>Citation bot at 02:40, 18 March 2021

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{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2020}}
{{Use Indian English|date=January 2020}}
{{short description|Indian author, translator and lexicographer}}
{{Infobox writer
| embed =
| honorific_prefix =
| name = Isidore Dantas
| honorific_suffix =
| image = Isidore Dantas, Konkani writer from Pune and Goa-2.jpg
| image_size =
| image_upright =
| alt =
| caption =
| native_name = इजिदोर डांटस
| native_name_lang = Konkani
| pseudonym =
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|df=yes|1947|04|04}}
| birth_place = Poona (Pune), India
| death_date = 
| death_place =
| resting_place =
| occupation = Lexicographer, Konkani author, former bank officer
| language = Konkani, English, Marathi
| nationality =
| citizenship =
| education = M.Com, B.Com, B.A., CAIIB
| alma_mater = University of Poona, Brihan Maharashtra College of Commerce, Narowji Wadia College, Guardian Angle High School, Curchorem
| period = In Pune from 1961.
| genre = Lexicography, non-fiction
| subject = Konkani film, translations
| movement =
| notableworks = 
| spouse = 
| partner = 
| children = Three
| relatives =
| awards = Maharashtra Konkani Kala Sanstha, Mumbai, 2012 Lifetime Achievement Award. 125 Years of Tiatr Felicitation, 2017. Dalgado Konkani Akademi Journalism Award 2010, Goan Cultural Centre, Kuwait, honoured in 2010.
| signature =
| signature_alt =
| years_active = Writing since 1958, from the age of 11.
| module =
| website = 
| portaldisp = 
}}

'''Isidore Dantas''' is an author, translator and lexicographer from [[Pune]], [[Maharashtra]], India, working in the [[Konkani language]]. Noted for his interest in [[Konkani cinema|Konkani film]],<ref>
{{Cite news|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/50261216.cms|title=Viva cinema! for Konkani cinephiles - Times of India|work=The Times of India|access-date=2018-10-01}}</ref> he is best known for his book on Konkani cinema (''Konkani Cholchitram'')<ref>
{{Cite news
| url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/6592777.cms
| title=Isidore Dantas will be releasing his second book 'Konknni Cholchitram' on 21 September, in Goa. - Times of India
|work=The Times of India
|access-date=2018-11-17
}}</ref> and for having co-authored an English-to-Konkani dictionary.<ref>
{{Cite book
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YPO0DAEACAAJ
|title=Modern English-Konkani Dictionary
|last1=Dantas
|first1=Isidore
|last2=D'Souza
|first2=Joel
|date=2016
|isbn=9789384298319
|language=en}}</ref> He has authored five books, co-authored a dictionary and translated two books.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://goanespresso.in/ge-index/2018/05/08/isidore-dantas/|title=GE {{!}} Isidore Dantas|website=goanespresso.in|language=en-US|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181117151205/http://goanespresso.in/ge-index/2018/05/08/isidore-dantas/#|archive-date=2018-11-17|access-date=2018-11-17}}</ref>

== Biography ==
Dantas is a retired bank officer, having worked as an Assistant General Manager of the [[State Bank of India]], at the Opera House Branch in Mumbai ([[Bombay]]).{{fact|date=January 2020}} He traces his roots to the [[Bardez]] village of [[Saligao]], while his family was based in the [[Curchorem]] area in interior Goa, where his grandfather was a ''regidor'' (village official in Portuguese times). He is married and has three children.{{fact|date=January 2020}}

== Works ==
Unusually, Dantas writes in both the [[Latin script|Romi]] (Roman) and [[Devanagari]] scripts of [[Konkani language|Konkani]], and also in [[Marathi language|Marathi]].

===Konkani dictionary===

Dantas co-authored, with the late [[Joel D'Souza]], a Konkani dictionary titled ''English-Konkani Dictionary'' in 2016. In January 2016, he shared the 365-page dictionary under a [[Creative Commons]] license.<ref>{{Cite news
|url = http://englishnews.thegoan.net/story.php?id=9499
|title = Now, an online Konkani-English dictionary
|work = The Goan
|access-date = 2018-11-17
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20181117192908/http://englishnews.thegoan.net/story.php?id=9499#
|archive-date = 2018-11-17
|url-status = live
}}</ref> In 2016 it was made available in full-text on [[Wikimedia Commons]].<ref>{{Citation
|last=Dantas
|first=Isidore
|title=English: Modern English to Konkani Dictionary is a Romi script Konkani dictionary authored by Isidore Dantas.
|date=2016-03-05
|url=https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Modern_English_to_Konkani_Dictionary_-_Isidore_Dantas.pdf
|access-date=2018-11-17
}}</ref>

