"Sketches from Memory"

Laxmibai Tilak

Translated from the Marathi by Louis Menezes

A writer par excellence. A woman who had the courage to go against the grain. Who thought nothing of flinging societal restrictions to the wind and plunging into selfless service. Who could take that magical and most difficult step that separated truth from hypocrisy.

Sketches from Memory is the autobiography of Laxmibai Tilak, who singularly championed the cause of girls’ education in Maharashtra in the early twentieth century. Adeptly translated by Louis Menezes, it traces her relationship with her scholar husband Narayan Wamanrao Tilak through his conversion to Christianity and her self-education.

Katha presents the story of Laxmibai Tilak's zest for life, love and god.

Read a review of this book in Time Out, Mumbai, here!

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"These are my Children"

Damodar Mauzo

Translated from the Konkani by Xavier Cota

Poignant, bittersweet, earthy. Nine heartwarming slices of life from Goa about empty nests, affections betrayed, relations made and unmade. The entanglements and entailments of human feeling echo through this engaging gallimaufry of stories from the pen of one of Goa's finest writers.

In this deeply sensitive translation from the Konkani, These are My Children mirrors a Goa that may have changed with time, yet holds on steadfastly to a character and energy that is all its own.

Read a review in The Statesman of this book here!

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"Not Flowers of Henna"

Kamleshwar

Translated from the Hindi by Jai Ratan

"The young turk of Hindi Fiction" - Gulzar

The best of short fiction from Padma Bhushan Awardee Kamleshwar

A novelist, film writer, critic and editor, Kamleshwar wrote political, religious and ideological fixations . His writings depict the society in flux and build on fundamental verities such as circumstances and human affections. Jai Ratan, the translator, completed his masters from Foreman Christian College, Lahore. He was awarded the Divagish Award in 1991 and the Sahitya Akademi Award for translation in 1992. He is a founder member of the Writer’s Workshop, Kolkata.

Restive and moving, Kamleshwar’s stories resist all attempts to divide. The title story “These are not Flowers of Henna, Salima,” - which had set the stage for the celebrated novel Kitne Pakistan – affirms that Pakistan exists not on the map but in people’s minds. These tales are not fragrant flowers of henna, but intimations of the Pakistans that breed everywhere, every moment. The fifteen handpicked stories in this collection meld memory with experience. Subtly crafted and sensitively translated, these stories defy easy conclusions.

Reviews

“Kamleshwar painted life’s rainbow boldly and innovatively on a wide, expansive canvas and filled it with quality and craft” – Times of India
“Torchbearer of writing with a constructive approach and vision” – Sheila Dikshit