New Delhi, 13 April 2022: To commemorate the 131^st birth anniversary of Dr B.R. Ambedkar, the Father of the Indian Constitution, on 14 April, Penguin Random House India has acquired the first English language translation of the autobiography of Dr Ambedkar’s wife and social activist Savita Ambedkar. Originally written in Marathi, the book has been translated by critically acclaimed and award-winning translator Nadeem Khan. Titled Babasaheb: My Life with Dr B.R. Ambedkar, the book will be released in late 2022 under the Vintage imprint. 

A tenacious fighter, an outstanding scholar and an iconic leader, Dr B.R. Ambedkar was all that and more. In the book, his wife Savita brings alive a different side of Ambedkar—a man who wrote romantic letters, dictated what she should wear, whipped up delicious mutton curry, played the violin, and even tried his hand at sculpting. This is a book that humanizes Ambedkar as no other book has done yet.

Born in a middle-class Sarasvat Brahmin family, Dr Sharada Kabir met and got to know Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar as a patient riddled with life-threatening diseases. She eventually married him on 15 April  1948 and got rechristened as Savita Ambedkar. From the day of their marriage to the death of Dr B. R. Ambedkar on 6 December 1956, she aided him in some of his greatest achievements—drafting the Constitution of India, framing the Hindu Code Bill, writing some of his most celebrated books, including The Buddha and His Dhamma, leading millions of Dalits into Buddhism. Following his death, she was hounded into obscurity by some of Dr Ambedkar’s followers who saw her as a threat to their political ambitions. She re-emerged into public life in 1970 and got back to working on the mission to which her husband had devoted his life—the welfare of the Dalit community. Savita Ambedkar was given a state funeral when she passed away on 29 May 2003. Her autobiography, Dr Ambedkaraanchya Sahavaasaat, was first published in Marathi in 1990.

Translator of Babasaheb, Nadeem Khan says, ‘Since it opens another important (and certainly the most personal) window into Dr B. R. Ambedkar’s life, it is easily the most significant book I have translated.’

Commenting on the upcoming book, Milee Ashwarya, Publisher, Ebury Publishing and Vintage, Penguin Random House India, says ‘Dr Savita Ambedkar’s book on her husband and the father of our constitution Dr B.R. Ambedkar has been expertly translated by Nadeem Khan from Marathi to English. I am delighted to acquire this hidden gem that will give us a fresh and intimate insight into one of the most iconic Indians of the twentieth century through some of the most defining moments in Indian history.’

About the translator

Nadeem Khan has been a teacher of English since 1973. He was the founder–and director of the Western Regional Centre of the Indian Institute of Mass Communication, an autonomous Institute run by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India, from 2011 to 2018. He has translated well over a dozen books—mainly from Marathi into English—including Vishwas Patil’s celebrated Marathi novel Panipat and Avadhoot Dongare’s Sahitya Akademi winning novel Swatahala Phaltu Samajnyaachi Gosht. He is the winner of the Valley of Words award for the best-translated book for the year 2020.

New Delhi, 7 April 2022: Critically acclaimed author Geetanjali Shree’s novel Tomb of Sand, translated from the Hindi by Daisy Rockwell, has been nominated for this year’s International Booker Prize. The news of the shortlist broke earlier today. This is the first time the translation of a Hindi language book has been nominated for the award. Tomb of Sand was first published in Hindi as Ret Samadhi in 2018 and Penguin India released its English translation in March 2022. This book has also been the winner of the English Pen Award.

One of the finest works by Geetanjali Shree, Tomb of Sand has received a lot appreciation from readers, who have reviewed it as engaging, funny and utterly original. Based on a tragic premise, the story however has a playful tone and exuberant wordplay. At the same time, it is an urgent and timely protest against the destructive impact on borders and boundaries, whether between religions, countries, or gender. This book is available for purchase on all leading e-commerce websites and in bookstores near you.

Author Geetanjali Shree says, ‘It is recognition of a very special kind. When a work appeals to unknown people sitting in faraway places, then it must have the ability to transcend its specific cultural context and touch the universal and the human. That is true ratification. The work must be good, the translation must be excellent! It is a great moment for Daisy and me. Shows how rich our dialogue has been. That is what translation is about.’

Renowned translator Daisy Rockwell says, ‘I am honoured and overjoyed that the International Booker Committee has chosen to include Tomb of Sand for the shortlist. The longlisting has brought the book many new readers around the world, in English and in Hindi as well. It has also created an awareness of Indian literatures written in languages other than English, and I sincerely hope that awareness will grow into a desire for more. The Subcontinent has so many talented translators and amazing translated works to offer to readers of world literature. Here’s to many more International Booker nominations for South Asian literature!’

