Books
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HT Picks; New Reads
Published on Feb 14, 2025 10:58 PM IST
On the reading list this week is a pioneering work on the lost textile traditions of Bengal from the 16th to the 20th century, a novel about the teeming metropolis of Calcutta in the last moments before multiple disasters strike, and a book that provides profound insights into the practice of fasting
HT Team
Ijeoma Oluo: “In a better world, I’d tell different tales”
The author of ‘Be A Revolution’ on race in America, the role of writers as activists, and how all writing is political
Published on Feb 14, 2025 10:57 PM IST
Simar Bhasin
Review: The Living Legend – Ramayana Tales from Far and Nearby Vayu Naidu
This retelling of one of India’s greatest epics highlights, among other things, the importance of Nature, and the need to develop an eco-friendly relationship with the earth
Published on Feb 14, 2025 10:52 PM IST
Jenny Erpenbeck: “There is a place in the world for socialism”
The German author, who won the 2024 International Booker Prize for her novel Kairos, and was recently at the Kerala Literature Festival in Kozhkode, on socialism, bookbinding, and her father
Published on Feb 14, 2025 10:47 PM IST
PM Modi gifts classics like Panchatantra and Malgudi Days to Elon Musk's kids
In a delightful moment of cultural exchange, Prime Minister Narendra Modi gifted Indian literary classics to Elon Musk’s children; check them out
Updated on Feb 14, 2025 09:34 PM IST
Aadrika Sominder
Walking in Bridget Jones’s footsteps
Recalling a few vital life lessons as the iconic character, now 51, returns to the dating world on Valentine’s Day in ‘Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy’
Published on Feb 14, 2025 12:34 PM IST
Teja Lele
Review: Shah Rukh Khan; Legend, Icon, Star by Mohar Basu
Full of trivia about his childhood, early days in the film industry, and his persona, this portrait of the Hindi film star attempts to immortalise his legend
Updated on Feb 13, 2025 02:50 PM IST
Deepansh Duggal
Review: Gliff by Ali Smith
Technology, uncertainty and an air of transient horror runs through this first part of a duology.
Published on Feb 12, 2025 02:03 PM IST
Rahul Singh
Jassa Ahluwalia: “The mixed story is massively underrepresented at the moment”
At the Jaipur Literature Festival, the author of ‘Both Not Half: A Radical New Approach to Mixed Heritage Identity’ spoke about the tendency to reduce an individual’s identity to fractions and the surprisingly similar reactions to his book in UK and India
Published on Feb 12, 2025 01:56 PM IST
The algorithmic aesthetic at the World Book Fair, 2025
The World Book Fair in New Delhi has become a marketplace where viral-friendly books and hyper-consumerism overshadow intellectual engagement.
Published on Feb 11, 2025 05:30 PM IST
Anjali Chauhan
A wrap-up of Sundance Film Festival 2025
The line-up this year was heavy with stories of stifled desire, of anger against subjugation, and of resilience in the face of illness, grief and loneliness.
Published on Feb 10, 2025 05:50 PM IST
Book Review: The Wrong Daughter is gripping, but not as clever as it thinks
The Wrong Daughter by Dandy Smith is a fast-paced psychological thriller that will hook you from the start. Though gripping, it doesn't deliver! Here's why
Published on Feb 10, 2025 03:29 PM IST
Aadrika Sominder
Book Box | Why you should go to JLF
Travel to the Jaipur Literature Festival to understand our times, everything from AI and art to ancient wisdom
Updated on Feb 08, 2025 09:16 PM IST
Lucy Caldwell: “There’s no such thing as an ordinary life”
On her latest book, ‘Openings’, the short story as a form, diasporic writing, and why she believes that life actually happens in the ordinary mundane moments
Published on Feb 08, 2025 07:14 AM IST
Simar Bhasin
Review: Into The Forest by Avtar Singh
A novel that is as much a meditation on the relationship between need, love and freedom as it is on forging bonds
Published on Feb 08, 2025 06:58 AM IST
Akankshya Abismruta
Review: Satyajit Ray; Feluda in the Golden Fortress
Satyajit Ray’s ‘Sonar Kella’ put Jaisalmer on the map and in the minds of Bengali tourists. A new book celebrates its 50th anniversary
Published on Feb 08, 2025 06:56 AM IST
Uttaran Das Gupta
On Anora and invisible labour
While addressing the invisibility to which sex workers are subjected, films like ’Anora’ also examine how the capitalist framework shapes sex work, how the transactional nature of sex work shapes relationships, and how money shapes power dynamics
Published on Feb 08, 2025 05:58 AM IST
HT Picks; New Reads
On the reading list this week is a collection of interviews with political prisoners and an ambitious volume of Indian short fiction.
