The Southasia Review of Books is a monthly newsletter that threads together our latest reviews and literary essays, curated reading suggestions on all things books-related from Himal’s extensive archive, as well as interviews with select writers and their reading recommendations.
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Hello reader,
Welcome to another edition of the Southasia Review of Books newsletter!
This April marks one year since the launch of the Southasia Review of Books newsletter, and we want to take a moment to thank all of you for reading us over the last year.
Southasia deserves its own Review of Books, and as far as we know, there is nothing else like this out there in the region. We’re excited to have you along for another year of SaRb and we hope you will continue to support us in spotlighting a wide variety of books and issues in depth – contemporary and canonical, from across Southasia and beyond.
Rituals of mourning are a huge part of cultures across Southasia. But in his latest novel No Funeral for Nazia, the author Taha Kehar presents an intriguing alternative.
In this month’s Southasia Review of Books podcast episode, I had a great conversation with Taha on this richly imagined story set in Karachi, the tradition of Southasian mystery novels, publishing in Pakistan, and more.
“In No Funeral for Nazia, I had the mystery setting, but I wanted to subvert that setting somehow. I didn’t want it to be a stereotypical mystery novel with the usual tropes of mystery writing,” says Taha on writing a genre-bending mystery novel that not only has a narrative that’s driven by women but is also set in Pakistan.
Take a look below for a special reading list curated by Taha Kehar on Southasian mystery novels.
The Southasia Review of Books podcast will be available once every four weeks. If you like this episode, please share widely, rate, review, subscribe and download the show on your favourite podcast apps. You can listen to the full episode on Soundcloud, Spotify, Apple Podcasts or Youtube.
I’ve always enjoyed reading mystery novels that move beyond the stereotypical tropes and explore a unique vein of historical or social truth. Bulbul Sharma’s Murder at the Happy Home for the Aged (2018) features five elderly inhabitants of a retirement home in Goa who solve a murder. Despite their advancing years, the amateur detectives are able to understand the complexities of the murder investigation. Even the trained inspector who is assigned to the case fails to measure up to their superior wisdom.
Arjun Gaind’s Death at the Durbar presents a compelling portrait of India during colonial rule. Set in the 1900s, the novel is about a murder that takes place in the king emperor’s personal chambers before the coronation of George V. Maharaja Sikander Singh of Rajpore, a veritable desi Poirot, navigates his way through India’s aristocracy to solve the mystery.
In addition to Anglophone mystery novels from Southasia, I would strongly recommend some books written in various languages spoken in the region. Originally written in Tamil, Sujatha’s Anita: A Trophy Wife (2017) is an intriguing detective novel. Although the plot is slightly stereotypical, the author has successfully examined the psychological confusion that springs from an unequal relationship between spouses.
Urdu readers are familiar with Mazhar Kaleem’s Imran Series – a captivating array of fictional accounts featuring Ali Imran, a secret agent from Pakistan. I’m not sure if the Imran Series has been translated into English. If not, I hope someone embarks on this meaningful translation project.
I’ve read a few English translations of Bengali author Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay’s ingenious “truth-seeker”, Detective Byomkesh Bakshi. I hope to find more of Bandyopadhyay’s stories about this intriguing character.
Westland Books has launched an exciting new imprint dedicated to speculative fiction. IF, a first-of-its-kind imprint to come out of a Southasian publishing house, will no doubt open doors for a wider variety of speculative fiction from around the region.
The first book published by the imprint is Gigi Ganguly’s Biopeculiar: Stories of an Uncertain World. This collection of speculative short stories explores our relationship to an ever-changing natural world.
What’s happening in Myanmar since the 2021 military coup?
This month marks the publication of A-Maze: Myanmar’s Struggle for Democracy, 2011-2023 by Ma Thida, translated from the Burmese by Maung Zaw (April 2024). Thida, among Myanmar’s leading activists and intellectuals, unpacks the political trajectory of Myanmar leading up to and beyond the 2021 coup and the momentum of Myanmar’s Spring Revolution.
