Narendra Modi, social media and elections
Election fever has gripped the country and it is inevitable to talk about the contribution of the social media in political campaigns, the Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate, Narendra Modi, and the bureaucracy. IANS picks up something from these varied topics. Take a look.
Jaswant Singh’s book on Jinnah already tops chart
By IANS,
New Delhi : The controversial book "Jinnah: India-Partition Independence" by Jaswant Singh predictably tops the non-fiction section of the bestseller list here in the first week of its release while Ali Sethi's "The Wish Maker: A Novel" continued at the No.1 position in the fiction category for the third week in a row.
The top 10 in each section are:
Non-fiction
1. "Jinnah: India-Partition Independence"
Author: Jaswant Singh
Publisher: Rupa
Price: Rs.695.00
2. "The Idea of Justice"
Author: Amartya Sen
Publisher: Penguin Allen Lane
Celebrating Kashmiriyat to tales from the battlefield
An ode to the resilience of Kashmiri women, to inspiring stories from the battlefield, to a journey of healing is what IANS has for its readers this weekend. Take a look.
1. Book: The Land I Dream Of; Author: Manisha Sobhrajani; Publisher: Hachette; Pages: 191; Price: Rs.399
Indian in Oman writes a family saga
By IANS,
Dubai : An expatriate Indian woman in Oman has written a new novel, a family saga set in India and Oman.
Sunaina Serna Ahluwalia's "A Safe Harbour" is the story of two women, Afreen Luthra and her daughter Trishala.
It is a modern-day suspense-cum family saga set in India and Oman, which is home to a large expatriate Indian community.
India's Ambassador to Oman Anil Wadhwa launched the book at a function in Muscat where officials of the National Association for Cancer Awareness (NACA) and the ambassadors of Britain and Malaysia were present.
From Gautam Bhatia comes graphic novel, miniature style
By Madhusree Chatterjee, IANS,
New Delhi : Filled with rich visual imagery in miniature art style, Bihar is a tale of rise, fall and redemption in architect-writer Gautam Bhatia\'s new graphic novel, \"Lie: A Traditional Tale of Modern India\".
"If good politics is about governance, how can a minister inaugurate a speedbreaker when people do not have enough food? Or a conference on drought degenerate into a debate over wines among the delegates?" Bhatia told IANS in an informal chat, explaining the context of the book.
Prabhakar’s death marks end of an era of Hindi literature
By IANS,
New Delhi : Gandhian poet and writer Vishnu Prabhakar, who died here Saturday, was the last link between contemporary Hindi literature and that of the pre-Independence era.
Prabhakar, 97, died after a prolonged illness. He is survived by two sons and two daughters.
He was best known for "Awara Maseeha" (1974), his engaging biography of Bengali novelist Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay, and his trademark white Gandhi cap that he wore till the end of his life.
Meher Fatima talks about her book on 150 patriotic Indian Muslims
By Mumtaz Alam Falahi, TwoCircles.net,
The book Celebrating India: Reflections on Eminent Indian Muslims (1857-2007) provides biographical profiles of 150 patriotic Indian Muslims, many of them unsung heroes – those who did not become party to the two-nation theory. Author Meher Fatima Hussain, Lecturer at Jamia Millia Islamia, talks to Mumtaz Alam Falahi of TwoCircles.net on her book.
What inspired you to write this book?
Day 2 of AMU Litfest focuses on threats to literature and democracy
Sharjeel Usmani for TwoCircles.net
The Cultural Education Centre (CEC) of the historic Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) on the second day of the AMU Literary Festival...
Crime novelist La Plante accused of being copycat
By DPA,
Sydney : Best-selling crime writer Lynda La Plante's 1993 novel "Entwined" contains passages lifted from Auschwitz survivor Olga Lengyel's 1947 memoir "Five Chimneys", news reports said Saturday.
The multimillionaire British author denied plagiarism but admitted to The Sydney Morning Herald that a research assistant may have been the culprit.
