In the run-up to the 2024 elections, the films that hit the big screens, the books showcased on the windowfronts, and the music crawling into our ears, has mostly sung the songs of propaganda. It’s art without dissent; art that rages for the machine. By Karan Madhok

Does the reader choose their book? Or the book its reader? Satyarth Pandita explores this grand moment of literary connection and resonance.

Chronicle of An Hour and a Half (2024) establishes Saharu Nusaiba Kannanari as a writer fierce and loyal to his craft, as he invites the readers to reflect on the spectacle of violence in our technologically-powered society. By Akankshya Abismruta

Debut novelist Atharva Pandit discusses why he chose to render the true-crime story as fiction in Hurda, the polyphonic nature of the narrative, and his uninhibited portrayal of the investigation and the actors involved in the case. By Saurabh Sharma

In a wide-ranging conversation with, acclaimed poet and dancer Tishani Doshi spoke to Ronald Tuhin D’Rozario about her literary work, the fundamentals of ‘Vilambit’ in her writing, and artistic journeys through space and time.

In Abhishek Anicca’s memoir The Grammar of my Body (2023), the protagonist is a disabled body, charting its terrain through the unforgiving, able-bodied world. By Priyanka Chakrabarty

Marnina (Avirup) spoke to representatives from Queer organizations at the 2024 Kolkata Book Fair about the experience of hosting their stalls, seeking diversity in Indian publishing, and much more.

In The Grammar of My Body, Abhishek Anicca shared his journey of discovering his disability and chronic illness. In an interview, Anicca spoke about disability in the face of capitalism, politics, and literature in an ableist society. By Akankshya Abismruta

Poet, writer, and essayist Sumana Roy speaks to Ronald Tuhin D’Rozario about the creative process, shifting between poetry and prose, and the ‘joyous riyaz’ of a literary life.

How a slow but steady collective drive is finally instrumentalizing a change in the Indian publishing landscape, giving rise to queer, Dalit, disabled, Adivasi, and other marginalized voices on the bookshelves. By Saurabh Sharma

Vivek Shanbag’s novel Sakina’s Kiss (2013) features a protagonist obsessed with possession, uncomfortable in the evolving role of his masculinity, searching for meaning in a life where every answer presents a series of more confounding questions. By Karan Madhok

At the core of Ranjit Hoskote’s latest poetry collection Icelight is a restlessness, a searching presented as a series of inward questions which never quite find their resolve; they keep going until the question itself becomes the endgame. By Vinita Agrawal