Licia Proserpio’s forthcoming title Resistance through Higher Education: Myanmar Universities’ Struggle against Authoritarianism (November 2024), draws on the experiences of students, activists and professors to argue that Myanmar’s resistance is deeply rooted in its university spaces. Informed by almost a decade of reporting, Return of the Junta: Why Myanmar’s Military Must go Back to the Barracks (January 2023) records the junta’s devastating hold of power and the aspirations of Myanmar’s people.
Clare Hammond’s On the Shadow Tracks: A Journey through Occupied Myanmar (May 2024), Rights Refused: Grassroots Activism and State Violence in Myanmar by Elliott Prasse-Freeman (September 2023) and Myanmar in Crisis: Living with the Pandemic and the Coup edited by Justine Chambers and Michael R Dunford (January 2024) are three more new books that offer compelling narratives on life following the coup and the political unrest that continues to plague Myanmar.
[From Himal’s archives, read Ma Thida’s 2016 essay on freedom of expression and how decades of dictatorship affected the collective psyche of Myanmar’s people.]
New fiction and memoirs to mark Dalit History Month
As Dalit History Month wraps up, we’re highlighting new memoirs and novels that shed light on the lives, histories, struggles and contributions of Dalit and Adivasi communities.
This Land We Call Home: The Story of a Family, Caste, Conversions and Modern India by Nusrat F Jafri (April 2024), A Rebellious Cobbler by Dwarka Bharti, translated from the Hindi by Amritpal Kaur (November 2023) and Water in a Broken Pot by Yogesh Maitreya (April 2023) offer searing personal accounts of caste-based invisibilisation and oppression in modern India.
On the fiction front, Sharankumar Limbale’s Sanatan, translated from the Marathi by Paromita Sengupta (April 2024), paint an unflinching picture of Dalit life in all its dimensions.
This list is by no means exhaustive, so please do share any new titles we might have missed!
I began the month with Anthems of Resistance: A Celebration of Progressive Urdu Poetry by Ali Husain Mir and Raza Mir, a powerful volume on the Urdu poets of the Progressive Writers’ Movement. The book attempts to reclaim the legacy of the progressive Urdu literary figures in an age when their verses and articulation of revolution continue to be relevant.
[Read Vijay Prashad’s 2007 review essay on Anthems of Resistance from the Himal Archives here]
I would also recommend Haider Shahbaz’s recent essay for Jamhoor on the connections between Urdu literature and Palestinian resistance. From one of important writers of modern Urdu literature, Fahmida Riaz, to the iconic bard, Faiz Ahmad Faiz, Haider explores anti-imperialist Urdu writers’ expressions of solidarity with Palestine through their works.
Inspired by last month’s SaRB conversation with Smriti Ravindra, the second book I picked up was the highly enjoyable The Lazy Conman and Other Stories: Folktales from Nepal by Ajit Baral. Each story is brought to life with illustrations by the renowned cartoonist Durga Baral, and celebrates Nepal’s natural world, agrarian culture and legends. I was also pleasantly surprised to find similarities with folktales from Sri Lanka, like the stories of Andare and Mahadenamutta to name a few.
What should I read next? Tell me about the books you read this month or any books you’re currently reading. Write to me at shwethas@himalmag.com.
The Bengaluru-based IIHS City Scripts festival 2024 kicks off next month, and this year’s theme, ‘Text and Tapestry’, is all about threads of storytelling in the region’s cities. I’ve been kindly invited to moderate a discussion on the topic of cities in Southasian fiction with the brilliant panellists Saad Hossain, Divya Ravindranath and Pallavi Narayan on 12 May. Register here for the conversation and keep an eye out on Himal’s social media channels for more details.
Until next time, happy reading!
Shwetha Srikanthan
Assistant Editor, Himal Southasian