In Conversation With: Translator Krishna Manavalli
Krishna Manavalli is a professor in the department of English at Karnatak University, Dharwad. She is a literary critic and translator who works in both English and Kannada. In her long and brilliant academic career in the US and India, Krishna has worked on multiple areas such as contemporary British literature, South Asian writing, postcolonial […]
Writing meetup: unBlock 108 with Jameel Gulrays
This is an original piece Jameel Gulrays wrote to demonstrate how to write Urdu poetry at our writing meetup unBlock 108. From Wren and Martin to James Hadley Chase to Ismat Chughtai, Gulrays shared all he had learnt over the years. His tips included: don’t write on prompts with a basic ‘A for Apple’ approach, […]
In Conversation with: Rashmi Menon
#InsideEdge is a series of interviews with publishing professionals in India. *** Here we speak to Rashmi Menon, Managing Editor of Amaryllis, the English imprint of Manjul Publishing. Why did you want to be in publishing? What are some common myths about the industry? Rashmi Menon: I LOVE books. I’ve been a bookworm since childhood and […]
Wildfire and Other Stories by Banaphool
Through a plethora of twists and turns in his stories, Banaphool’s Wildfire and Other Stories deals with some of the most relatable issues to humankind. The strength of the stories lies in their ability to transform the ordinary into a vivid experience for the reader. Will it be fair to contain life, with its myriad […]
Read award-winning Malayalam novels in English
Want to read Malayalam novels but don’t speak the language? In a country like India with such diverse cultures and languages, translation of regional literature helps its popularity beyond regional barriers. It introduces us to cultures and stories from the nooks and corners of our own country. This helps bring about an openness to accept […]
Listen Girl (Ai Ladki) by Krishna Sobti
Translated by Shivanath Listen Girl, originally, Ai Ladki, written by Krishna Sobti and translated from Hindi by Shivanath is a conversation between a daughter and her bedridden mother in her last days. During the long period of Sobti’s mother’s illness, she referred to Sobti as ‘Ai Ladki’ (hey, girl or listen, girl) as if creating […]
Must-Read Memoirs by Women
Memoirs and autobiographies have a charm of their own. They teach us, inspire us and help us look at the world around in different, more compassionate ways. With more and more memoirs being translated and published in recent years, memoirs by women have also come to the forefront. These are powerful and elevating life stories […]
Havan by Mallikarjun Hiremath
Each summer vacation , Lakshmi would visit our home. A traveller, a banjara probably a lambani she would sing folk songs referring to some God or talking of the general ‘samasye'(issues) her community , her family faced. Laced with love, pain and strumming an instrument similar to harmonium she would sing. Searching my hazy memory […]
Disease and Pandemic in Indian Literature
The Covid-19 pandemic has affected and changed the entire world in many ways. For most of us, this is the first (and hopefully the only) time of witnessing such a large scale pandemic. And yet, human life has been affected by diseases throughout history, and movies and books have captured stories around them regularly. Before […]
Books about books: A Bibliophile’s Paradise
If books are a reader’s delight, imagine the boundless joy that books about books would bring. Indian literature too has some fine gems for readers to find, empathize, discover and fall in love with other readers and writers. Take a look at this very book-ish list of books about books. The Book Hunters of Katpadi: […]
