An Imprint of Harpercollins Publishers 1
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@HarperCollinsIN An Imprint of HarperCollins Publishers 1 Let’s Talk Translation! Harper Perennial, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, showcases the finest writing from the various languages of the Indian subcontinent in English translation. Here is a library of powerful writers and books that will go on to become classics; here is a wealth of writing in translation; here are stories, anti-stories, novels, poetry, political manifestos, travelogues and memoirs. Harper Perennial is as much about literature that is rooted, as it is about finding ways to make it travel. So, as an additional feature, every title comes with a P.S. Section that allows readers to explore the books more intimately through translator’s notes, essays and author interviews. 2 3 CELEBRATING 10 YEARS OF HARPER PERENNIAL IN INDIA FROM THE PUBLISHER'S DESK In 2017, Harper Perennial, a dedicated imprint for translations, completes ten years of publishing in India. Over the past decade, Perennial books have showcased the finest and most compelling narratives from the Indian languages, books that are timeless and stories that capture the essence of their times and the region from which they emanate. In its entirety, the Perennial library which features over a hundred titles presents the kaleidoscope of India as seen through the eyes of the greatest modern writers writing in the local languages, comprising award-winning and well-loved novels, short fiction, poetry, plays, memoirs, biographies and travelogues. Over the last few months, Harper Perennial has published a select list of titles in translation that readers will have enjoyed – including Gulzar’s first novel Two and his collection of Partition writings Footprints on Zero Line, Rabindranath Tagore’s The Boat-wreck, Kiran Nagarkar’s first novel Seven Sixes Are Forty-three, Ranjit Desai’s Shivaji: The Great Maratha, Pran Kishore’s Gul Gulshan Gulfam, Vinod Kumar Shukla’s Moonrise from the Green Grass Roof, Rahi Masoom Raza’s Scene: 75, and Jayant Kaikini’s book of Mumbai stories No Presents Please. Among Harper Perennial’s many exciting forthcoming titles are Mirza Athar Baig’s novel Hassan’s State of Affairs, Subimal Misra’s Anti-novels, V.P. Kale’s Karmachari, T.D. Ramakrishnan’s Sugandhi Alias Andaal Devanayaki, Anisul Hoque’s The Ballad of Ayesha, Sharmila Seyyid’s Ummath, Akhilesh’s Exile, George Kakkanadan’s book of short stories, Vinod Bhardwaj’s A True Lie, Sujatha’s The Dream Factory, Poornachandra Tejaswi’s Daredevil Mustafa and Other Stories, Mohan Rakesh’s Another Life and Lingering Shadows, and Gulzar’s A Poem a Day. A complete list and description of books published in Harper Perennial, as well as details of forthcoming publications, are available in this catalogue. To celebrate Perennial’s tenth anniversary, the editors at HarperCollins have handpicked ten of their favourite Perennial books, which are being published as special keepsake editions under the ‘Perennial 10’ series. The books are: Bhima: Lone Warrior by M.T. Vasudevan Nair, Chemmeen by Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai, Ghachar Ghochar by Vivek Shanbhag, Hindutva or Hind Swaraj by U.R. Ananthamurthy, The Liberation of Sita by Volga, A Life Misspent by Suryakant Tripathi Nirala, The Sea Lies Ahead by Intizar Husain, Selected Poems by Joy Goswami, Wild Animals Prohibited: Stories/Anti- stories by Subimal Misra, and Wild Words: Four Tamil Poets translated by Lakshmi Holmström. We hope you will enjoy these outstanding works of literature all over again in their new look. And we hope very much that you will continue to support Harper Perennial’s efforts as we publish the finest and most interesting writing from the subcontinent in the local languages, in English translation. UDAYAN MITRA Publisher – Literary HarperCollins Publishers India 6 7 FTOR HCOMING ANOTHER LIFE: THIRTEEN STORIES nobody wants to take him in. Prince Siddhartha is transported to nuclear-era India. The people 8 in this collection of stories find themselves in limbo – out of time, out of place, facing moral 9 AND A PLAY dilemmas, hallucinating about the end of the world, and yet always dreaming of a better tomorrow. MOHAN RAKESH (HINDI) Various Translators / Fiction / Drama George Varghese Kakkanadan (1935–2011) was one of the pioneers of a movement that changed the course of Malayalam literature in the 1960s and 70s. He is a recipient the Sahitya Akademi Award in addition to numerous other awards and recognitions. Mohan Rakesh was a towering figure in Hindi literature, and this is an essential volume for anyone interested in its changing, post-Independence landscape. The stories here range from humorous, satirical studies of human foibles, to profound, painful commentaries on the human condition. Rounding out the volume are a translation of the classic play Adhe Adhure, as well as a self-portrait THE BALLAD OF AyESHA and interview – rare, first-person