The problematic representation of women in many recent Telugu blockbusters like Peddi and the Pushpa films have stoked controversy. When mainstream commercial cinema consistently turns the sexualisation of women into entertainment, who should be responsible for the world these images help create? By Sumithra Prasanna
Poem by Anju Devadas R D: ‘someone once said / the soul is lighter than breath / but the soil keeps secrets / the sky cannot hold.’
“These are more than just stories. They are our history.” Veio Pou’s debut novel Waiting for the Dust to Settle (2020) narrates a story drawn from real-life incidents from Operation Bluebird in Manipur, blending the personal and the political. By Saurabh Sharma
Bena Sareen, winner of the Oxford Bookstore Book Cover Prize, speaks about her latest honour and the “huge responsibility” of designing a memorable literary cover. By Chittajit Mitra