Books
Tall Tales
Hartosh Singh Bal
Hoping to ‘debunk’ myths about India’s growth, Bhagwati and Panagariya spin some fairy tales of their own
The Pixellated Penis and Other Tales of Modern Censorship
Why fear of India’s obscenity law turned HarperCollins prudish on a recent graphic novel, but doesn’t stop the publication of explicitly illustrated versions of the Kama Sutra
Heaven, Hell and Earth
Amitava Kumar’s A Matter of Rats casts Patna in a triple role of memory, magnet and mundanity. It is a good book. With one more nudge, it could have been a great one
“It’s Like Fine French Cooking”
Michael Katakis, writer, photographer and manager of the Ernest Hemingway estate, on why people will never tire of the late writer’s works
The Impermanence of Being
In Javier Marías’ writing, nothing is sacred, no fact safe from doubt, no story left unflipped
An Encounter with a Negotiator
Stuart Diamond once negotiated himself out of the sights of a submachine gun in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Negotiating well, he says, is about noticing other people
The Accidental Author
One of the country’s most popular romance writers, Ravinder Singh is as unabashed about being a writer who doesn’t read as he is about being a male writer of romances
Will the Real Irom Sharmila Stand Up?
The political activist’s poetry suggests that in many ways, she is now a victim of her own sacrifices
The Carburettor
Rajesh Parameswaran talks about his reluctance to talk about his writing—and the lasting lessons of failing quickly with short stories
The Hermit
After years of putting off a lifelong passion, Kishwar Desai finds she must shut herself off from the world in order to write—but the world still seeps into her writing
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