statements by the author, and among the most important critical ANISUL HOQUE (BENGALI) sources for his work. trans. Inam Ahmed / Fiction Mohan Rakesh (1925–1972) was one of the pioneers of the Nai Kahani movement. He wrote the first modern Hindi plays and made significant contributions in every literary genre. October 2, 1977. A military coup is thwarted but the exact sequence of events remains shrouded in mystery. Soon after, Ayesha Begum receives a letter from the Bangladesh Air Force stating that her husband Joynal Abedin has been sentenced to death, convicted of insurgency. Set against the backdrop of raging famine, political assassinations and coups that shook Bangladesh right after ANTI-NOVELS its independence in 1971, this is the story of Ayesha, and the story of the newly created nation. SUBIMAL MISRA (BENGALI) trans. V. Ramaswamy / Fiction Anisul Hoque is an award-winning novelist, screenwriter, dramatist and journalist from Bangladesh. With the two ‘anti-novels’ that comprise this volume, Subimal Misra seeks to find a new form to depict and interrogate the failures of the state, political ideologies, religion, morality and society BREAKING FREE towards the downtrodden. Difficult yet immensely powerful, they are an important document of a society and country that are, despite all protestations to the contrary, clearly not shining. VASANTHI (TAMIL) trans. N. Kalyan Raman / Fiction Anti-establishment and experimental, Subimal Misra’s (b. 1943) stories, novellas, novels, plays, essays and Breaking Free is the story of three women from the devadasi community in Tamil Nadu at the interviews comprise over thirty volumes. He ranks among India’s greatest living writers. beginning of the last century. Along with a vivid portrait of the lives led by men and women of the community, and their exploitation by the landed castes and the wider society, the novel also chronicles the transformation of their lives by the forces of modernity. Breaking Free is an important narrative SHORT STORIES record of a story that remains largely untold, a saga of art and courage, and of the unendurable pain visited on an entire community just beyond the confines of our self-absorbed lives. KAKKANADAN (MALAYALAM) trans. Rishi Kakkanadan / Fiction Vaasanthi is one of Tamil Nadu’s best-known writers. Apart from a prolific output of Tamil fiction, she has written landmark non-fiction works in both Tamil and English, on politics, culture and women’s issues. On his deathbed, a retired schoolteacher longs to put his only pair of shoes on for one last time. A disillusioned city-dweller comes to a village and thinks he has found his place in the world, but THE DREAM FACTORY into hurdles, escalating from the comic to the horrific, the novel explodes into multiple storylines, 10 genres and characters, almost as if to say: some disasters are too enormous to be ‘realistically’ 11 STUJA HA (TAMIL) trans. Narayanan Madhavan / Fiction depicted. Mirza Athar Baig is a philosophy professor at Government College, Lahore, and the author of three novels, a Set in the 1970s and 80s, against the backdrop of the bustling Tamil film industry, the novel short story collection, and numerous plays for television. follows the life of superstar Arun who is afraid of falling from the pinnacle of glory. His life is crowded by aggressive producers, cunning distributors and annoying film journalists who are always looking for a scoop. Filled with the sights, sounds and smells of Kollywood, named after the film studio suburb of Kodambakkam in Chennai, this is a book that reads like a fast-paced movie script. KARMACHARI: SHORT STORIES ABOUT Sujatha (1935–2008) was the pseudonym of writer S. Rangarajan, author of over 100 novels, 250 short ORDINARY PEOPLE stories, ten books on science, ten plays, some movie scripts and a volume of poetry. V .P. KALE (MARATHI) trans. Vikrant Pande / Fiction EXILE A collection of unforgettable short stories about ordinary people, Karmachari is a mirror held up to society. Set in the suburban Mumbai of the 1970s, yet universal, it is peopled by characters we AKHILESH (HINDI) trans. Rajesh Kumar / Fiction might meet in real life. They come alive under V.P. Kale’s sharp but compassionate gaze, and prod us gently towards a world of greater kindness and understanding. Suryakant, the deputy director of the tourism department, has been put in charge of creating a V.P. Kale (1932–2001) was one of the most prolific writers in Marathi. He also started the trend of oral public interest itinerary to mark the 150th anniversary of the 1857 War of Independence. As he storytelling, and his stage-shows and audio cassettes were immensely popular. thinks through the utility of monuments and museums, and traces the paths of the revolutionaries, his own life begins to unravel. Akhilesh’s inventive prose treads the ground between past and present, the states of being and not being, as it follows the lives of ordinary people who discover the thin line that separates freedom from exile.