- the indian express

JOURNALISM OF COURAGESINCE 1932

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BOOKMARKSURBHI GUPTA

Publishing house Juggernaut Books has made select titles available for

download, free on its mobile app. Read the prize-winning Early Indians by

Tony Joseph or actor-writer Twinkle Khanna’s Pyjamas are Forgiving, if you

are in the mood for something light. For a dose of history, you can turn to

Kohinoor by William Dalrymple, or for policy discussions to Good

Economics For Hard Times by Nobel prize-winning economists

Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo.

WITH ADDED PUNCH

BOOKMARKwww.indianexpress.com

Seagull Books is offering seven books for download, on its website, every

Sunday. Read Bibhutibhusan Bandyopadhyay’s Aranyak: Of the Forest,

the story of a young graduate from 1920s Calcutta, who becomes the

manager of forested land in Bihar, or Lola Lafon’s We Are the Birds of the

Coming Storm or Brit Bildoen’s Seven Days in August, which revolves

around 2011 terror attack in Norway’s Utøya Island.

KEEP FLYING


The JCB Prize for Literature has collaborated with Kindle India to make works

of the longlist winners, from the past two years, available at 40 to 70 per cent

discount till April 30. This includes works by Perumal Murugan (above right),

Madhuri Vijay, Benyamin (above left), Roshan Ali, Amitabha Bagchi, and

Manoranjan Byapari. It is also running a series on Instagram called the

#TheJCBPrizeCatchUp. Readers and aspiring writers can interact with au-

thors about the challenges the outbreak has brought to the fore — isolation,

loneliness and sickness — and how that affects the creative process.

BEST OF THE LOT


Author Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni has penned the first chapter of what

is to become a crowd-sourced novel — possibly an apocalyptic one, given

the times — in which, Manaroma, a school teacher, wakes up to find not

only her husband and children missing, but the whole city quiet. Anyone

can participate in the contest and the prize-winning chapters will result

in a book.Find the story and the rules on Harper Collins India’s website.

SPIN A YARN


MATINEE

ADDA

Writer Monisha Rajesh has

started a fantastic series of

conversations with

bestselling authors on

everything under the sun on

her Instagram called the

‘Literary Lockdown’. Catch

her in a tete-a-tete with

historian William

Dalrymple, writer Nikesh

Shukla and novelist Polly

Samson. Her interactions

begin at

4 pm GST, which is 8.30 pm

IST. Her conversations with

Jeet Thayil, Jenny Colgan,

Jessie Burton, Charles

Cumming and Mira Jacob

can be found on her

Instagram handle

@monisha_rajesh.


Pakistani writers Fatima Bhutto and Sanam Maher (above) are bringing

the global literary community together on their Instagram accounts with

the project ‘Stay Home, Stay Reading’. It has over 60 writers sending

video readings, in many languages, from their own work, and those that

bring them comfort. Listen to Pakistani writer Mohammed Haneef read

Punjabi poetry or Irish writer Caoilinn Hughes share from her latest dark

comedy The Wild Laughter, or Johann Hari read from his book

Lost Connections.

ONE WORLD FAMILY


Talking Cub has collaborated with Kolkata-based Storyteller Bookstore

for an online series for children called #FUNtasticBookWeekends,

powered by LBB India. To be kicked off on April 25, it is a mix of book

reading, storytelling, art and fun games that will go live over the

weekends at 5.30 pm on Facebook. Jerry Pinto talks about poetry and

reading from Tickle Me, Don't Tickle Me, Shabnam Minwalla has a word

game planned, while Bijal Vachharajani speaks on climate change.

LEARNING TREE


Books has been organising podcasts, weekly debates and virtual book

clubs on Facebook. This week saw conversations over 10 most iconic

cricketing moments, and environment and wildlife protection after the

pandemic. On April 23, Westland’s Karthika VK, Roli Books’ Kapil

Kapoor and others will discuss publishing in pre- and post-COVID-19

times. Kiran Majumdar Shaw will talk about the pandemic with Maya

Mirchandani and Lakshmi Subramanian on April 24.

LET’S TALK


- the indian express

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