Personal Essay by Namrata: ‘Language is meant to bring us closer. To help us say: I see you. I want to understand you. I care enough to learn your words. And when we turn language into a line in the sand and use it to exclude, to shame, to assert dominance, we forget its most sacred purpose: to connect.’

In Aparna Sanyal’s Instruments of Torture, each tale is a deep dive into the abyss of human suffering, portraying characters who are not just victims of their circumstances but also complex individuals grappling with the aftermath of their traumas. By Namrata

K. Vaishali won the prestigious Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar this year for her memoir Homeless: Growing Up Lesbian and Dyslexic in India. She speaks about this latest honour, inclusivity in Indian publishing, and the challenges of revealing the sensitive parts of her life to the world. By Namrata