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Six Indian Fiction Titles to Watch This September
Six new or newly translated books connected to Indian fiction are highlighted for September.
Amit Chaudhuri’s Château Rouge is about a writer discovering a different side of Paris.
The Imitation Englishman follows an Indian student caught up in a revolutionary plot during the First World War.
Moms shows how a woman in Delhi tries to hide her loneliness behind a perfect social life.
Diary of an Unseen Witness tells of a Telugu lecturer detained during India’s Emergency.
Peace in the Land of the Dead uses surreal stories to explore life in Manipur.
Wandered the Traveller follows a highly intelligent young Pashtun woman seeking a new future.
The books explore travel, politics, social pressure, fear, fantasy and independence.
Amit Chaudhuri’s Château Rouge follows a writer reassessing Paris, travel and otherness.
Devki Pande’s The Imitation Englishman traces an Indian clerk drawn into a wartime independence conspiracy.
Shivani Sibal’s Moms examines loneliness and social pressures in Delhi’s elite circles.
Diary of an Unseen Witness recounts a Telugu lecturer’s detention during India’s 1975 Emergency.
The selection also includes Manipur-set stories by Lian Dousel and a translated Urdu classic by Nisar Aziz Butt.
- Who
- The six featured authors are Amit Chaudhuri, Devki Pande, Shivani Sibal, Ampassayya Naveen, Lian Dousel and Nisar Aziz Butt; Kalpana Kannabiran and Daisy Rockwell translated two of the books.
- What
- A publisher-sourced preview of six Indian fiction titles to look forward to in September.
- Where
- The books range across Paris, India, Europe, America, Manipur, Delhi and South Asia.
- When
- The titles are scheduled for September; some stories are set during the First World War or India’s Emergency in 1975.
- Why
- They are being highlighted for their explorations of travel, colonialism, political repression, social pressure, surreal experience and women’s lives.
Key facts
- Number of titles
- Six
- Featured author
- Amit Chaudhuri, author of Château Rouge
- Historical setting
- The Imitation Englishman begins in 1916 during the First World War.
- Political setting
- Diary of an Unseen Witness is set during India’s Emergency, which began in 1975.
- Translation
- Diary of an Unseen Witness was translated from Telugu by Kalpana Kannabiran; Wandered the Traveller was translated from Urdu by Daisy Rockwell.
- Regional focus
- Peace in the Land of the Dead contains 12 stories set in Manipur.
- Earlier publication
- Wandered the Traveller was first published in 1955 and is now available in English for the first time.
Sources
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