Creating a New Category: Audiobooks In India
The last year has seen momentous growth in the literary sector – there was a new Literary Prize, record adaptations with companies like The Story Ink entering the foray. However, the highlight of the year was the boost that the audiobooks in India saw. Audiobooks are not exactly podcasts, although the widespread acceptance of the […]
Yashodhara by Volga
I first learnt of Yashodhara when I was in standard seventh. We were studying a play in the Hindi class, titled “Siddhartha ka Grih Tyaag” (Siddharth Leaving his House). It was there that Buddha’s wife got a name and became more than the wife he had left. She became an individual, with her own identity. […]
Circus Folk and Village Freaks
The Story Somewhere in India lies a few mythical villages that strive to be as “normal” as possible. Weirdos and freaks (of course, the Circus Folk & Village Freaks) are ostracized, shunned by friends and foes alike, and made to fit in or rid the village of their presence. Many of these freaks find their […]
The parallel worlds of animals and humans in The Silence of the Hyena
Book: The Silence of the Hyena Stories and a novella Author: Syed Muhammad Ashraf Translated from the Urdu by: M. Asaduddin and Musharraf Ali Farooqi The Silence of the Hyena, originally written in Urdu, consists of eight short stories and a novella. Two translators have brought these stories to English, and is a simple read that […]
Cover magic: Asma Kazi on how it was made
It is impossible to come across the stunning feminist, fantasy fiction anthology Magical Women, and not take a moment to appreciate the cover. It is powerful, intricate and all things awesome, and represents the entire experience of reading the book. Purple Pencil Project’s Prakruti Maniar spoke to cover artist Asma Kazi via email, to understand […]
Status Check: Young Adult literature in India
As far as the world literature in English is concerned, young adult fiction has existed for a long time, in the form of science fiction novels and fantasy worlds like the Lord of the Ring series by JR Tolkien, A Wrinkle in Time and several others. But it was JK Rowling’s Harry Potter series that […]
Scribbles: Literary News by Purple Pencil Project Pt. 4
A roundup of the latest from the literary world.
In conversation with: Tishani Doshi
Tishani Doshi’s Small Days and Nights is the latest addition to her much-admired oeuvre of poetry, dance and fiction. In this book, she spins the tale of two sisters – Grace, a woman in her mid-30s who leaves behind a husband, a house and a life in the America to return to her roots and […]
Gun Island by Amitav Ghosh
“Contemporary Indian literature seems to be too focused on the human world, and seems to have forgotten the world outside it,” said Amitav Ghosh, at the book launch of Gun Island in Mumbai. His latest is a cli-fi (climate fiction) as they call it. Yet, at the end of this rather well-plotted saga, which tries […]
Magical Women edited by Sukanya Venkataraghavan
Stories oftentimes find their essence in the women who weave them, shaped and moulded by their experiences of love, loss, betrayal, triumph and hope. Magical Women, edited and compiled by Sukanya Venkataraghavan is one such anthology, a perfect blend of fantasy, romance and reality of what being a woman entails. The collection includes 14 beautiful […]
