{{Short description|American Hindi and Urdu language translator and artist}} {{Use American English|date=June 2022}} {{Use mdy dates|date=June 2022}} {{Infobox person | name = Daisy Rockwell | image = | caption = | birth_date = {{circa|1969}} | birth_place = Western Massachusetts, U.S. | alma_mater = University of Chicago | known_for = Writer, painter and artist, and Hindi and Urdu prose and poetry translator | family = Norman Rockwell (grandfather) | awards = International Booker Prize<br>2023 Vani Foundation Distinguished Translator Award<br>2023 Warwick Prize for Women in Translation }}
'''Daisy Rockwell''' (born 1969)<ref>{{cite web |title=Daisy Rockwell |url=https://thebookerprizes.com/the-booker-library/authors/daisy-rockwell |website=The Booker Prizes |access-date=May 28, 2022}}</ref> is a renowned American writer, an award-winning literary translator working with Hindi and Urdu literature, and a visual artist. Her groundbreaking translations of South Asian classics have drawn wider readership and recognition for writing from the subcontinent than few have ever managed to achieve. The most prominent of these successes include her translation of Krishna Sobti’s final novel, ''A Gujarat Here, A Gujarat There'', which became the first South Asian book to win the Aldo and Jeanne Scaglione Prize for a Translation of a Literary Work in 2020.<ref>{{Cite web |date=September 17, 2013 |title=Daisy Rockwell – Words are Bridges |url=https://jaipurliteraturefestival.org/wab-speaker/daisy-rockwell |access-date=April 18, 2022 |website=Jaipur Literature festival|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Daisy Rockwell |url=https://www.tiltedaxispress.com/daisy-rockwell |access-date=April 18, 2022 |website=Tilted Axis Press |language=en-GB}}</ref>
Her most acclaimed work continues to be her English translation of Geetanjali Shree’s ''Tomb of Sand'' (Tilted Axis Press, 2021), which became the first South Asian book to be shortlisted for and to win the International Booker Prize.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Tomb of Sand {{!}} Geetanjali Shree: 'Tomb of Sand' writes history – Geetanjali Shree's translation is 1st Hindi novel in Booker prize longlist |work=The Economic Times |url=https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/magazines/panache/tomb-of-sand-writes-history-geetanjali-shrees-translation-is-1st-hindi-novel-in-booker-prize-longlist/articleshow/90145769.cms |access-date=April 18, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=March 10, 2022 |title=International Booker prize announces longlist 'tracing ring around the world' |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/mar/10/international-booker-prize-announces-longlist-tracing-ring-around-the-world |access-date=April 18, 2022 |website=the Guardian |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Marshall |first=Alex |date=April 7, 2022 |title=Women Dominate Shortlist for International Booker Prize |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/07/books/international-booker-prize-shortlist-tokarczuk.html |access-date=April 18, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=April 7, 2022 |title=Geetanjali Shree's 'Tomb of Sand' first Hindi novel on International Booker shortlist |url=https://theprint.in/world/geetanjali-shrees-tomb-of-sand-first-hindi-novel-on-international-booker-shortlist/906799/ |access-date=April 18, 2022 |website=ThePrint |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Discover the longlist: Daisy Rockwell, 'I think of the translator and the author as ballroom dancers' {{!}} The Booker Prizes |url=https://thebookerprizes.com/daisy-rockwell-international-booker-prize-2022-tomb-of-sand |access-date=May 2, 2022 |website=thebookerprizes.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=April 8, 2022 |first=Aditya |last=Mani Jha |title=Daisy Rockwell: Meet the translator of the first Hindi novel to be nominated for the Booker Prize |url=https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/leisure/story/20220418-daisy-rockwell-meet-the-translator-of-the-first-hindi-novel-to-be-nominated-for-the-booker-prize-1935093-2022-04-08 |access-date=May 2, 2022 |website=India Today |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Rockwell |first=Daisy |title=How Daisy Rockwell translated the first Hindi novel to be on the Booker International long-list |url=https://scroll.in/article/1019359/how-daisy-rockwell-translated-the-first-hindi-novel-to-be-on-the-booker-international-longlist |access-date=May 2, 2022 |website=Scroll.in |date=March 13, 2022 |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name="to2">{{cite news |title=Geetanjali Shree is first Indian winner of International Booker Prize |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-61561452 |access-date=May 27, 2022 |publisher=BBC |date=May 27, 2022}}</ref> Additional acclaim that Rockwell has received include the 2022 Warwick Prize for Women in Translation,<ref>{{Cite web |author=Scroll Staff |date=2022-11-25 |title=Geetanjali Shree's 'Tomb of Sand' shares 2022 Warwick Prize for Women in Translation with 'Osebol' |url=https://scroll.in/article/1038307/geetanjali-shrees-tomb-of-sand-shares-2022-warwick-prize-for-women-in-translation-with-osebol |access-date=2023-07-03 |website=Scroll.in |language=en-US}}</ref> the Distinguished Translator Award by Vani Foundation,<ref>{{Cite news |date=January 10, 2023 |title='Tomb of Sand' translator Daisy Rockwell gets 2023 Vani Foundation Distinguished Translator Award |work=Scroll.in |url=https://scroll.in/article/1041556/tomb-of-sand-translator-daisy-rockwell-gets-2023-vani-foundation-distinguished-translator-award |access-date=January 22, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=January 12, 2023 |title=Daisy Rockwell to receive Vani Foundation Distinguished Translator Award |work=Deccan Chronicle |url=https://www.deccanchronicle.com/nation/in-other-news/120123/daisy-rockwell-to-receive-vani-foundation-distinguished-translator-awa-1.html |access-date=January 22, 2023}}</ref> presented at the Jaipur Literature Festival in 2023, and the English PEN x SALT Award 2025 for ''Our City That Year''. Her work has also been supported by the NEA and the NEH, and she has been a translator in residence at various venues including Princeton University.<ref>{{Cite news |title= Writer, Translator in Residence, Princeton University |url=https://neubauercollegium.uchicago.edu/people/daisy-rockwell |access-date=October 22, 2025}}</ref>
Besides her literary translations, Rockwell has published two novels ''Taste'' and ''Alice Sees Ghosts''<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rockwell |first=Daisy |url=https://www.bloomsbury.com/in/alice-sees-ghosts-9789361317958/ |title=Alice Sees Ghosts |publisher=Bloomsbury India |year=2025 |isbn= 9789361317958 |location=New Delhi |language=en}}</ref> and an essay collection. Her forthcoming projects include a collection of poems about literary translation called ''Mixed Metaphors'' coming out in 2026, as well as a memoir ''Our Friend, Art'' with Pushkin Press in 2027.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.tiltedaxispress.com/daisy-rockwell |title=Daisy Rockwell }}</ref>
== Personal life == Rockwell grew up in western Massachusetts. Born to artist parents, Jarvis Rockwell and Susan Merrill, she started pursuing art at an early age. She is the granddaughter of the painter, illustrator, and author Norman Rockwell.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/may/27/its-the-best-way-to-live-international-booker-winners-geetanjali-shree-and-daisy-rockwell | title='It's the best way to live!': International Booker winners Geetanjali Shree and Daisy Rockwell | website=TheGuardian.com | date=May 27, 2022 }}</ref><ref name="Gupta"/>
She herself paints under the alias or takhallus ''Lapata,'' which means "missing" or "disappeared" in Urdu.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Jones |first=Alexina |title=Daisy Rockwell |url=https://benningtonmuseum.org/daisy-rockwell/ |access-date=April 18, 2022 |website=Bennington Museum {{!}} Grandma Moses {{!}} Vermont History and Art |language=en-US |archive-date=May 18, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230518054907/https://benningtonmuseum.org/ |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Rockwell |first=Daisy |title=Why Daisy Rockwell is painting portraits of Black women who committed suicide in US jails |url=http://scroll.in/article/811418/why-daisy-rockwell-is-painting-portraits-of-black-women-who-committed-suicide-in-us-jails |access-date=May 2, 2022 |website=Scroll.in |date=July 8, 2016 |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=September 17, 2013 |title=Daisy Rockwell – JLF Colorado |url=https://jlflitfest.org/colorado/speaker/daisy-rockwell |access-date=April 10, 2022 |website=JLF |language=en}}</ref> Thematically, her collections are wide-ranging, often drawing from the zeitgeist or from literature. Her art has often used uses stylized portraiture and contemporary or historical references, although some recent work like her ''Quarantine Art'' series reveals more abstract tendencies while her ''Text and Violence'' series delves into text-based art.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://oxonianreview.com/articles/an-interview-with-daisy-rockwell|title=The Oxonian Review: An Interview with Daisy Rockwell|access-date=October 22, 2025}}</ref>
== Education == Rockwell has been a student of Hindi, Urdu, Latin, French, German, and ancient Greek for many years. She first learned the Devanagari script through private tuitions when she was in school. In college at the University of Chicago, she expanded on these interests by taking coursework in Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam, and Sanskrit.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://mag.uchicago.edu/arts-humanities/full-color#:~:text=But%20in%20fact%2C%20her%20grandfather,between%20them%2C”%20she%20says.|title=In Full Color|access-date=October 22, 2025}}</ref>
