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Ikigai revisited in the Covid era, through a teenager’s eyes
By Tara Bhattacharya, New Delhi
PUBLISHED ON JUN 20, 2021 05:44 PM IST
The Japanese concept of Ikigai teaches one to cherish each fleeting moment, reminding us that it’s futile to waste our precious time worrying about what has passed and what is to come.
Interview: Srini Ramaswamy and Ramkrishna Sinha, co-editors, equALLY: Stories by Friends of the Queer World
By Chintan Girish Modi
PUBLISHED ON JUN 18, 2021 05:11 PM IST
It’s Pride Month and Ramaswamy and Sinha speak about why it is important for straight supporters of the LGBTQ+ community to talk about being allies
Review: The Anger of Saintly Men by Anubha Yadav
By Maaz Bin Bilal
PUBLISHED ON JUN 18, 2021 04:53 PM IST
Set in Haryana, Anubha Yadav’s book explores the tragedy of the lives of boys as they strive to become men
Interview: Priya Sarukkai Chabria, author, Sing of Life
By Suhit Kelkar
UPDATED ON JUN 19, 2021 03:14 PM IST
Sarukkai Chabria says her ‘revisioning’ of Gitanjali by Rabindranath Tagore into the English-language poetry of her new book is a tribute to Gurudev
HT Picks; New Reads
By HT Team
PUBLISHED ON JUN 18, 2021 04:51 PM IST
A collection of Manipuri myths, a novel about a long-distance relationship, and the Gita as a text that helps the contemporary reader navigate capitalist modernity - all that on this week’s list of recommended reads
#EnidBlytonControversy: Can criticise, but can’t disregard her, say Indian writers
By Mallika Bhagat, New Delhi
UPDATED ON JUN 18, 2021 02:48 PM IST
Works of Enid Mary Blyton, the English children’s writer whose books have been among the world’s best-sellers since 1930s, has been recently labelled as racist and xenophobic. But Indian authors and even film actors have come out in defence of Blyton.
Review: Shahryar by Asim Siddiqui
By Shafey Kidwai
UPDATED ON JUN 17, 2021 03:19 PM IST
The author examines how Shahryar went beyond the worn-out romanticism of Urdu poetry to fashion a new idiom of visionary lyricism
Book review: A tale through seasons of love and life
By Naina Arora, New Delhi
PUBLISHED ON JUN 14, 2021 12:22 PM IST
Sunil Sihag Gora, an ex Air Force personnel and author, attempts to take the readers on a roller coaster ride of emotions, drama and romance, in his book titled Day Turns Dark.
Interview: Manan Kapoor, author, A Map of Longings;The Life and Works of Agha Shahid Ali
By Chintan Girish Modi
PUBLISHED ON JUN 11, 2021 05:46 PM IST
Manan Kapoor’s work looks at the life of the Kashmiri-American poet who pioneered ghazal writing in English, translated the poetry of Faiz Ahmed Faiz and Mahmoud Darwish, and was a prominent voice against injustice and oppression.On the Kashmiri-American poet who was a prominent voice against oppression
Review: Six and A Third Acres by Fakir Mohan Senapati
By Lamat R Hasan
PUBLISHED ON JUN 11, 2021 05:45 PM IST
Essay: 55 years of Teesri Kasam
By Shoma A Chatterji
PUBLISHED ON JUN 11, 2021 11:33 AM IST
A faithful adaptation of a short story, Maare Gaye Gulfaam, by Phanishwar Nath Renu, Teesri Kasam (The Third Vow), starring Raj Kapoor and Waheeda Rehman, is 55 years old this year
_1622959967765_1622959976177.jpg "Ruskin Bond curates new poem to ‘lament’ environmental loss in Dehradun, Mussoorie(Instagram/ruskinbondofficial)")
Ruskin Bond curates new poem to lament environmental loss in Dehradun, Mussoorie
By Zarafshan Shiraz
UPDATED ON JUN 06, 2021 11:50 AM IST
- Ruskin Bond’s new poem ‘Dirge of Dehradun’ laments the current environmental degradation in ‘the twin cities of happiness’ that is Dehradun and Mussoorie which were once picturesque towns in the foothills of the Himalayas but are now decaying. Read the emotional lines inside
HT Picks; New Reads
By HT Team
UPDATED ON JUN 05, 2021 01:20 PM IST
This week’s reading list includes a book on India’s relationship with China, the story of a man told by his eminent son, and a diverse collection of writing and photography that addresses the toughest challenges faced by humanity in the 21st century
Interview: Indra Das, author, science fiction and fantasy novels
By KX Ronnie
PUBLISHED ON JUN 04, 2021 05:28 PM IST
The author of The Devourers, a hallucinatory dark fantasy about shapeshifters in Mughal and contemporary India, talks about fantasy writing in the country and about his hometown Kolkata’s secrets
Review: Delhi - A Soliloquy by M Mukundan
By Kunal Ray
PUBLISHED ON JUN 04, 2021 05:25 PM IST
Set in Delhi through the 1960s to the mid 1980s, this novel pulls the reader into the vortex of Malayalis living in Delhi and demonstrates how small lives are permanently changed by the big events of history
Review: Desi Delicacies: Food Writing from Muslim South Asia edited by Claire Chambers
By Vivek Menezes
PUBLISHED ON JUN 04, 2021 05:24 PM IST
No single-volume anthology could do justice to the diversity of any of the subcontinent’s dominant cultural strands but Desi Delicacies tries
Twinkle Khanna re-reads Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things in new pics
By Krishna Priya Pallavi, Delhi
UPDATED ON JUN 03, 2021 11:06 AM IST
Twinkle Khanna took to Instagram recently to share that she is currently re-reading Arundhati Roy’s debut novel, The God of Small Things. She shared several pictures with her followers and wrote that she was hooked to the book.