Rea Mukherjee, Commissioning Editor, Penguin Random House India says, ‘I am ecstatic that Tomb of Sand has made it to the shortlist! Geetanjali Shree is a master storyteller and probably one of the finest Indian writers currently writing in an Indian language, and Daisy Rockwell is simply incredible at what she does, with her attention to detail and nuance shining through, making this author–translator pairing perfect. This book is truly an insightful and one-of-a-kind Partition novel, and I am pleased and honoured that it found a home with us.’

The International Booker Prize is one of the most prestigious awards in translated literature, giving both the author and translator a platform to showcase their exemplary work in translations.

The shortlist for the 2022 International Booker Prize includes six titles and their information can be found here. The jury is chaired by Frank Wynne, an Irish literary translator from French and Spanish. The judging panel consists of Merve Emre, Associate Professor of English Literature at the University of Oxford, Zimbabwean lawyer and writer Petina Gappah, translator and author Jeremy Tiang and Viv Groskop, writer, critic, broadcaster and stand-up comedian.

The winners of the prize will be announced on 26 May 2022.

About the author

Author of three novels and several story collections, Geetanjali Shree’s work has been translated into English, French, German, Serbian, and Korean. She has received and been shortlisted for a number of awards and fellowships, and lives in New Delhi.

About the translator

Daisy Rockwell is an artist, writer and translator living in northern New England, USA. Apart from her essays on literature and art, she has written Upendranath Ashk: A Critical Biography, The Little Book of Terror and the novel Taste. Her highly acclaimed translations include, among others, Upendranath Ashk’s Falling Walls and Bhisham Sahni’s Tamas, published in Penguin Classics.

We are delighted to announce the publication of The Penguin Book of Indian Poets, the definitive anthology of Indian poetry in English for the next decade and more. Edited by Booker Prize-shortlisted and Sahitya Akademi Award-winner Jeet Thayil, this extensive selection returns the forgotten figures of Indian poetry to the centre where they belong. To be released on 18 April 2022 under the Hamish Hamilton imprint, this book is currently available on pre-order at all major e-commerce websites.

Jeet Thayil compiled the work of 94 poets for this anthology, the oldest born in 1924 and the youngest in 2001. With the aim of giving readers a deeper understanding of a vast and fluid poetic tradition, this collection brings together writers from across the world, a wealth of voices that present an expansive, encompassing idea of what makes an ‘Indian’ poet.

‘I began work on the first version of this anthology in 2003,’ says Thayil. ‘This final version, twenty years in the making, has a latitude and breadth that makes it essential reading. I think of it as a history of India, a lost or overlooked history of ideas, passion, politics and autobiography.’

The Penguin Book of Indian Poets includes lost, uncollected, or out-of-print poems by major poets, essays that place entire bodies of work into their precise cultural contexts, and a collection of classic black-and-white portraits by Madhu Kapparath. These images, taken over a period of thirty years, form an archive of breathtaking historical scope. They offer the viewer unparalleled intimacy and access to the lives of some of India’s greatest poets.

Commenting on the book, Aparna Kumar, Editor at Penguin Random House India says, ‘It is an honour to publish The Penguin Book of Indian Poets, which has been edited by Jeet Thayil and is an exquisite collection of both canonical and newer names in the Indian poetry landscape. This anthology provides a profound understanding of poetry, its vastness and vitality. I had such a lovely time working on this book and the poems continue to comfort me at a time when the world needs poetry more than ever. I hope they do the same for our readers.’

Meru Gokhale, Publisher, Penguin Press, Penguin Random House India says, ‘Curating a poetry anthology of English-language poets in India is a massive undertaking, one that Jeet Thayil has toiled over for two decades. The result is a definitive work, and I have no doubt that this landmark anthology will find a home on the shelves and in the hearts of every single poetry lover in this country.’

About the editor

Jeet Thayil was born into a Syrian Christian family in Kerala. As a boy he travelled through much of the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia with his father, TJS George, a writer and editor. He worked as a journalist for twenty-one years, in Bombay, Bangalore, Hong Kong and New York City. In 2005 he began to write fiction. The first instalment of his Bombay Trilogy, Narcopolis, was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and became an unlikely bestseller. His book of poems These Errors Are Correct won the Sahitya Akademi Award (India’s National Academy of Letters), and his musical collaborations include the opera Babur in London. His essays, poetry and short fiction have appeared in the New York Review of Books, Granta, TLS, Esquire, The London Magazine, The Guardian and Alexander, among other venues. His most recent novel is Names of the Women.

Penguin Random House India is proud to share that Sahitya Akademi presented the award in the English category to Namita Gokhale for her 2016 novel Things To Leave Behind at Festival of Letters 2022 held in the capital on 11 March 2022. Due to the ongoing annual literary event, Jaipur Literature Festival, of which Namita Gokhale is the co-founder and festival director, she was unable to attend the award ceremony. The prize was accepted by her niece on her behalf.