She received her Bachelors, Masters, and PhD in South Asian Literature from the University of Chicago,<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://tableau.uchicago.edu/rockwell |title=Do they say “dude” in India? Daisy Rockwell, winner of the International Booker Prize, on the subtleties of literary translation|access-date=October 22, 2025}}</ref> where she studied Hindi literature, translation, and social sciences under A K Ramanujan, Susanne Hoeber Rudolph,<ref>{{Cite web |title=An Interview with Daisy Rockwell, Author, Artist and a Hindi-Urdu Translator {{!}} Jaya's blog |url=http://www.jayabhattacharjirose.com/an-interview-with-daisy-rockwell-author-artist-and-a-hindi-urdu-translator/ |access-date=April 10, 2022 |language=en-US}}</ref> and Colin P Masica. In 1998, she received a grant to write her PhD dissertation on the Hindi author Upendranath Ashk, who became the first author whose work she would translate.<ref>{{Cite news |title="Booker nod is a big win. It will create awareness about Hindi translations," say Geetanjali Shree and Daisy Rockwell – Times of India |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/books/interviews/booker-nod-is-a-big-win-it-will-create-awareness-about-hindi-translations-say-geetanjali-shree-and-daisy-rockwell/articleshow/90182591.cms |access-date=April 9, 2022 |website=The Times of India |language=en|last1=Joshi |first1=Sonam }}</ref> After her PhD, Rockwell held a number of academic posts, including as the head of the Center for Southeast Asian Studies and as Vice Chair for the Institute of South Asian Studies at the University of California at Berkeley.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://southasia.berkeley.edu/news/former-isas-vice-chair-daisy-rockwell-wins-booker-her-translation-tomb-sand |title=Former ISAS Vice Chair, Daisy Rockwell wins the Booker for her translation of "Tomb of Sand." |access-date=October 22, 2025}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.berkshireeagle.com/lifestyle/father-and-daughter-reflect-on-art-careers/article_39fcc85b-3d91-5416-a65d-6aa9e3e006d7.html |title=Father and daughter reflect on art careers |access-date=October 22, 2025}}</ref>
In recent years, she remains involved with SALT at the University of Chicago<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://salt.humanities.uchicago.edu/about/ |title=South Asian Literature in Translation|access-date=October 22, 2025}}</ref> and gives academic talks at universities across the US, including at Cornell University for their Annual Tagore Lecture.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DbagFCCscaf0&ved=2ahUKEwjd_77v6riQAxWuVkEAHcCTA54QtwJ6BAguEAI&usg=AOvVaw1M-knb2UxHGXbMh56kHcrv|title=Daisy Rockwell discusses metaphors for translation|access-date=October 22, 2025}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://events.syracuse.edu/event/daisy-rockwell-workshop-translation-in-teaching-and-researching-south-asia-and-beyond |title='Translation in Teaching and Researching South Asia and Beyond' |access-date=October 22, 2025}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.cnycorridor.net/calendar/translation-and-teaching-south-asia-with-daisy-rockwell/ |title=Translation and Teaching South Asia with Daisy Rockwell |access-date=October 22, 2025}}</ref> She continues to shape discourse on Hindi literature through essays that look at new translations or biographies of the literary legacies of writers like Yashpal and Manto, as well as at reception of contemporary literature.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://caravanmagazine.in/reviews-essays/myth-lone-ranger|title=The Myth of the Lone Ranger: A new biography of Saadat Hasan Manto fails to do justice to either to his world or his words|access-date=October 22, 2025}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://caravanmagazine.in/reviews-essays/night-smudged-light|title=Night-Smudged Light: Yashpal's monumental novel joins the conversation on partition|access-date=October 22, 2025}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://scroll.in/article/813765/why-the-hindi-poetry-establishment-is-enraged-by-shubham-shrees-irreverent-prizewinning-poem|title=Why the Hindi poetry establishment is enraged by Shubham Shree's irreverent, prizewinning poem|date=August 12, 2016|access-date=October 22, 2025}}</ref>
== Works == Some of the early classics Rockwell has translated include Upendranath Ashk's ''Falling Walls'' and ''Hats and Doctors'',<ref name="Gupta">{{Cite web |last=Gupta |first=Trisha |title=Meet the American who translates some of India's finest Hindi writers into English |url=https://scroll.in/article/878800/meet-the-american-who-translates-some-of-indias-finest-hindi-writers-into-english |access-date=April 18, 2022 |website=Scroll.in |date=May 13, 2018 |language=en-US}}</ref> Bhisham Sahni's ''Tamas'', and Khadija Mastur's ''The Women's Courtyard''.
