Maryam & Sons by Mirza Waheed

Kashmiri author Mirza Waheed makes his comeback, after five years, with a new book, Maryam & Sons. Published by Westland, the story chronicles a British mother whose son goes missing and then comes under suspicion as ‘the Swordsman’ in videos from Iraq. It brings forth the complex emotion of a mother, Maryam Ali, who refuses to believe that her beloved Dil and the swordsman could be one and the same, even as evidence mounts. A story of trust, unconditional love and emotional turmoil, Waheed is all set to make your heart wrench with his fourth book.

Uprooted: A Graphic Account of the Struggle for Forest Rights by Ita Mehrotra

From the creative and passionate pen of a visual artist, art researcher and educator comes a book that asks a lot of pertinent questions. Ita Mehrotra’s new book Uprooted: A Graphic Account for Forest Rights asks questions like: ‘What does it mean to acknowledge, counter and express dissent towards the current narrative of the forest being a resource for rampant extractivism?’ ‘What does it mean to shift an entire ecosystem, when forest dwelling communities are forcefully rehabilitated?’ The graphic novel has come together through conversations with two distinct communities — Van Gujjars and Taungya workers — in the Shivalik Himalayan belt of Uttarakhand. The narrative that emerges is a collection of notes, a way of thinking through, a way of bearing witness and hopefully asking age-old questions about justice, ecology and citizenship that can never be asked too many times.

Deviants: The Queer Family Chronicles by Santanu Bhattacharya

Comes from the critically acclaimed author of One Small Voice, this is a bold, electrifying story of a family in which three generations of gay men in India fight for love and dignity against the currents of their times. Vivaan, a teenager in India’s silicon valley, has discovered love on his smartphone. Mambro’s life changed forever when he fell for a male classmate at a time and in a country where the persecution of gay people was rife under a colonial-era law criminalising homosexuality. Sukumar would never live the life he yearned for, but his story would ignite and inspire his nephew and grand-nephew after him. Bold and bracing, intimate and heartbreaking, Deviants examines the histories we inherit and the legacies we leave behind.

Simple, Not Easy: A No-Nonsense Guide to Fitness, Nutrition and Weight Loss by Raj Ganpath

Weight loss remains a topic of interest for the population at large and if you are looking for assistance beyond mobile apps and YouTube videos this year then this can be a good pick. An easy guide that deals with big-picture concepts around fitness from Raj Ganpath, fitness and nutrition coach, founder and CEO at The Quad. It is slated to release end of this month.

No Need to Take It to Heart: Essays on Freedom of Speech by Perumal Murugan

A collection of 21 essays by Perumal Murugan, the book delves into the increasing threat to freedom of speech, which reflects the dangerous contemporary socio-political conditions of Indian states, particularly Tamil Nadu. It explores the controversies and contradictions of literary criticisms, complications in the freedom of writing, discrimination, marginalisation and tyranny. From real-life incidents to personal reflections, the award-winning author scrutinises how censorship creeps into various facets of life, be it literature or day-to-day life.

No Place to Call My Own by Alina Gufran

An intimate, arresting portrait of millennial angst in a mercurial, volatile world, Alina Gufran’s book is about Sophia who feels trapped in a society that is quick to undermine her, constantly making assumptions about her religion, her sexuality, her ambition, her worth. She plunges headlong into a hedonistic blur of bad decisions disguised as bravado. Each chapter in the book finds her in a different place, attempting to make sense of the old while confronting the new but each move brings chaos in its wake. A new-age, contemporary story, it is set to hit the stands later this month.

Masala Mandi by Sadaf Hussain

With Masala Mandi, Sadaf Hussain who rose to fame as one of the top eight contestants of MasterChef India brings different flavours from the kitchens of the Indian states. From the cardamom-scented valleys of Kashmir to the tamarind-stained coastlines of Tamil Nadu, Masala Mandi is a pilgrimage, a journey that transcends mere cooking. Each page is a kitchen, laden, drenched, and infused with the essence of India and its people, where every dish holds a secret, every spice carries a memory, and every meal tells a story. Masala Mandi is not just about food; it is a map of India itself, traced through its kitchens and dishes.

The Wild Warfront by Vishwas Patil

Vishwas Patil, Marathi literature’s bestselling writer, brings the second volume of his magnum opus, the Shivaji Mahasamrat Quartet. The first volume titled The Whirlwind is a magnificent preamble to the rise of the Maratha empire and the life story of Shivaji’s father and mother, Shahji Bhosale and Jijabai who served the Mughals, the Nizams and then the Adilshah’s of Bijapur before fulfilling their dream of ‘swarajya’. It has sold more than 30,000 copies since its release in May 2023. In the second volume, The Wild Warfront, Chhatrapati Shivaji ascends the throne and takes the empire to its zenith. Cinematic in its scope, this novel is the result of over a decade’s research and keen craftsmanship. It has been translated from Marathi to English by Nadeem Khan.

Viewfinder by Amol Palekar

For the cinema buff, Amol Palekar’s memoir Viewfinder will be a delightful read, one that will rekindle memories of the films that stayed with them. “An actor by accident, a director by choice and a painter by nature”, Palekar’s life changed with a chance meeting with the legendary theatre person Satyadev Dubey. It’s a no-holds-barred memoir, which covers in detail his stint in theatre acting, direction and production, his career in acting in Hindi, Marathi and Bengali cinema, and his work as a director of movies, many of which won National Awards. It’s not just a book for a casual reader but also for students of cinema and theatre and scholars, who will find that Palekar, through his life story, also tells how cinema and theatre evolved from the early Seventies to now, during which period, television too took huge leaps.

The World With Its Mouth Open by Zahid Rafiq

In 11 stories, The World with Its Mouth Open maps the inner lives of the people of Kashmir as they walk the uncertain terrain of their days, fractured from years of war. From a shopkeeper’s encounter with a mannequin, to an expectant mother walking on a precarious road, to a young boy wavering between dreams and reality, to two dogs wandering the city, these stories weave in larger, devastating themes of loss, grief, violence, longing, and injustice with the threads of smaller, everyday realities that confront the characters’ lives in profound ways. A debut book, it is a powerful collection announcing the arrival of a new voice that bears witness to the human condition with nuance, heart, humour, and incredible insight.