Read Original Poetry: “Hymn to Asafoetida” & “Waiting for Kalki”
Hymn to Asafoetida To the chalky yellow sand-stuff that lived in my mother’s palm when I asked her, how do I stoke the hearth burning … Read more
Pashmina Unravels Adolescence With Sensitivity & Heart
When I first encountered Nidhi Chanani’s artwork, I was sitting with a close friend in her daughter’s nursery. I couldn’t help but pause in front … Read more
Sheba Karim’s That Thing We Call a Heart Shares Nuances of Teen Friendship & Faith
A post shared by Sheba Karim (@shebakarim) on May 9, 2017 at 2:27pm PDT What do you have to lose? My pride, for one. And … Read more
Books In Translation & Pushing Back Against Isolationism
Despite my ambitious plans to become a polyglot, I currently only speak and read English. But I love reading things by writers from around the … Read more
Climate Change & Amitav Ghosh’s The Great Derangement
As I write this, much of the American West is on fire, unprecedented floods have swept across Texas in the U.S. as well as a … Read more
Review: Kamila Shamsie’s Finely Drawn Home Fire Resonates With Increasing Intensity
Habits of secrecy are damaging things. Home Fire, longlisted for this year’s Man Booker Prize, is Kamila Shamsie’s much acclaimed seventh novel, and the first … Read more
Writing Stories For Refuge, Home & Social Justice: A Conversation With YA Novelist Mitali Perkins
I first met Mitali Perkins when we shared an editor at a Big Five publishing house. Her early novel, The Not-So-Star-Spangled Life of Sunita Sen … Read more
Review: Arundhati Roy’s Second Novel, The Ministry of Utmost Happiness
He narrowed his blindgreen eyes and asked in a slygreen whisper… Arundhati Roy’s second novel, The Ministry of Utmost Happiness (Knopf), published 20 years after her … Read more
Swimmer Among the Stars: Richly-Told Tales on Understanding & Secrets
The 13 stories in Swimmer Among the Stars (Farrar, Straus and Giroux), Kanishk Tharoor’s first book, speak of the always present and persistent attempt to … Read more
Original Poetry: “The Secret to a Good Biryani,” “Immigration Roulette,” & “The House with Sienna Walls”
The Secret to a Good Biryani I. There are no measures. Not in cooking. Nor in love. Sab andaaz se, you are driven … Read more