Published on Feb 08, 2025 05:20 AM IST
HT Team
Review: Too Good to Be True by Prajakta Koli
A love letter to love stories, the actor and influencer’s debut novel presents a romance that’s both familiar and relatable
Published on Feb 06, 2025 03:17 PM IST
Review: My Head for a Tree by Martin Goodman
This is the extraordinary story of the Bishnois, the most ecologically conscious community in the world.
Published on Feb 06, 2025 06:02 AM IST
Sudhirendar Sharma
Kal Penn: “Nobody should have to live in fear”
American actor and former White House staff member Kalpen Suresh Modi — better known as Kal Penn — spoke at the Jaipur Literature Festival.
Published on Feb 05, 2025 05:29 PM IST
Report: The Apeejay Kolkata Literary Festival
With sessions on patriarchy, the Lok Sabha elections, Rashbehari Bose, and mythology, the festival ensured that the audience was kept engaged throughout
Published on Feb 04, 2025 07:16 PM IST
Chittajit Mitra
Abed Elrazeg Abu Jazer: “Literature an essential part of our freedom movement”
The Chargé d’Affaires of the Palestine embassy spoke about reputed international cultural institutions being afraid of platforming Palestinian voices.
Updated on Feb 03, 2025 03:41 PM IST
Book Box | A Sunday Book Swap
A diminished book club finds unexpected company in a book swap organised by a bookstore.
Updated on Feb 01, 2025 11:37 PM IST
HT Picks; New Reads
On the reading list this week is a book of iconic photographs of the Himalayas by Vittorio Sella, a volume of 16 true-life narratives of love and longing in Kashmir, and an engaging memoir on an eminent photographer
Updated on Jan 31, 2025 10:34 PM IST
HT Team
Amitav Ghosh: “Terraforming is happening now”
On his new book, ‘Wild Fictions’, environmental disasters, migration, and the truth within speculative fiction
Updated on Jan 31, 2025 10:32 PM IST
Simar Bhasin
Review: In Pursuit of Freedom by Pradeep Damodaran
Travelling from Sabarmati to Champaran, Tentuligumma and beyond, Pradeep Damodaran combines history and on-ground reportage to present a picture of contemporary India
Published on Jan 31, 2025 10:27 PM IST
Shevlin Sebastian
Review: ‘A Maverick in Politics’ by Mani Shankar Aiyar
The last volume of Mani Shankar Aiyar’s autobiographical trilogy, that looks at the period from 1991 to 2024, presents a candid account of the various stages of his political life
Published on Jan 31, 2025 10:23 PM IST
Vinod C Khanna
New Delhi Book Fair: All you need to know about time, venue, theme & activities
Calling all bibliophiles to unite at Bharat Mandapam in Delhi! The New Delhi Book Fair is back and the theme of this year is about the Republic. Read more
Published on Jan 31, 2025 06:30 PM IST
Kriti Kambiri
The case for The Quillers’ Club
Ambreen Rasool’s publishing house aims to bring out books that connect Kashmiri children to their heritage
Published on Jan 31, 2025 01:49 PM IST
Majid Maqbool