About
My research interests include Translation Studies (theory, history, philosophy and practice of literary translation), literary multilingualism, and contemporary Francophone literatures (in particular, Indian and Canadian Francophone writing).
I studied French and German at Oxford University at undergraduate level, graduating with First Class Honours.
I then completed a Master's in German literatures at Oxford University, and subsequently completed a PhD in Francophone Literatures and Translation Studies at King's College London, which was funded by the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council.
Before teaching at Liverpool, I taught on both French and Comparative Literature programmes at King's College London.
I am a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
I'm a practising literary translator and have recently translated Ari Gautier's Indian Francophone novel Carnet secret de Lakshmi (Lakshmi's Secret Diary), published with Columbia University Press in 2024, along with a critical analysis of the novel.
Details can be found at the following website:
https://cup.columbia.edu/book/lakshmis-secret-diary/9780231212052
The translation was shortlisted for the UK Society of Authors TA First Translation Prize in 2025: https://societyofauthors.org/Prizes/Translation-Prizes/TA-First-Translation-Prize/
My open-access monograph funded by the UKRI entitled "Writing between Languages: Translation and Multilingualism in Indian Francophone Writing' was published with Bloomsbury in August 2025 as part of the 'Advances in Translation' series.
This is the first monograph to be devoted to the study of Indian French writing and Indo-French literary exchange. More details can be found here:
https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/writing-between-languages-9781350469440/
A review of the book can be read here: https://asianreviewofbooks.com/writing-between-languages-translation-and-multilingualism-in-indian-francophone-writing-by-sheela-mahadevan/
For a recording of a book talk held at the British Centre of Literary Translation as part of the research seminar series can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUrOCJcih2w
I am grateful to have received various grants to support my work on translation, including the UK-Canada Globallink Research Award, funded by UKRI and Mitacs. I have also been supported by the British Centre for Literary Translation.
I currently convene the core theoretical module "Theories and Approaches in Translation Studies" for the MA in Translation programme, along with the MA module 'literary translation and global markets'. I also teach French literary translation on the MA in translation programme, and I am currently supervising a number of PhD students.
Prizes or Honours
- Shortlisted for UK Society of Authors TA First Translation Prize 2025 (Society of Authors, 2026)