Indian Writers

How the rise of right-wing populism urged Rajorshi Chakraborti to write Shakti, a surreal tale of three women

Rajorshi Chakraborti's newest novel, Shakti (2019) thrusts its readers into a familiar, yet surreal space, where its female leads traverse a socio-politically turbulent modern-day India, with superpowers to boot. In a conversation with Firspost, the New Zealand-based writer reflects on what inspired his book — from the prevailing socio-political milieu in India, to Black Mirror on Netflix, and everything in between.

Novelising a part of his life, Jeet Thayil's 'Low' is a darkly humorous take on coping with grief and loss

Through Low, Jeet Thayil takes us on a darkly comic, irreverent journey of processing grief and loss. Told in the third person, the book attempts to articulate the impossibility of processing grief in any certain manner or form.

A decade in Indian writing: Jerry Pinto's fiction to Sampurna Chattarji’s poetry, notes on 10 years of reading

Thinking over the 2010s in Indian English writing for a decade retrospective, I knew that this would be, in part, a piece about growing up, writes Aditya Mani Jha

Nabaneeta Dev Sen, prolific Bengali writer and Padma Shri awardee, passes away at 81

Noted writer and academic, Nabaneeta Dev Sen, passed away at her Kolkata residence at the age of 81 on Thursday evening. The writer had been suffering from cancer.

Rheea Mukherjee on her novel The Body Myth, and why voyeurism is rooted in our own hypocrisies

The Body Myth is a sapid meditation on loving and being loved in health and sickness.

Girish Karnad, a Renaissance spirit: Sunil Shanbag remembers artiste who roused thespian in him

Girish Karnad's Hayevadana was the first play written by the legendary playwright-actor that theatre director Sunil Shanbag watched. At the end of the performance, Shanbag knew what he wanted to do for the rest of his life. On the occasion of Karnad's passing away, Shanbag remembers the man and his legacy.

Ravi Subramanian: The banker-turned-bestselling writer tells us about his latest thriller

Bestselling author Ravi Subramanian's latest book In the Name of God is set in the Padmanabhaswamy Temple of Kerala and grips the reader with its twists.

The success of mass market fiction is changing the rules of Indian publishing: Here's how

The success of mass market fiction by the likes of Ravinder Singh, Durjoy Datta, Sudeep Nagarkar, Savi Sharma et al, has completely changed the different aspects of publishing, be it commissioning, retail or marketing

Mahasweta Devi will remain as a generational voice to remind us of our fundamental right to dream

While Devi is renowned for her countless other stories, including children’s stories, Draupadi remains to many of us, an iconic defiance of what the mainstream calls womanhood or subjugation or cultural adherence

From Salman Rushdie to Chetan Bhagat: The navratna of new Indian storytelling

Who would form the navratna of storytelling in the new India? From Salman Rushie to Chetan Bhagat, here's our list.