Speaking on the occasion, Namita says, ‘Being awarded the Sahitya Akademi award is possibly the most meaningful honour I’ve ever received. The Sahitya Akademi does inspirational work in keeping alive the diverse legacy of Indian languages. It gives me great personal satisfaction to be included among the canonical community of Indian language writers where I feel I most belong.’

The editor of the book Manasi Subramaniam, also the Associate Publisher at Penguin Random House said, ‘Things to Leave Behind by Namita Gokhale forms a complex and rich tapestry of historical events. Its women are rebels, and its landscape is almost a character. This award recognizes the novel’s extraordinary relevance, and we are so proud to be Namita Gokhale’s publishers.’

About Namita Gokhale

Namita Gokhale is an award winning writer and festival director. She is the author of eleven works of fiction and has written extensively on myth as well as the Himalayan region. Her acclaimed debut novel, Paro: Dreams of Passion, was published in 1984. Her recent novel Jaipur Journals, published in January 2020, was set against the backdrop of the vibrant Jaipur Literature Festival. Betrayed By Hope, a play on the life of Michael Madhusudan Dutt, was also published in 2020. Her twentieth book, The Blind Matriarch was published in 2021.

A co-founder and co-director of the Jaipur Literature Festival, Gokhale is committed to supporting translations and curating literary dialogues across languages and cultures. She was conferred the Centenary National Award for Literature by the Asam Sahitya Sabha in Guwahati in 2017. She won the Sushila Devi Literature Award for her novel Things to Leave Behind, which also received the Best Fiction Jury Award at the Valley of Words Literature Festival 2017 and was on the longlist for the 2018 International Dublin Literary Award.

About Things To Leave Behind

Kumaon, 1856. History has already begun its steady march. Six native women clad in black and scarlet pichauras huddle around Naineetal Lake, attempting to cleanse it of ominous influences. These are the days of Upper Mall Road (for Europeans and their horses) and Lower Mall Road (‘for dogs, servants and other Indians’). Amidst a theatre of British impunity, feisty young Tilottama Dutt, whose uncle is hung when he protests the reigning order, and her daughter, Deoki, confront change as Indians and as women.

Things to Leave Behind brings alive the romance of the mixed legacy of the British-Indian past. Full of the fascinating backstory of Naineetal and its unwilling entry into Indian history, throwing a shining light on the elemental confusion of caste, creed and culture, illuminated with painstaking detail, here is a fascinating historical epic and Namita Gokhale’s most ambitious novel yet.

On the occasion of Soli Sorabjee’s (the former Attorney General of India) 92^nd birth anniversary, Penguin Random House India announces the acquisition and publication of his authorized biography. Titled, Soli Sorabjee: Life and Times, this biography is chronicled by advocate and legal scholar Abhinav Chandrachud. The book is slated to become one of the most illuminating accounts of a person who left an indelible mark on India’s legal history. To be released in April 2022 under the Viking imprint, this book is currently available on pre-order on all major e-commerce websites.

A gripping narration of Soli Sorabjee’s life and times will open a window into his ways of thinking, his fight to champion civil liberties and press freedom and his remarkable work in the field of law. Revealing astounding details of his personal life, his family background, his journey in becoming a practioner of law to a U.N. human rights rapporteur, and repeatedly defending the fundamental right to free speech and expression in the Supreme Court of India, Soli Sorabjee: Life and Times is a captivating and unputdownable book.

Commenting on the upcoming book, the author, Abhinav Chandrachud, says, ‘I’m excited to finally see the Sorabjee biography being published. I hope readers enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.’

How does a Parsi lawyer, deeply influenced by the principles of Roman Catholicism, fall in love with a Bahai and go on to become the Attorney General of India for a Hindu nationalist BJP government? How does a boy with a broken leg, who studied in a Gujarati medium school and lost his father at the age of nineteen, go on to mount a heroic defense of the Janata government’s decision to dissolve Congress state legislatures in the Supreme Court in 1977? How does a newspaper columnist who admires Nehru, who criticizes the BJP for being ‘obsessed’ with ‘demolishing mosques’ and advises them to replace ‘Hindutva’ with ‘Bharatva’ or ‘Indianness’, get chosen by Prime Minister Vajpayee to represent the government in the Supreme Court in many cases including the Ayodhya case? Find the answers to all these questions and much more in the first and only authorized biography of Soli Sorabjee.

Premanka Goswami, Associate Publisher at Penguin and the commissioning editor of the book says, ‘This first authorized biography of Soli Sorabjee, written by Abhinav Chandrachud, will bring to light the life, philosophy and works of Sorabjee.  We’re thrilled to publish it at Penguin.’

