stories are lucid narrations as if she is talking to us readers, telling us stories from her grandma\’s times, her mom\’s and the present as if she has lived through it all. Some are real stories and others based on her life experiences. She made her own blogsite manaswinispeaks.blogspot.co.uk to talk more about her books, again using her free google account. She is finding it hard to keep up with writing blogs, building relations with her fans on Facebook and Twitter who are quite demanding and wanting more! There are technical challenges such as getting ebook readers which render Marathi fonts correctly, but where there is a will there is a way. Some of the free ones such as \’E book reader\’ and \’FB reader\’ render Marathi fonts better than Kindle! One learns as you plod your way. We just have to wait watch this space for more Marathi books from Bristol.
Maya Mardikar who was a teacher most of her life is moving into writing career after her retirement. With plenty of time at hand and access to free resources online, its a matter of hands-on learning and trying out things. She\’s happy to share her experiences if someone wants to have a go at publishing in Indic languages.
