Filmi Keeda: The new book and film club in Mumbai

It gives me extreme (and very nerdy) pleasure to announce a collaboration with The Red Sparrow, a content destination for Indian films. Starting March, Purple Pencil Project and The Red Sparrow will be conducting a series of events and meetups under ‘Fimi Keeda’, a monthly or bi-monthly gathering of book and film lovers. While what […]

The Great Indian Novel by Shashi Tharoor

Goodish Farce That Could Have Been Great Satire Mr Shashi Tharoor, where are you? Of course, I am aware that you still make headlines these days, albeit mostly on these bustling social networks, but most of the time, it’s nothing but some new elaborate, almost unpronounceable and quite devilishly incoherent word that you share with […]

The Durbar: Celebrating verse in Hyderabad

In December last year, we partnered with the Ethos Literary Festival, a two-day long celebration of the verse, which was presented by Hawakal Publishers, a poetry press that has for a decade, committed to bringing out the best of contemporary Indian poetry. This time tomorrow, the same passionate duo of Kiriti Sengupta (Chief Editor of […]

Poonachi or The Story of a Black Goat by Perumal Murugan

“Once, in a village, there was a goat. No one knew where she was born. The birth of an ordinary life never leaves a trace, does it?” So begins Perumal Murugan’s tale of Poonachi, the black goat, in which he sets out to do exactly what he says doesn’t happen – make an ordinary goat […]

Half the Night is Gone by Amitabha Bagchi

half the night is gone book by amitabha bagchi

Towards the end of Amitabha Bagchi’s Half the Night is Gone, one of the lead characters returns as a kathavaachak at the funeral of his own father, and says these lines in his sermon. “My friends, it is said that there are four ghats from which Tulsi’s holy lake can be approached: the ghat of […]

Booked: Your guide to literary events in February

January was all about the literature festivals, and looks like at least some of it will be spilling into February. In this post, we bring you a list of literary events in the city, from college festivals with a book-ish focus, to open mics, poetry gatherings, book readings, conferences, seminars and more. (Have an event […]