Edited by Angelie Multani, Swati Pal, Nandini Saha, Albeena Shakil and Arjun Ghosh

Sub-theme IV has three chapters dedicated to ‘Translation and Transcreation’. In ‘An Equal Music’, CS Lakshmi offers a personal reflection on translation both as a creative process and as a relationship between the author and translator. Somdatta Mandal in ‘Translation, Interpretation, and Transcreation’ explores the various dimensions of translation in the Indian context and also raises important questions about the concept of the ‘ideal translator’.


Reviewed by: Anita Singh
By Ruth Vanita

In the unstaunchable proliferation of interpretations and re-interpretations of Shakespeare’s plays and personae, it is not always possible to convince critics of the new, and while the book offers many provocative highlights, all may not be fully persuasive. For instance, while Vanita’s close attention to Celia and Rosalind’s bonding is suggestive (Shakespeare plays up ambiguities everywhere) but selective;


Reviewed by: Poonam Trivedi
By Ruchir Joshi

The novel is driven by its varied and eclectic characters—from the idealistic Nirupama, bound in her Left ideology, to Imogen, the young English lady, and Kedar, the art lover, to Gopal—the street-smart pickpocket turned gangster. Their lives, as different as they are, intertwine with others at the hotel—Jeremy Lambert, working on war intelligence, the French chef Paul Bonnemaison, and others who frequent the titular hotel, including sex workers. This wide variety of characters ends up creating a dynamic interplay between personal ambitions, history and memory. Their lives are framed by a first-person narrator, the son of Nirupama,


Reviewed by: Madhumita Chakraborty
By Alina Gufran

Thematically, No Place to Call My Own is a palimpsest of pressing concerns—gender, religion, and the precariousness of artistic ambition in a mercurial world. Gufran situates Sophia’s personal travails against the backdrop of seismic socio-political upheavals: the #MeToo movement, the Citizenship Amendment Act protests, and the global pandemic. These events are not mere historical markers but active agents that exacerbate Sophia’s sense of unbelonging.


Reviewed by: Intaj Malek
By Siddharth Dhanvant Shanghvi

All three works share a concern with moral ambiguity. Their characters are not heroes or villains, but flawed individuals navigating a world where ethical clarity is a luxury. Whether it is the grieving artist in The Lost Flamingoes of Bombay, the conflicted investigators in Affairs of Deception, or the scheming insiders of Party to a Crime, the protagonists are all bound by the consequences of choices they can neither fully justify nor entirely regret.


Reviewed by: Sunat and Tamana Aijaz Khan
By Saharu Nusaiba Kannanari

The novel is narrated by seventeen characters, with the notable exception of Burhan, the voiceless victim, with several narrating multiple chapters; over thirty-three unnumbered ones, being opened and closed by Nabeesumma and Reyhana in that order. Nabeesumma, who is a character as important as Reyhana,


Reviewed by: Babu Rajan PP