Why readers will almost never encounter anything like these two ‘anti-novels’ by Subimal Misra

V Ramaswamy’s translations of the Bengali writer’s work brings fresh evidence of the maverick’s trademark fiction.

Sayali Palekar

· Jun 15, 2019 · 12:30 pm

These two collections of Telugu stories depict women being battered daily. Do they work as fiction?

Two books in translation – ‘The Rock that Was Not’ by Githanjali, and ‘Here I Am’ by P Sathyavathi – that are tragic reminders of women failing themselves.

Sayali Palekar

· May 19, 2019 · 12:30 pm

‘Ib’s Endless Search for Satisfaction’: A debut novel that turns into an endless search for purpose

The tedium of a search should not imply tedious reading, but that is the case with Roshan Ali’s debut novel.

Sayali Palekar

· May 04, 2019 · 12:30 pm

What if our everyday emotions turned into diseases? This novel explores the possibilities

Vikram Paralkar’s ‘The Afflictions’ identifies states of being through a unique fictional encyclopaedia.

Sayali Palekar

· Feb 16, 2019 · 05:30 pm

‘Godsong’: This translation (re)locates the Gita in Arjuna’s confusion and Krishna’s eloquence

A new translation of a much-translated classic must bring something new to readers. ‘Godsong’ does just that.

Sayali Palekar

· Dec 16, 2018 · 05:30 am

This poetry anthology reveals (again) why India must reclaim its own literary tradition of desire

‘Love And The Turning Seasons’ may have been meant for a Western audience, but it gives readers from India the chance to discover something too.

Sayali Palekar

· Sep 30, 2018 · 12:30 pm

Parismita Singh’s short stories question whether ‘Peace Has Come’ to North East India

The violence is never distant enough in these text stories by the graphic novel writer.

Sayali Palekar

· Sep 22, 2018 · 07:00 am

What happens when a teenager meets her personal jinn? This YA novel is anything but a fairytale

Shazaf Fatima Haider’s ‘A Firefly In The Dark’ explores the uncertainty of love in a magical way.

Sayali Palekar

· Jul 15, 2018 · 06:30 pm

A meditation: Han Kang’s ‘White Book’ truly deserves a description that is overused for fiction now

Prepare to be extremely disturbed as you read this genre-defying work from the author of ‘The Vegetarian’.

Sayali Palekar

· Jun 23, 2018 · 05:30 pm

A scary novel without ghosts in it: Jhumpa Lahiri’s translation of Domenico Starnone’s ‘Trick’

‘They’re kids. Come on.’ Or is there more to it?

Sayali Palekar

· Jun 09, 2018 · 05:30 pm

Black meets white in a novel from America that matters to Indians because of race

Jesmyn Ward’s new novel is again in the running for the National Book Award in the US.

Sayali Palekar

· Oct 01, 2017 · 06:30 pm

Can a formula romance in the Raj era have anything to do with colonialism or Bollywood (or both)?

Read Alice Perrin’s melodramatic love triangle with Britain’s colonisation of India as its backdrop. It will make you wonder about some things.

Sayali Palekar

· Sep 03, 2017 · 06:30 pm