Alex Haley’s English-language novel, Roots: The Saga of an American Family will be available in Punjabi.

Edmonton-based Punjabi writer Daljit Singh Rakhra has translated the 1976 epic for Chetna Parkashan, a famous publishing house in Ludhiana, India.

Satish Gulati, the owner of Chetna Parkashan, told the Post that the first edition of the Punjabi version of Roots is under print and will hit the market shortly.

"Initially we will print 1,000 copies," he said.

Chetna Parkashan has also published Punjabi translations of The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway, as well as other famous English and Russian novels.

According to Gulati, there is always a demand for great works of literature.

"(The) sky is the limit in the field of fiction," he said. "Any good Russian or English literature has a potential to find ready acceptance among the Punjabi readers."

Rakhra, a seasoned writer, is honoured and elated to have translated Roots, the story of African slaves who were brought to the U.S. and subjected to brutal treatment.

The story begins with Kunta Kinte, a West African youth from Gambia and Haley’s ancestor, who was brought as a slave to America in 1767.

"I am very proud of translating a novel that inspired a (ABC) TV serial in the U.S. that was so popular that people used to stop all their work to watch it."

Rakhra is a retired lecturer, who taught Punjabi at a higher secondary school in Ludhiana. He writes for a number of Punjabi newspapers and magazines published in India and Canada and has written two books, one on the seven wonders of the world and another one on philosophy.

His son settled in Canada and sent Roots, already translated in to 37 other languages, to him in India. Rakhra found the story so inspiring that he began translating it while in India in 1981.

Due to the poor health of his wife and other circumstances, he was forced to quit after translating almost 200 pages.

"When I started the work I had no computer at home," he recalled. "I used to write (with a) pen sitting before my ailing wife.’’

His work remained suspended until 2006 when he picked up with the translation of the Pulitzer-honoured novel.

He completed it after moving to Canada.