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Book reviews

A riotous ride through politics, power and the price of ambition

Politics and satire have long-standing relationships. “The Ascent” brilliantly reinvokes this relationship with a generous dose of humour, nonchalance, brilliant wordplay, and delicious use of the contemporary that seamlessly reaches out to the universal.

From a gentle breeze to a raging storm

“Becoming the Storm”, the debut novel of Rami Chhabra, columnist, writer and journalist, is a measured critique of unquestioning, unthinking human values etched into collective consciousnesses that cripple the journey forward and that lurk like invisible but indestructible shackles.

From exile to anthem

The feeling a reader is left with while reading a Marinaj poem is best described by the word ‘whisper’ from the title of the book itself - “Teach me how to whisper”.

A miscellany of book reviews

From books on US policies, the Russia-Ukraine War to notorious terrorist bodies operating in India and the trans-national arena, here' a miscellany of book reviews.

An ode to the diverse depth of the poetic mind

When I chanced upon the recently published anthology of Indian English poetry, The Violet Sun, what first struck me was the care with which it had been curated and crafted. Like any publication by the Writers Workshop, this volume was bound in exquisite Indian handloom sari cloth and had the title regally embossed in gold.

Beyond traditional perspectives

This English translation by Seema Jain of renowned poet and president of the Sahitya Akademi, Sri Madhav Kaushik’s long dramatic monologue comprising around 40 pages titled Listen Radhika (original Hindi title Suno Radhika) introduces readers to a unique voice of Lord Krishna as he implores the attention of his beloved, the playful, bewitching Radhika or Radha.

Negotiating land and power

Remaking History is based on the oral accounts of those who witnessed the Police Action, it also draws on written accounts and historical documents to reveal the history of Hyderabad, the Telangana armed struggle, and most importantly, the cultural and political discourses that characterise Hyderabad.

Resistance, hope & resilience

Wound is the Shelter is a collection of poems initially composed in Bengali and subsequently translated into English by Angshuman Kar himself. This unique collection of poetry offers the readers profound insights on universal pain and suffering and the wound that is left in its wake.

Weaving the grace of changing time

Amit Chaudhuri writes, “Sensuous, playful, and vulnerable, Sekhar Banerjee’s poems are loving annotations on a life lived in intimate attentiveness”.