There is something unequivocally alluring about a book that follows the anachronistic literary narrative, which places people associated with a particular time in history in the wrong time period. These tales are old as time, and you are curious to know how the characters would react, think, or even just… live. Author Trisha Das thought… Continue reading #ELLERecommends: 4 Books That Celebrate The Magic Of Mythology Retold
Books that celebrate and honour the journey of LGBTQIA+ individuals are important because nothing is more profound and comforting to know that you are not alone, especially for queer and trans individuals. We’ve rounded up eight of the latest Queer YA books available right now — from romance, sci-fi, historical fiction, mystery, and all that.… Continue reading 8 Of The Best New Queer YA Books
The jubilee success of Mr. India consolidated Sridevi’s conquest of the male bastion that Bollywood was. She had not only overshadowed the hero but her greater screen time in the film was a radical win in that decade when most heroines were only incidental to the plot. The November issue of Showtime with the actress… Continue reading An exlcusive excerpt from a new biography on Sridevi
Brooklyn-based writer, podcaster and visual artist Fariha Róisín writes about everything that a brown girl navigating her way through life and its curve-balls needs to read. Her focus is often on wellness, pop-culture and representation of queer identity. Her first book, How to Cure A Ghost, was a collection of poems that talk about overcoming… Continue reading Poet and author Fariha Róisín on the importance of self-care
Marie-Hélène de Taillac has revolutionised jewellery-making. Over two decades, she has used Eastern artisanal techniques to let the vibrancy of gem stones take centre stage. The French jewellery designer has travelled far and wide, from the glamorous by lanes of Paris to the age-old palaces of Jaipur. In an interview, she tells ELLE India all… Continue reading Marie-Hélène de Taillac’s book Gold and Gems celebrates her 20-year-long journey
Growing up in various states across America, Maulik Pancholy, like many other first-generation immigrant kids, was conscious of being culturally “different” from his schoolmates. And on trips back to India, it would become instantly obvious that he was American. It didn’t help that there was virtually no representation in pop culture that Maulik Pancholy could… Continue reading Actor-turned-author Maulik Pancholy on why pop culture representation matters
“I have been writing this book all my life, even though it took me less than a year to actually pen it,” says Easterine Kire about her latest book, A Respectable Woman (Zubaan; on stands now). Based on the oral memoirs of her mother, grandmother, village elders and cousins, the book is about post-war Kohima… Continue reading Author Easterine Kire’s latest book professes her love for Nagaland
While having a conversation about female rulers or warriors in history, 20-year-old visual artist Tara Anand realised she didn’t have more than a couple of Indian names to contribute. That served as an impetus to highlight the brave warrior women from history through illustrations. “I’ve always held the belief that the female side of history… Continue reading This illustrated book pays tribute to India’s forgotten warrior women
At the end of The Handmaid’s Tale, Offred, the protagonist, enters a van where her fate will be decided. Will she escape or will she be captured by the powers-that-be? The answer to that will be revealed in the sequel to the novel, The Testaments, which will release on September 10, 2019. The Testaments is… Continue reading Author Margaret Atwood’s sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale to release next year
Tradition and espionage come together in Ravi Shankar Etteth’s thriller set amid the politics of the Mauryan Empire. “To yield to fear is fatal,” says the spymaster who not just has King Ashoka’s back, but also saves his kingdom with spectacular espionage skills in Ravi Shankar Etteth’s latest book, The Brahmin (Westland, 2018; on stands now). On horseback or lurking in dark alleys, the… Continue reading Book of the month: The Brahmin is a murder mystery set deep within the Mauryan Empire
A year ago, Gurmehar Kaur uploaded a picture on Facebook, that depicted her holding a placard that said, “I am a student from Delhi University. I am not afraid of ABVP. I am not alone. Every student of India is with me. #StudentsAgainstABVP (sic)”. The 21-year-old English Literature student, from Lady Shri Ram College for… Continue reading Gurmehar Kaur doesn’t care if you think she’s anti-national
This high-profile book launch was eagerly anticipated — no-holds barred writer Shobhaa De joined by the non-conformist Barkha Dutt and the feisty Kangana Ranaut. And yet, the conversation was not so much about the book 70 & To Hell With It (which is Shobhaa’s 21st and encapsulates her life journey to 70) as it was… Continue reading What we learned from Kangana Ranaut and Barkha Dutt at Shobhaa De’s book launch
Shilpa Shetty Kundra has made her passion for food fairly evident on her Instagram account (have you seen her Sunday binge videos?) with her cooking recipes being completely sought after. After successfully co-authoring her first book The Great Indian Diet with celebrity nutritionist Luke Coutinho, the multi-hyphenate is all set to launch her second book… Continue reading Shilpa Shetty Kundra’s second cook book is launching in January
In one of the most ambitious debuts of the year, Preti Taneja, 40, ships the madness of Shakespeare’s tragedy King Lear to modern-day India. We That Are Young (Penguin Random House; on stands now) is set against the 2011 anti-corruption protests in the country, and absorbs its present complications of power and patriarchy. The Warwick… Continue reading Preti Taneja’s new book is a modern take on Shakespeare’s classic tragedy King Lear
A self-confessed bookworm, Twinkle Khanna devours novels like they’re tic-tacs. If we were to read through her entire library, we might age a few years and live a few lives before we’re done. In an interview with Elle, she recalled that her school friends told her she used to have her head buried in books… Continue reading Book recommendations from Twinkle Khanna’s library
Perhaps you cottoned onto the genius of North London native Zadie Smith from first page-turn of her first novel, White Teeth. The award-winning book was written when Smith was fresh out of Cambridge University. Since then, the now 41-year-old writer has published four more novels (including On Beauty and the most recent Swing Time) endless… Continue reading Zadie Smith tells us everything about her new book
A woman’s body is not her own. This stark philosophy is the basis of many major healthcare arguments, especially if related to abortion or reproductive care, in one of the most powerful countries in the world. The recently passed anti-abortion bill in Texas brings the US closer to the bleak dystopian societies brought to life… Continue reading “Forcing a woman to have a baby she can’t afford is a form of slavery”
Surely a book can have several origins. But a serious work of scholarship resulting from a video that goes viral on the Internet is novel, still. That’s precisely how Shashi Tharoor’s latest, An Era Of Darkness, came about. Tharoor, once a UN diplomat, now a directly elected member of parliament — a relatively rare Congressman… Continue reading “The party of Hindutva has betrayed centuries of ancient Hindu practice in acceptance of sexual deviancy”
The comparisons to Gone Girl are coming in thick and fast for Paula Hawkins’ The Girl On The Train. An unstable woman who rides the train every day thinks she’s witnessed something horrific in one of the houses on her route. A complex, compelling female protagonist; an accelerating sense of danger and an imminent Hollywood… Continue reading Meet Paula Hawkins
“I knew I wanted to be a painter when I was 10 years old, and made my acquaintance with Pablo Picasso around the same time. The sheer genius of his work bewildered me. I longed to see the originals, but the closest I got to his work was reproductions in the copies of TIME magazine… Continue reading How Picasso influenced me