Meru Gokhale, Publisher, Penguin Press, Penguin Random House India says, ‘Soli Sorabjee was a fine mind, a quick wit and an extraordinary lawyer. In Abhinav Chandrachud’s hands, his life story takes on the narrative flair and eloquence that Sorabjee himself was known for in his shrewd legal arguments. It is our privilege to publish the only authorised biography of one of our most brilliant attorney generals.’

About the author

Abhinav Chandrachud is an advocate who practices at the Bombay High Court. He graduated from the LL.M. program at Harvard Law School where he was a Dana Scholar, and from the JSM and JSD programs at Stanford Law School where he was a Franklin Family Scholar. He has worked as an associate attorney at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, a global law firm. He is the author of Republic of Rhetoric: Free Speech and the Constitution of India (2017) and Supreme Whispers: Conversations with Judges of the Supreme Court of India 1980-1989 (2018). He has also written for several leading newspapers in India including The Hindu, Indian Express and Times of India, and taught at Cornell Law School and NALSAR University of Law.

We are proud to announce the forthcoming publication of Mansi Choksi’s first book The Newlyweds.

A literary investigation into India as a society in transition through the lens of forbidden love

India is teeming with a young population that was born post-liberalisation, grew up with the internet, witnessed the advent of smartphones and social media, and is well-versed in the many dialects of a globalised pop culture. But when it comes to love and marriage, they’re often disconcertingly expected to adhere to the orthodoxy of a bygone era. It’s this conflict between the parallel paths of alleged tradition and mutinous modernity that drives journalist Mansi Choksi’s The Newlyweds.

Through vivid, lyrical prose, Choksi shines a light on three young couples who buck against patriarchy-approved arranged marriages in the pursuit of love, illustrating the challenges, triumphs and losses that await them.

Zigzagging through India and its smorgasbord of cultures, each chock-full of its own unwritten commandments and sanctions, Choksi introduces our brave newlyweds. First, there’s the lesbian couple forced to flee for a chance at a life together. Then there’s the Hindu woman and Muslim man who escaped their families under the cover of night after being harassed by a violent militia group. Finally, there’s the inter-caste couple doing everything to avoid the horrifying fate of a similar duo murdered for choosing to love.

Engaging and moving, The Newlyweds raises universal questions such as what are we really willing to risk for love? If we’re lucky enough to find it, does it change us? For the better? Or for the worse?

About the Author: 
Mansi Choksi is a graduate of the Columbia School of Journalism and two-time Livingston Award Finalist. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, The New Yorker, National Geographic, The Atlantic, and more. She lives in Dubai with her husband and son. The Newlyweds is her first book.

The Hidden Hindu

Penguin Random House India proudly announces the acquisition of an exciting mythology fiction trilogy by Bollywood screenwriter turned author Akshat Gupta from an independent literary agent Sahil Sharma. The first of this three part series is titled The Hidden Hindu. It is releasing in February 2022 and is currently available on pre-order on all major e-commerce websites. The trilogy has been acquired for a screen adaptation by Dhoni Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. This is Akshat Gupta’s debut book.

Based in contemporary India, The Hidden Hindu is a brilliant work of fiction that interlinks technology and Hindu mythology. Akshat Gupta brings forth the story of Prithvi, a twenty-one year old searching for a mysterious aghori, Om Shashtri, who was traced more than 200 years ago before he was captured and transported to a high-tech facility on an isolated Indian island. The story proceeds to disclose the incredible revelations of the mystical aghori that could shake up the ancient beliefs of the present and alter course of the future. Readers will discover who is Om Shashtri, why he was captured, unfolding the secrets to enigmatic immortals from Hindu mythology as they follow Prithvi’s pursuit and adventures.

Speaking about the book, author Akshat Gupta said, ‘Writing The Hidden Hindu was exhausting and rejuvenating at the same time. Readers will love the amount of work and time that has been dedicated to developing this story which is an amalgamation of science fiction, mythology and thriller. They can expect the unexpected at every turn of the page, from finding answers to conspiracy theories, to exploring the idea of immortality and understanding our rich history, which is often limited to being seen as ‘mythology’. I am thankful to Penguin Random House India for believing in the story of the entire trilogy before it was even completed.”

Milee Ashwarya, Publisher, Ebury Publishing and Vintage, Penguin Random House India, said ‘I am delighted to be publishing this fantastic trilogy – The Hidden Hindu by Akshat Gupta. Book One of the series takes you into the incredible and exciting world of Om Shastri’s secrets, Prithvi’s pursuit and the adventures of the immortals of Hindu mythology. A fusion of mythology and science fiction the book will keep you captivated till the end. I welcome Akshat Gupta to the Penguin Random House family, and very much look forward to publishing this book.’

About the author

Akshat Gupta belongs to a family of hoteliers and is now an established Bollywood screenwriter, poet and lyricist. He is a bilingual author and has been working on The Hidden Hindu trilogy for years. He was born in Chhattisgarh, grew up in Madhya Pradesh and now lives in Mumbai.