Letters across the silence
In Thorns in My Quilt, Mohua Chinappa offers readers a searingly honest and emotionally resonant series of letters addressed to her late father. But before these letters unfold, we are led into a history that anchors the personal in the political—a story of displacement, privilege, and loss that stretches from Dhaka to Shillong.
20 August 2025, 18:00 PM
From the margins, a voice remembered
Review of ‘The Last Bench’ (Ekadā, 2025) by Adhir Biswas
16 July 2025, 18:00 PM
When the moon dances with elephants
In Lakshmi’s Secret Diary, Ari Gautier crafts a dazzling, multi-layered narrative that is as whimsical as it is profound.
19 June 2025, 18:00 PM
The sacred architecture of story
Faiqa Mansab’s second novel, The Sufi Storyteller, is a quiet triumph—both elegiac and urgent, intimate and expansive. It arrives as a natural evolution from her acclaimed debut, This House of Clay and Water (Penguin Random House India, 2017), and yet it stands apart, not merely in ambition but in execution. Where the former was steeped in the politics of desire and gender within Lahore’s elite and unseen spaces, The Sufi Storyteller ventures across continents and metaphysical thresholds to bring forth something more elusive: the sacred, storied terrain of the inner world.
8 May 2025, 18:00 PM
Aparna Sanyal and the burden of representation in South Asian literature
Aparna Upadhyaya Sanyal’s 'Instruments of Torture' is a powerful literary collection that delves into the psychological and societal torments individuals endure, particularly focusing on themes of beauty standards and the representation of women. Each story in the collection is named after a medieval torture device, serving as a metaphor for the emotional and societal pressures faced by the characters.
16 April 2025, 18:00 PM
Desire, Identity, and the boundaries of silence
Saikat Majumdar, a professor of English and Creative Writing at Ashoka University, is a writer whose works delve deep into the intricacies of identity, desire, and the tensions between personal yearnings and institutional expectations.
15 February 2025, 18:00 PM
Unveiling voices: Ananke’s Women in Literature Festival 2024
Featuring a diverse lineup of 38 authors from 9 countries—including UAE, Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, Singapore, Malaysia, and Scotland—the festival promises three days of engaging panel discussions,
17 April 2024, 18:00 PM
Daribha Lyndem's 'Name Place Animal Thing': In Shillong, childhood secrets, adult memories
Shortlisted for the JCB Literature Prize 2021, Name Place Animal Thing (Zubaan Books, 2021) by Daribha Lyndem evokes feelings of nostalgia in a reader merely with its title—it is a popular game among kids. Now, as I hold the novella in my hand, my heart is in a strange turmoil.
9 February 2022, 18:00 PM
Anindita Ghose's 'The Illuminated': Can widowhood be freeing?
Long after I was done reading The Illuminated (HarperCollins India, 2021), by Anindita Ghose, I kept thinking about Girl in White Cotton (2020) by Avni Doshi. If one had to choose any recent novel that captured the crevices of a vacillating mother-daughter relationship accurately, it would be these two.
29 September 2021, 18:00 PM
Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari’s ‘Mapping Love’: A roller coaster ride of love, loss, and longing
Oorja, as her name suggests, is a bright young girl who is the main protagonist of the story. The novel begins with her travelling back to India after her mother’s demise. She reaches home only to find her father missing. The rest of the book is a journey of love, healing, and rediscovery of her own self.
19 September 2021, 11:18 AM