Essay: Remains of the body
By Saikat Majumdar
PUBLISHED ON JUN 02, 2021 05:50 PM IST
For the family and community of the person who dies, the body takes on a different life immediately after death. It becomes a soul craving last rites. An examination of grief in a season of great loss
Oprah shares reading list of 27 books on ‘centennial of the Tulsa Race Massacre’
By Zarafshan Shiraz
UPDATED ON MAY 30, 2021 06:41 PM IST
- To be informed about the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre which will mark a centennial this Monday, Oprah Winfrey shares a reading list of 27 books to educate one about the ‘worst incidents of racial violence in American history’
HT Picks; New Reads
By HT Team
PUBLISHED ON MAY 28, 2021 08:48 PM IST
A closed door murder mystery in South Bombay, a history and analysis of social research in India from independence to the present, and a book that looks at the importance of framing issues in the age of machine learning and big data -- all that on this week’s list of interesting reads
Interview: Amitav Ghosh, author, Jungle Nama: A Story of the Sundarban
By Chintan Girish Modi
PUBLISHED ON MAY 28, 2021 08:46 PM IST
“Climate change is the greatest crisis that humanity, as a species, has ever faced,” says Amitav Ghosh, who has teamed up with artist Salman Toor to retell the legend of Bon Bibi, Shah Jongoli and Dokkhin Rai in his new book
Review: What We Know About Her by Krupa Ge
By Percy Bharucha
PUBLISHED ON MAY 28, 2021 08:44 PM IST
In chronicling the struggles of her protagonist’s grandparents and grand aunt, Ge shows that individualism is a generational fight
Review: The Forest Beneath the Mountains by Ankush Saikia
By Anjum Hasan
UPDATED ON MAY 29, 2021 01:11 PM IST
The author uses the classic trope of the stranger who comes to town in a marvellously unsettling book about life in north Assam and the foothills of the eastern Himalayas.
Essay: Is Arafat’s idea of Palestine obsolete today?
By Farzana Versey
PUBLISHED ON MAY 27, 2021 10:41 PM IST
Against the backdrop of the most recent bouts of violence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the writer recalls the intuitive leadership of Yasser Arafat, the Robin Hood figure who made the Palestine Liberation Organization respectable
Hungry Caterpillar author-illustrator Eric Carle dies at 91 in Massachusetts
Reuters |
PUBLISHED ON MAY 27, 2021 08:44 AM IST
- Eric Carle, author and illustrator of the acclaimed children's picture-book The Very Hungry Caterpillar breathed his last at his home in Northampton, Massachusetts on Sunday. He was 91.
_1621780615709_1621780624911.jpg "Twinkle Khanna shares 3 book recommendations ‘for a brief respite’ amid the ongoing conflicts and Covid-19 gloom(Instagram/twinklerkhanna)")
Twinkle Khanna shares 3 book recommendations ‘for a brief respite’ amid Covid-19
By Zarafshan Shiraz
UPDATED ON MAY 23, 2021 08:19 PM IST
- Twinkle Khanna recommends these 3 books or short stories that she recently read and re-read to lose herself ‘within the comfort of printed pages’ amid the ongoing conflicts and Covid-19 gloom
HT Picks; New Reads
By HT Team
PUBLISHED ON MAY 21, 2021 11:02 PM IST
A debut story collection from a Pakistani writer that upends traditional notions of identity and probes the nature of desire, a novel that balances social satire and magic realism even as it asks what an immigrant community must do to achieve the American dream, and a retelling of the stories of Akbar and Birbal, Krishnadeva Raya and Tenali Raman, Vikram and Vetal, and Mullah Nasruddin, among others - all that on this week’s pick of interesting reads
Interview: Rachel Kushner, author, The Hard Crowd
By Nawaid Anjum
PUBLISHED ON MAY 21, 2021 11:01 PM IST
The Hard Crowd, a collection of 19 essays written between 2000 and 2020, spans literary journalism, memoir, and cultural criticism. Here, the author talks about her influences, about her childhood, and about the impact of the new normal
Review: A Mirror Made of Rain by Naheed Phiroze Patel
PUBLISHED ON MAY 21, 2021 10:57 PM IST
In this debut novel, families, tied by wealth, opportunity, and secrets of indiscretion, operate as tribes