On the precipice of generalisations, ‘The Gujaratis’ exposes a shameful underside of Gujarati pride, Gujarat’s conflicted cultural landscape, and the community’s broader moral and political failings
A fellow Tamil-descent immigrant writer reflects on the Sri Lankan-British poet Vidyan Ravinthiran’s memoir ‘Asian/Other’, exploring the porousness of identity in the Southasian diaspora and the challenges of writing beyond Western expectations
The sanctioned former Sri Lankan navy chief’s memoir contains potential admissions relevant to alleged crimes committed during the country’s civil war, and raises serious questions of publisher accountability
The ambitious Shabdakalpa project, launching in 2028, aims to map the history of every Bengali word in digital form, preserving cultural memory and inspiring future Southasian language initiatives
What France’s vanishing dialects reveal about language politics in India, and how pride and shame shape Bihar’s tongues amid the dominance of Hindi and English
Two new translations recall the lasting legacy of the Hindi playwright Swadesh Deepak, who disappeared in 2006 but whose critique of power in India remains prescient
‘The Belt and Road City’ argues China is wielding the BRI to reshape the global cities around its own ideals – but good luck pinning down what those are
‘The Blaft Book of Anti-Caste SF’ demonstrates the power of speculative and science fiction as instruments of the anti-caste struggle in Southasia, and these genres’ connections to the wide traditions of Dalit and Adivasi literature
The uncompromising writer’s English translator reflects on how Tsering Döndrup’s banned ‘The Red Wind Howls’ reckons with China’s erasure of Tibet’s suffering while reclaiming Tibetans’ right to critique their own culture and history
Tshering Tobgay’s memoir is all praise for Bhutan’s monarchy and fledgling democracy, but it misrepresents the Lhotshampa expulsion and the fraught political history of the “Kingdom of Happiness”
Banu Mushtaq’s International Booker-winning ‘Heart Lamp’, translated by Deepa Bhasthi, marks many historic firsts for Kannada literature and offers an unflinching look at Muslim women’s lives in Karnataka
