What the burqa and the bindi (and the hijab) stand for in our books, and in our current lives

‘Among the fascinating ways in which women have chosen to express cross-community solidarities these last few months is the interlacing of burqas and bindis.’

Trisha Gupta

· Mar 28, 2020 · 08:30 am

Poomani’s ‘Heat’ is a vivid novel concerned with the central difference between law and justice

Much of this Tamil novel, now in an English translation, unfolds in flashback. Read backwards, it might even be seen as a revenge saga.

Trisha Gupta

· Jun 22, 2019 · 07:30 am

With his new novel ‘Jasmine Days’, Benyamin once again skilfully presents fiction as fact

The Malayalam author’s new novel is told in the voice of a young Pakistani woman in an unnamed Middle Eastern country.

Trisha Gupta

· Sep 08, 2018 · 12:30 pm

Upamanyu Chatterjee’s new novel is a minimalist study of revenge (and features Agastya Sen’s father)

A tightly woven story goes much deeper and wider than the slimness of the novel would suggest.

Trisha Gupta

· Aug 04, 2018 · 07:00 am

From English to Kannada to Kannada to English: Tejaswini Niranjana’s mirrored path to translation

An interview with a polyglot cultural theorist on the practice of translation.

Trisha Gupta

· Jun 17, 2018 · 05:45 pm

Meet the American who translates some of India’s finest Hindi writers into English

‘I was tired of translating detailed descriptions of male desire and women’s breasts.’

Trisha Gupta

· May 13, 2018 · 08:30 am

Kannada writer Jayant Kaikini’s evocative stories are infused with the body and soul of Mumbai

Set in Mumbai, and translated into English, this is an insightful, illuminating, and powerful collection.

Trisha Gupta

· Mar 25, 2018 · 08:30 am

The future that ‘Leila’ presents is already here, and all of us may be responsible

This novel is a mirror to our selves and not just a forecast in fictional form.

Trisha Gupta

· May 20, 2017 · 05:30 am

Eighty eight ways to read Tamil literature, one story at a time

Different spaces, a range of time periods and multiple but familiar themes make this a formidable collection.

Trisha Gupta

· Jul 02, 2016 · 06:30 am

Shashi Deshpande’s new novel is a dignified investigation of that thing called love

‘Strangers to Ourselves’ is a serious look at love between adults living preoccupied lives.

Trisha Gupta

· Apr 23, 2016 · 08:30 am

'People not going to literature is one of the reasons we see this intolerance today'

Kannada writer Vivek Shanbhag’s novel ‘Ghachar Ghochar’ has become a literary sensation across India after being translated into English.

Trisha Gupta

· Mar 05, 2016 · 03:30 pm

‘Do Indian English writers have any relevance in the global scene other than their Indianness?’

The explosive Malayali writer KR Meera talks on the need to preserve regional languages in literature and the value of translation.

Trisha Gupta

· Jul 04, 2015 · 12:30 pm