Pride of place for vernacular Indian writing at London Book Fair
By IANS,
New Delhi : The London Book Fair, which is focussing on India as an emerging market and literary hub this year, will take a look at not only English writing from the south Asian nation but also other vernacular languages, said Alistair Burtenshaw, group exhibition director of the event.
The April 20-22 fair will also introduce new Indian writers to publishers and sellers from 67 countries, said Burtenshaw, who was here Thursday to promote the event.
‘The Brown Sahebs’: An interesting take on India’s colonial legacy
By Jaideep Sarin,
Book: "The Brown Sahebs"; Publisher: Vitasta Publishing; Pages: 320; Price: Rs.295
American movies and literature are iconoclastic. Hollywood loves to make movies in which the US president gets hijacked ("Air Force One"), or the White House is under siege ("White House Down"). Indian movies and books, by and large play safe, probably afraid of fictionalizing situations which the authorities would frown upon. Thus Anupam Srivastava's "The Brown Sahebs" surprises when its protagonist, Pratap, defaces with provocative poetry the dome of Rashtrapati Bhavan, the majestic residence of India's president.
Of Tata, Bhabha and good old dramatic tales
By IANS,
[IANS book this week]
New Delhi : Some home truths about towering edifices and small pleasures of stories smartly told. The cache this week is a mix of serious non-fiction and fiction:
1. Book: "Tata: The Evolution of a Corporate Brand"; Written by Morgen Witzel; Published by Penguin Books India; Priced Rs.599
Unravelling corruption: Man who started it all
By Brij Khandelwal, IANS,
Book: "Bhrastachar, Atankvad aur Hawala Karobar"; Author: Vineet Narain; Publisher: Kalchakra Samachar Trust; Pages: 340 pages; Price: Rs.200
Tale of magical realism, dark but uplifting too (Book Review)
By IANS,
Book: "The Lost Fragrance"; Author: Amit Dasgupta; Published by: Wisdom Tree; Price: Rs.195.
‘Shia Islam’ book introduced in Madrid
By IRNA,
Madrid : A book named 'Shia Islam, a research in history, beliefs and Families,' which has been published by Iran's Cultural Attache in Madrid was introduced on Friday by professor Jose Maria Blaskes, an Spanish Iranologist and historian.
The book has been published in cooperation with Department of Islam and Arab in Complutense University.
In a ceremony to introduce the book, a number of Spanish Iranologists, professors from Tehran University and Iranians residing in Spain were present.
क्या ये प्रेमचंद हमारे ज़माने की ज़रूरत नहीं हैं?
वैसे, हमारे वक़्त में प्रेमचंद का क्या काम? ज़ाहिर है, ऐसा लग सकता है. प्रेमचंद का इंतक़ाल 1936 में यानी आज से 81 साल...
Dalai Lama, sports, Delhi on book cart
By IANS,
New Delhi : Settle in with a book from the colourful shelf this weekend.
1. "Upwardly Mobile"; Written by Ranjini Manian; Published by Penguin India; Priced at Rs.250
Sobhraj readies to sue Dhondy over ‘Bikini Murders’
By Sudeshna Sarkar, IANS,
Kathmandu : Within 48 hours of launching his new book "The Bikini Murders" in New Delhi, author and screenplay writer Farrukh Dhondy is all set to get the kind of controversy needed to make the book a bestseller. His "old friend" Charles Sobhraj, who according to media reports is the prototype of the Saigon-born hero in Dhondy's book, is readying to sue the author.
"My French and British lawyers are reading the book," Sobhraj told IANS Sunday in Kathmandu's Central Jail, where he is serving a life sentence for the murder of an American tourist in 1975.
Book review: Muslims of India Since Partition
By Geeta Puri,
Balraj Puri's work, a collection of his articles over a period of time in Economic and Political Weekly , Janata and some other journals is sagacious and scholarly contribution to the study of Muslims of India who after 1947, in the words of the author, "acquired a different form, in terms of their role, status, problems, challenges and opportunities. The partition of the country divided them in two and later three parts and led their political, bureaucratic and intellectual elite to migrate to Pakistan ".