Fun Guide to the Alphabet | Review of Danny Bate’s Why Q Needs U
Danny Bate’s new book *Why Q Needs U* offers a 300‑page, 26‑chapter tour of the English alphabet, treating each letter as a portal into linguistic history. The work blends scholarly research with a playful tone, tracing how Latin, Germanic, and later colonial influences shaped the letters we use today. Bate argues that English’s “mongrel” nature is a strength, urging readers to celebrate its quirks rather than sanitize them. The book is positioned as an accessible, bite‑sized guide for anyone curious about language evolution.
Ver Pattru: Caught Between One’s Roots and Student Politics
Indira Parthasarathy’s new novel Ver Pattru charts the decline of student activism in post‑Independence Tamil Nadu through the eyes of protagonist Kesavan. The narrative ties the waning political fervor on campuses to the state’s cinematic‑political culture, recalling how film stars like M.G. Ramachandran once reshaped...
Beyond Consent: How Power, Legal Ambiguities, and Attitudes Enable Abuse
Virginia Giuffre, a prominent survivor of the Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell trafficking ring, died by suicide in March 2026. Her posthumous memoir, *Nobody’s Girl*, co‑written with Amy Wallace, provides a harrowing first‑person account of decades of abuse, financial exploitation,...
Understanding Ambedkar: Why Reading His Work Carefully Is Important Today
Prof. Valerian Rodrigues’ new book, *Ambedkar’s Political Philosophy: A Grammar of Public Life from the Social Margins*, repositions B.R. Ambedkar as a philosopher whose ideas transcend his role as a political leader. The work argues that contemporary Indian parties are appropriating...
Bharatanatyam Dancer-Scholar Indumati Raman’s New Book Turns the Spotlight on Marathi Yakshaganams
Bharatanatyam dancer‑scholar Indumati Raman has released a new volume that shines a light on Marathi Yakshaganams and the cultural legacy of the Thanjavur Maratha rulers (1676‑1855). The work builds on her earlier study of the Bhagavata Mela tradition and is...
Mumbai Author Lindsay Pereira on the Fractures of Migration in His Latest Novel, Super
Mumbai author Lindsay Pereira’s new novel *Super*, released by HarperCollins India, delves into the personal and societal fractures caused by the surge of young Indians seeking stability abroad. Drawing on his academic background in 19th‑century Indian literature, Pereira blends rigorous...
Mohan Menon’s ‘The Ninja Never Knocks’, Is a Fast-Paced Detective Novel Set in Kolkata
Former advertising copywriter Mohan Menon has debuted with a fast‑paced detective novel, *The Ninja Never Knocks*, set in Kolkata. The story follows London‑born sleuth Bikram Banerji as he teams with ex‑hedge‑fund executive Sabina Sahani to hunt a dark‑web‑hired ninja who...
Review | Between Worlds, Edited by Gautam Bhatia: Exploring the Quirks of Indian Speculative Fiction
The anthology "Between Worlds" edited by Gautam Bhatia is the inaugural volume of the IF Anthology of New Indian science‑fiction, fantasy and horror, presenting 11 stories that aim to debunk the myth that India lacks a speculative fiction tradition. The...
Review | Ali Smith Pairs Imagination with Urgency in Her Politically Charged New Novel, Glyph
Ali Smith’s latest novel *Glyph* acts as a thematic sibling to her 2024 work *Gliff*, using the concept of a glyph—a mark or sign—to explore how war, surveillance and artificial intelligence reshape language and memory. The story follows sisters Petra...
Reading the Republic | Review of T.M. Krishna’s We, the People of India
Renowned Carnatic vocalist and scholar T.M. Krishna’s new book, *We the People of India: Decoding a Nation’s Symbols*, revisits India’s flag, emblem, motto, anthem, and constitutional preamble, tracing their origins from ancient Ashokan motifs to the Constituent Assembly debates. The...
Five Dalit Stories that Changed How I Read
Siddhesh Gautam highlights five Dalit books that reshaped his reading, ranging from rural Andhra short stories to a Santhal Adivasi collection and a Hindi banking autobiography. The works confront caste oppression through food, fragmented narratives, and stark portrayals of landlessness,...
Looking Into the Continuing Costs of India’s COVID-19 Policy
India’s COVID‑19 response left a staggering human toll, with the Registrar General reporting 1.02 crore (≈10.2 million) deaths in 2021—a 25.9% jump over 2020. Three recent books document the pandemic’s clinical, logistical, and personal dimensions, highlighting rail shutdowns, oxygen shortages, and the...
Paromita Vohra: We Looked for Stories Discussing Emotional Experiences, and Not Limited to Sexual Identities
Documentary filmmaker Paromita Vohra has edited *Love, Sex and India*, an anthology of nearly 50 personal stories and poems drawn from the Agents of Ishq platform. The collection foregrounds emotional experiences—vulnerability, longing, heartbreak—rather than framing narratives strictly by sexual identity....
From Memory to Archive, Women’s Writing Creates New Ways to Narrate the Past
Women’s writing is reshaping historiography by turning memoir, literature and ethnography into archival evidence that challenges male‑dominated narratives. Annie Ernaux’s Nobel‑lecture‑inspired work frames personal trauma as a collective gender indictment, while Asiya Islam’s ethnography documents Delhi’s lower‑middle‑class women earning roughly...
Joining the Dots in Jamshedpur | A Parsi Family Archive Turns Into ‘Sparseeing’
Joyona Medhi and documentary photographer Abhishek Basu transformed a box of glass slides from the Gazdar‑Bharucha family into the photobook *Sparseeing*, which chronicles the life of Keki Gazdar, a 1950s mechanical engineer, and the broader Parsi community in Jamshedpur. The book,...