Books

The Eternal Poet

Rahul Pandita

A new biography of Sahir Ludhianvi brings to life the poet who changed the idiom of Hindi cinema lyrics

Tyranny of the Troll Reviewer

Indrajit Hazra

The withdrawal of Wendy Doniger’s book reflects the increasing influence of the hyper-critic who reads not for pleasure or knowledge, but to spot offensiveness

On the occasion of the publication in English of his novel One Part Woman, Tamil writer Perumal Murugan talks about growing up a reader in a family of farmers and getting into trouble writing about caste

The Marathoner

Aastha Atray Banan

Vikram Chandra finds solitude annoying when he writes, but admits to not being a collaborative enough person to work on movies. He writes 400 words every day, adamant that writing is about a steady pace, not a stroke of inspiration

The Accidental Genius

Akshaya Pillai

George Saunders, who suspects he won the MacArthur genius grant through an error, on his ability to write anywhere and the importance of doing the dishes

Don’t Step Over This Moral Line

Madhavankutty Pillai

Using intriguing illustrations, Michael Sandel, author of What Money Can’t Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets, shows how markets are creeping into places they have no business being

The Man of a Hundred Drafts

Sohini Chattopadhyay

Ved Mehta on a life of writing

Open India versus Closed India

Aresh Shirali

A book of essays that may help us grapple with the idea of being a civilisation

‘Writers these days write to be seen, not read’

Akshaya Pillai

For years, Anees Salim nursed his introversion and dealt with rejection by starting new novels. This year, four of them found publishers

‘A Jolt at the End of the Wire’

Sheba Thayil

In her new novel The Goldfinch, Donna Tartt offers us the meaning of life. There’s no way of knowing what makes her sublime, but perhaps it doesn’t matter