Hello reader,
As the year winds down, I’ve been reflecting on what Himal’s Books coverage has made possible in 2025. Working across our reviews, the Southasia Review of Books newsletter and podcast has been a reminder of why truly regional and independent books coverage still matters so deeply. At a time when so much publishing feels rushed or compromised, Himal has continued to make space for thoughtful, rigorous writing and in-depth conversations.
If you’ve been following SaRB this year, thank you for reading along and for being a part of the SaRB community. It’s readers like you who make this work possible.
As we close out 2025, we’re running a special year-end campaign. We need 100 new Himal Patrons by the end of the year to help keep this kind of work going into 2026. Until 31 December, our annual USD 99 membership plan is 25% off – and it comes with Himal’s iconic Right-Side-Up Map.
If you value the reviews and conversations you can find only here each fortnight, I hope you’ll consider becoming a paying Himal Patron today to support SaRB!
What were your reading highlights for 2025? I’d love to hear from you. Drop me a line at shwethas@himalmag.com.
🎙️📚 Nirvana Bhandary on what it means to be a feminist in Nepal today: Southasia Review of Books podcast #38
Tune in to our latest Southasia Review of Books podcast episode for a conversation with the writer and filmmaker Nirvana Bhandary on her collection of essays, Unsanskari: A Feminist Life (October 2025), exploring feminist thought, lived experience and the generational shifts transforming contemporary Nepali womanhood.
The episode is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Youtube, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
The memoir that changes how we read Arundhati Roy
‘Mother Mary Comes to Me’, Arundhati Roy’s memoir of love, loyalty and the larger-than-life Mrs Roy, puts into perspective a whole career of writing about the problem of belonging
By Supriya Nair | 2 Dec 2025
The politics of space and infrastructure in Southasian cities
Four new books spotlight mobility in post-liberalisation cities across India and Pakistan, showing how everyday movement, inequality and aspiration shape urban citizenship beyond “world-class” infrastructure
By Sohel Sarkar | 10 Dec 2025
One of Southasia’s most celebrated storytellers, Amitav Ghosh, returns with his new novel Ghost-Eye (Fourth Estate India, December 2025). Travelling between late-1960s Calcutta and present-day Brooklyn, Ghost-Eye is a sweeping story about family, fate and our fragile planet.
📖 From the Himal archives: Evan Tims reflects on Southasia’s place in contemporary climate fiction.
Fascism in India: Race, Caste and Hindutva by Luna Sabastian (Harvard University Press, December 2025) explores how Hindu nationalism became a laboratory for fascist ideas that continue to shape the Hindutva movement. Challenging our assumptions about fascism, the book offers an eye-opening meditation on the evolution of right-wing thought in India today.
📖 From the Himal archives: Jason Stanley unpacks India’s fascist turn under Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist rule, drawing parallels with global authoritarian movements.
As authoritarianism spreads and state overreach becomes more common, G N Devy’s new essay collection, Citizen Under Siege (Context, December 2025), asks urgent questions: How do we safeguard democracy? Why has silencing citizens become central to governments worldwide? And why is respect for diversity and tolerance in India more important than ever?
The Range of the River: A Riverine History of Empire Across China, India and Southeast Asia by Iftekhar Iqbal (Stanford University Press, December 2025) uncovers the entwined histories of the region’s major rivers, and the empires, human actors and natural forces that shaped them. Tracing six rivers across eight countries – including the Brahmaputra, Irrawaddy and Yangtze – Iqbal shows how these waterways were more than imperial conduits: they fostered commerce, mobility and cultural exchange.
River Traveller: Journeys on the Tsangpo-Brahmaputra from Tibet to the Bay of Bengal by Sanjoy Hazarika (Speaking Tiger, October 2025) blends travelogue, reportage and decades of fieldwork to follow the Brahmaputra from Tibet through Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and Bangladesh. Hazarika combines historical insights with close observations of contemporary life, exploring everything from natural disasters and colonial legacies to environmental responsibility and local politics.
Voices of Women from Afghanistan: Five Plays and the Stories that Inspired Them edited by Lesley Ferris and Jenny Morgan (Bloomsbury, December 2025) brings together five plays by Afghan female playwrights, inspired by the work of Afghan women journalists published through the Sahar Speaks programme. The plays explore the lives of Afghan girls and women in the years before the Taliban’s return to Kabul, offering a unique glimpse into their creativity and resilience and the stories that risk being silenced.
Before the Millennium (Bloomsbury, December 2025) by the award-winning playwright Karim Khan follows two migrants from Pakistan, Zoya and Iqra, working in Woolworths on Cowley Road, Oxford, as the year 1999 draws to a close. A mysterious visit from the future reshapes their understanding of friendship, migration and belonging, exploring the joys and challenges of settling in a new country.
Young Tigers: Chao Tzang Yawnghwe and the Shan Rebellion in Myanmar (University of Washington Press, December 2025) by Bertil Lintner, with Hseng Noung Lintner, traces the life of Chao Tzang Yawnghwe – the son of Sao Shwe Thaike, the first president of independent Burma – as rebel, academic and political theorist. From the 1962 military coup to ethnic insurgencies and Chao Tzang’s vision for a federal system, the book offers a compelling portrait of his life and role in the Shan resistance movement as well as essential context for understanding contemporary Myanmar.
Beneath Magnolia Skies: Writings from Sikkim and Darjeeling Hills edited by Mona Chettri and Prava Rai (Zubaan, December 2025) brings together womens voices from diverse walks of life to share their experiences across these Himalayan regions, revealing resilience, connection and the rhythms of everyday life.
Called by the Hills: A Home in the Himalaya by Anuradha Roy (Hachette India, November 2025) recounts the novelist’s journey of building a home in Ranikhet, Uttarakhand, and over 25 years of life in the mountains after leaving Delhi’s frenetic pace. Living among wildlife and local communities, she bears witness to nature at its most vulnerable, exploring the beauty, challenges and environmental threats of the region.
🎧 From the Southasia Review of Books podcast: Revisit a conversation with the journalist Thomas Bell on his latest book, Human Nature, and the social, cultural and natural history of people’s lives in the Himalayan environment.
Until next time, happy reading!
Shwetha Srikanthan
Associate Editor, Himal Southasian
💌 Are there any new books, authors or events you would like to see featured? I’d love to hear from you. Write to me at shwethas@himalmag.com.
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