In addition to her novel-length translations, she has also brought short stories and poems into English by authors such as Arun Prakash, Shrilal Shukla, S. M. Ashraf,<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://outofprintmagazine.co.in/translated-by/daisy-rockwell/|title=Daisy Rockwell -- Out of Print Magazine | access-date=October 22, 2025}}</ref> and by poets such as Shubham Shree and Avinash Mishra.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/translation-tuesdays-by-asymptote-journal/2017/jan/17/translation-tuesday-two-poems-by-shubham-shree | title=Translation Tuesday: Two poems by Shubham Shree}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.publicbooks.org/a-storm-of-words/|title=A Storm of Words -- Public Books|access-date=October 22, 2025}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.jayabhattacharjirose.com/an-interview-with-daisy-rockwell-author-artist-and-a-hindi-urdu-translator/|title=An Interview with Daisy Rockwell, Author, Artist and a Hindi-Urdu Translator|date=December 20, 2016|access-date=October 22, 2025}}</ref>
{| class="wikitable" |+ Translations !English-Language Title !English-Language Publication Year !Original-Language Author !Original-Language Title |- |''Hats and Doctors<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ashk |first=Upendranath Ashk |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fJpT0Bkfs3UC |title=Hats and Doctors |publisher=Penguin Random House India |others=Translated by Daisy Rockwell |year=2013 |edition =translation |isbn=9780143417187 |location=New Delhi |language=en}}</ref>'' |2013 |Upendranath Ashk |''Topiyan aur Doctor'' (Urdu)<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ashk |first=Upendranath |author-link=Upendranath Ashk |date=August 1964 |editor-last=Malsiani |editor-first=Arsh |editor-link=Arsh Malsiani |title=Topīyān aur Dākṭar |url=https://www.rekhta.org/ebooks/aaj-kal-shumara-number-001-arsh-malsiyani-magazines-3?lang=ur#20 |journal=Aaj Kal |language=ur-IN |location=Delhi |publisher=Publication Division |volume=24 |issue=1 |page=18 |issn=0971-846X}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=1 January 2013 |title=Hats and Doctors |url=https://caravanmagazine.in/fiction/hats-and-doctors |access-date=2025-08-10 |website=The Caravan |language=en}}</ref> |- |''Falling Walls<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ashk |first=Upendranath |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4Py9CQAAQBAJ |title=Falling Walls |publisher=Penguin Random House India |others=Translated by Daisy Rockwell |year=2015 |isbn=9780143423690 |location=New Delhi |language=en}}</ref>'' |2015 |Upendranath Ashk |''Girti Deevarein'' (Hindi, Urdu) |- |''Tamas<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sahni |first=Bhisham |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f_PHvQEACAAJ |title=Tamas |publisher=Penguin Random House India |others=Translated by Daisy Rockwell |year=2016 |isbn=978-0143063681 |location=New Delhi |language=en}}</ref>'' |2016 |Bhisham Sahni |''Tamas'' (Hindi) |- |''The Women's Courtyard<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mastur |first=Khadija |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YE1tDwAAQBAJ |title=The Women's Courtyard |publisher=Penguin Random House India |others=Translated by Daisy Rockwell |year=2018 |isbn=978-0-670-09136-2 |location=New Delhi |language=en}}</ref>'' |2018 |Khadija Mastur |''Aangan'' (Urdu) |- |''In the City a Mirror Wandering<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ashk |first=Upendranath |title=In the City a Mirror Wandering |publisher=Penguin Random