GENEVA, Oct. 20 (Xinhua) -- For the first time, Switzerland's most popular novel on one of its best loved icons, Heidi, will be translated into Hindi, the Indian language spoken by more than 420 million people.
The book's release is planned for November and thousands of Indian children will soon be able to share in Heidi's adventures, reported Swissinfo, the website of the Swiss national broadcaster on Friday.
The translation will be published by the A & A Book Trust, and is the work of a mother and daughter team Arundhati and Avanti Deosthale.
"Our aim is to bring great stories from the world to the children of India and Heidi has been a favorite of my daughter and me for a long time," editor Arundhati Deosthale, who is an English and German scholar at India's University of Pune, told swissinfo.ch.
The 300-odd page hardcover book is unabridged, and is faithful to the original work by Johanna Spyri, first published in German in 1880.
The project took 18 months to complete, and was supported by the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia, which will bear 60 percent of the publishing costs.
The Swiss Heidi was sold more than 50 million copies and translated into over 50 languages.
