Weekly reading: A debut novel from Kerala, what to read in September, writing Shivaji's biography, and more

  • 30 Aug, 2022

‘Valli’: Sheela Tomy’s novel set in a Kerala forest is a universal study of human savagery

Jayasree Kalathil’s English translation of Sheela Tomy’s debut novel in Malayalam even gives it the feel of a new original work.

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A letter to Tagore: His sister, the writer Swarnakumari Devi, recounts being lost in Darjeeling

An excerpt from ‘Between Heaven & Earth: Writings on the Indian Hills,’ edited by Ruskin Bond and Bulbul Sharma.

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September reading: Life in India over the years with seven recently published works of fiction

A coming-of-age story set in 1980s’ Mumbai, a dark comedy about a homicide in a quiet neighbourhood, short stories by two Urdu writers in translation, and more.

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‘A dignified son of the Western Ghats’: A tribute to Narayan, one of India’s early Adivasi writers

A winner of the Kerala Sahitya Akademi, Narayan died on August 16, 2022, at the age of 81.

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How Shivaji’s latest biographer researched the life story of the Maratha emperor

How Vaibhav Purandare gathered material and tried to filter out biases for the first single-volume biography of Shivaji.

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‘The Mendicant Prince’ retells with compassion a legendary court case involving a ‘dead’ prince

Aruna Chakravarti displays a masterful restraint as she delves into the minds of the key players of the legal battle.

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‘Spring settles here on the horizon of the heart’: Banaras through the eyes of Mirza Ghalib

Excerpts from ‘Temple Lamp: Verses on Banaras’, by Mirza Ghalib, translated from the Persian by Maaz Bin Bilal.

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For young readers: 15 books about the freedom movement and contemporary Indian history

The childhood of Bhimrao Ambedkar reimagined, the ecological history of independent India, a primer on Indian elections, and more.

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Why women from lower-income groups are offering private beauty services to win financial freedom

An excerpt from ‘Sisterhood Economy: Of, By, For Wo(men),’ by Shaili Chopra.

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A new book examines India’s economic progress from Nehru to Modi

An excerpt from ‘India’s Economy From Nehru To Modi: A Brief History’, by Pulapre Balakrishnan.

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