For more than three decades, Joe Sacco has been at the forefront of graphic journalism, combining rigorous reporting with comics to document conflict, displacement and political violence. His landmark works, including Palestine and Footnotes in Gaza, have helped define an entire genre and inspired generations of cartoonists and journalists.
His latest book, The Once and Future Riot (2025), turns its attention to India, examining the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots in Uttar Pradesh and the political forces that shaped them. In doing so, it asks larger questions about violence, democracy, memory and the stories societies tell about themselves in the aftermath of conflict.
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The book has also become the subject of a controversy of its own. Earlier this year, Penguin Random House India decided not to distribute it after raising a series of legal and editorial objections, prompting wider debates about censorship and how histories of violence are told.
In this episode of the Southasia Review of Books podcast – a show from Himal featuring conversations with celebrated authors and emerging literary voices from across Southasia – we speak to Sacco about The Once and Future Riot, the controversy surrounding its publication, and more.
Episode notes:
Joe Sacco
Joe Sacco
Vishwajyoti Ghosh
Frances Harrison
Manjula Padmanabhan