House India |others=Translated by Daisy Rockwell |year=2019 |isbn=9780143425991 |location=New Delhi |language=en}}</ref>'' |2019 |Upendranath Ashk |''Sheher Mein Ghoomta Aina'' (Hindi, Urdu) |- |''A Promised Land<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mastur |first=Khadija |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LNCiDwAAQBAJ |title=A Promised Land |publisher=Penguin Random House India |others=Translated by Daisy Rockwell |year=2019 |isbn=9789353055868 |location=New Delhi |language=en}}</ref>'' |2019 |Khadija Mastur |''Zameen'' (Urdu) |- |''A Gujarat Here, A Gujarat There<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sobti |first=Krishna |title=A Gujarat Here, A Gujarat There |publisher=Penguin Random House India |others=Translated by Daisy Rockwell |year=2019 |isbn=9780143453482 |location=New Delhi}}</ref>'' |2019 |Krishna Sobti |''Gujarat Pakistan Se Gujarat Hindustan'' (Hindi) |- |''Fifty-five Pillars, Red Walls<ref>{{Cite book |last=Priyamvada |first=Usha |title=Fifty-five Pillars, Red Walls |publisher=Speaking Tiger |others=Translated by Daisy Rockwell |year=2021 |isbn=978-8194490821 |location=New Delhi}}</ref>'' |2021 |Usha Priyamvada |''Pachpan Khambe, Laal Deewaarein'' (Hindi) |- |''Tomb of Sand<ref>{{Cite book |last=Shree |first=Geetanjali |title=Tomb of Sand |publisher=Penguin Random House India |others=Translated by Daisy Rockwell |year=2022 |isbn=978-0143448471 |location=New Delhi}}</ref>'' |2022 |Geetanjali Shree |''Ret Samadhi'' (Hindi) |- |''Won't You Stay, Radhika?<ref>{{Cite book |last=Priyamvada |first=Usha |title=Won't You Stay, Radhika? |publisher=Speaking Tiger Books |others=Translated by Daisy Rockwell |year=2023 |isbn=978-9354475757 |location=New Delhi}}</ref>'' |2023 |Usha Priyamvada |''Rukogi Nahin Radhika?'' (Hindi) |- |''Our City That Year<ref>{{Cite book |last=Shree |first=Geetanjali |title=Our City That Year |publisher=Tilted Axis Press |others=Translated by Daisy Rockwell |year=2025 |isbn=978-1-917126-11-3 |location=London}}</ref>'' |2025 |Geetanjali Shree |''Hamara Shahar Us Baras'' (Hindi) |- |''Sleep Journeys<ref>{{Cite book |last=Abbas |first=Azra |title=Sleep Journeys |publisher=Penguin Random House India |others=Translated by Daisy Rockwell |year=2025 |isbn=978-0-143473-16-9 |location=New Delhi}}</ref>'' |2025 |Azra Abbas |''Niind ki Musafatein'' (Urdu) |}
{| class="wikitable" |+ Books !Title !Publication year !Press !Genre |- |Upendranath Ashk: A Critical Biography<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rockwell |first=Daisy |title=Upendranath Ashk: A Critical Biography |publisher=Katha |year=2004 |isbn=8189020021}}</ref> |2004 |Katha |Biography |- |The Little Book of Terror<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rockwell |first=Daisy |title=The Little Book of Terror|publisher=Foxhead Books |year=2012 |isbn=098474861X}}</ref> |2012 |Foxhead Books |Essay Collection |- |Taste<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rockwell |first=Daisy |title=Taste |publisher=Foxhead Books |year=2014 |isbn=9940876041}}</ref> |2014 |Foxhead Books |Novel |- |Alice Sees Ghosts |2025 |Bloomsbury India |Novel |- |Mixed Metaphors |2026 |Bloomsbury India |Poetry Collection |- |Our Friend, Art |2027 |Pushkin Press |Memoir |}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *[http://www.daisyrockwell.com/ daisyrockwell.com]
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rockwell, Daisy}} Category:1969 births Category:Living people Category:21st-century American translators Category:University of Chicago alumni Category:Hindi–English translators Category:Urdu–English translators