===Books===
Together with the dictionary he has co-authored, Dantas had, as of 2018, published eight books. Others were at that time reported as being in the pipeline.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://englishnews.thegoan.net/story.php?id=46751|title=A call to the writers|date=10 November 2018|work=The Goan Everyday|access-date=2018-11-17|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181117193130/http://englishnews.thegoan.net/story.php?id=46751#|archive-date=2018-11-17}}</ref>

Dantas' 2010 book on [[Konkani]] [[Cinematography|cinema]], ''[[Konkani Cholchitram]]'' ("Konkani films"),<ref>
{{Cite book|url=http://library.unigoa.ac.in/cgi-bin/koha/opac-detail.pl?biblionumber=120865&query_desc=kw,wrdl:%20Isidore%20Dantas|title=Konknni cholchitram|last=Dantas|first=Isidore|date=2010|publisher=Dantas Publications|isbn=9788191036107|location=Pune}}</ref> has been released in the [[Roman script]], [[Devanagari script]] and [[Kannada script]] versions of [[Konkani]]. It lists and describes all the films ever shot in that language from the first in the 1950s or thereabouts till very recently.

He has written books on [[Konkani sayings and proverbs]], one of which is entitled ''Ozran''.

His ''Utor-Sod'' is a [[Konkani]] vocabulary quiz book. He has also translated two books: children's author [[Anita Pinto]]'s ''Espi Mai Is Stuck Again'' (as ''Espi Mai Porot Xirkoli'') and artist-writer [[Angela Ferrao]]'s ''Fuloos Plays With the Sun'' (as ''Fuloosachi Husharkai'').<ref>{{Cite book
| title=Espi Mãy Porot Xirkoli... Ani Gõycheo Her Kannio
| last1=Pinto
| first1=Anita
| last2=Dantas
| first2=Isidore
|last3=translator
|last4=Lotlikar
|first4=Pandirarinath
|date=2012-11-14
|publisher=Goa,1556
|others=Alexyz
|isbn=9789380739557
|edition=First
|language=English
}}</ref>

===Other works===
He has contributed widely to the [[Konkani periodicals and newspapers]] and as of 2018 wrote a column for a Marathi newspaper in Goa. He plans to write a book on the famous [[Goans|Goan]] musician [[Alfred Rose (singer)|Alfred Rose]] and another on the history of Goan newspapers and periodicals. He is also active in contributing translations to [[Konkani Wikipedia]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.heraldgoa.in/Cafe/Goa-Wikipedia-Group-targets-local-writers-villages/137724.html|title=Goa Wikipedia Group targets local writers, villages|work=oHeraldo|access-date=2018-11-17|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181117192733/https://www.heraldgoa.in/Cafe/Goa-Wikipedia-Group-targets-local-writers-villages/137724.html#|archive-date=2018-11-17|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite mailing list|last=Noronha|first=Frederick|author-link=Frederick Noronha|mailing-list=GoaNet|url=https://www.mail-archive.com/goanet@lists.goanet.org/msg131875.html|title=KONKANI WIKIPEDIA: Madhav Borkar (translated by Isidore Dantas)|date=16 October 2018|accessdate=2018-11-17|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20181117193041/https://www.mail-archive.com/goanet@lists.goanet.org/msg131875.html#|archivedate=2018-11-17|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Role in restoring Konkani film==
Dantas has been described as an "avid collector of [[Konkani film]] memorabilia"<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.heraldgoa.in/Goa/Goa-Social/Feeling-speci(AL)-on-his-day/87697.html|title=Feeling speci(AL) on his day|work=oHeraldo|access-date=2018-11-17|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181117192816/https://www.heraldgoa.in/Goa/Goa-Social/Feeling-speci(AL)-on-his-day/87697.html#|archive-date=2018-11-17|language=en}}</ref> and is credited with having had a role in the restoration part of the first (and popular) [[Konkani]] film ''[[Mogacho Aunddo]]'' (Love's Craving) (1950), by [[A.L. Jerry Braganza]]. The restoration was undertaken by [[L'Immagine Ritrovata]], a restoration laboratory in [[Bologna]]. Media reports said the reels of the film were handed over by a relative of Braganza (his nephew, Angelo Braganza) to Dantas in 2010 during the release in one of his books, and Dantas, in turn, passed it on to prominent [[Konkani]] film director [[Bardroy Barretto]], who managed to get the job done.<ref>
{{Cite news|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/47965348.cms|title='Mogacho Aunddo' reels off into restoration|work=The Times of India|access-date=2018-10-01}}</ref>

==Further reading==
*[https://fredericknoronha.wordpress.com/2009/02/08/the-writers-life-isidore-dantas/ The writer's life... Isidore Dantas]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dantas, Isidore}}
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:1947 births]]
[[Category:Place of birth missing (living people)]]
[[Category:Writers from Pune]]
[[Category:Konkani-language writers]]
[[Category:Indian film critics]]
[[Category:21st-century Indian non-fiction writers]]

Isidore Dantas - Revision history

>Citation bot at 02:40, 18 March 2021