The Perfumist of Paris (2023. Toronto: Mira) is the second sequel to Alka Joshi’s Henna Artist (2020. Toronto: Mira) and the immediate sequel to The Secret-Keeper of Jaipur (2021. Toronto: Mira), and serves to conclude the trilogy.
Category: Books
Author Amitav Ghosh awarded with Erasmus Prize 2024 for his work on climate change
Internationally acclaimed Indian-origin author Amitav Ghosh has been awarded the 2024 Erasmus Prize, announced the Praemium Erasmianum Foundation on March 7.
Donald Trump “unfit to be President”, says his former NSA John Bolton in new foreword
John Bolton, the U.S. National Security Adviser (NSA) under Donald Trump, has said his former boss is “unfit to be President” and warned, “If his first four years were bad, a second four will be worse,” according to excerpts quoted by several media outlets. In a new 18-page foreword to his memoir ‘The Room Where It Happened’, which is out in paperback now, Bolton paints a dire picture of what Trump’s return to the White House for a second term could do to America.
Anti-human trafficking activist and writer Saket Soni on how The Great Escape was crafted
Saket Soni’s ‘The Great Escape: A True Story of Forced Labor and Immigrant Dreams in America’ is a novel that takes its readers through the trials and tribulations of Indian immigrants who dream of living in the US. The eye-opening, emotional page-turner exposes the treatment meted out to immigrants and the fallout from globalization. This astonishing narrative of 500 foreign workers from India lured to the US under false pretenses and entrapped in near-slavery conditions is written by Soni, a labor leader who devised a plan to free the immigrants and ultimately win these people citizenship.
Fremont, CA techie mom Neha Bansal turns to children’s writing with her first bilingual book
Yummy Smoothie is a bilingual book in English and Hindi by Indian-origin techie from Fremont, Neha Bansal .
Are animals talking?
Are animals talking? In a manner of speaking, they are. They may not use language the way humans use language but they do communicate and share information constantly.
Mohammed Rafi: A willingness to submit his soul to music
By Mayank Chhaya- If India sang only in two voices, they would be Mohammed Rafi and Lata Mangeshkar’s. While Mangeshkar has become one of the most celebrated symbols of the Indian nationhood, Rafi remains somewhat eclipsed notwithstanding his preternatural talent as a playback singer. That may have something to do with his death at the […]
Indians constitute the largest number of Einstein’s social media fans
By Mayank Chhaya- Indians constitute the largest number of admirers of Albert Einstein on social media, says the official manager of the social media accounts of the physicist who emblematized the idea of genius. Benyamin Cohen, an award-winning writer and journalist whose latest book ‘The Einstein Effect’ will be released on July 18, says, “Sometimes […]
Dalai Lama: A momentous birth amid rainbows and thunderstorms 88 years ago
By Mayank Chhaya- July 6 marks the 88th birthday of the 14th Dalai Lama. The following are excerpts from an authorized biography of his written by Mayank Chhaya. It was first published in 2007 in the U.S. by Doubleday and then in close to 25 languages worldwide. Thick and dark clouds swirled around Mount Kyeri […]
Owl & Penguin, a children’s book authored by Vikram Madan, wins Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor
The American Library Association (ALA) has selected Owl & Penguin, written and illustrated by an Indian American, Vikram Madan, as Theodor Seuss Geisel Award Honor Book. The association has selected the book for another honor – naming it to their 2023 Notable Children’s Booklist.
2023 PEN/Nabakov award for eminent Hindi poet and writer Vinod Kumar Shukla
PEN America has announced recipients of two “monumental career achievement honors”, one of whom is the much-celebrated Hindi short story writer, novelist, poet, and essayist Vinod Kumar Shukla.
Lucknow’s 153-yr-old library digitized
Lucknow’s 153-year-old Amir-ud-Daula library has been fully digitalized.
More than 80,000 digitized books and 27,000 e-magazines are now available free on the library’s website and the content is also available on a mobile app Lucknow Digital Library.
‘Exposing flaws in US family law was cathartic, brought sense of relief’
To be an author was never in the pipeline until she went through a custodial family law situation for her son, says San Francisco-based entrepreneur Sheetal Ohri, adding: “It was more of an Indian citizen vs US citizen issue in the US courts.”
Salman Rushdie returns, vibrating with literary energy
Nearly six months after he was brutally stabbed in the neck and torso at an event in New York in August last year, Salman Rushdie returns to the literary firmament with a sanguinely praised novel of magic realism ‘Victory City’.
California’s Pioneering Punjabis: An American Story
In her comprehensive work, California’s Pioneering Punjabis: An American Story (The History Press), author Lea Terhune presents the heroic odyssey of the pioneer Punjabis who arrived in California during the closing years of the19th century and through the length of the 20th century, lacing the narrative with historic never-before-seen photographs.
Javed Akhtar’s Jadunama
Mayank Chhaya- As the hugely popular poet, writer and sociocultural observer Javed Akhtar turns 78 on January 17, he does so in the midst of the release of a compilation, snapshots, of his life called Jadunama. Written in Hindi by Arvind Mandloi and translated into English by Rakhshanda Jalil, ‘Jadunama’ or the chronicles of Jadu, […]
Book on Satyam’s turnaround released, former board members reminisce company’s rescue effort
The Satyam scam, which had rocked the country’s corporate world 13 years back in 2009, forcing the government to constitute a six-member board to look after its affairs, was revisited by some of the eminent names from the world of governance, finance and technology on Wednesday.
What does India stand for at 75? Rajmohan Gandhi (Book Review)
In the 20th century, the global media spoke of democratic India “as a hope-giving marvel”. Today, the country is “in the hands of diligent leaders and dedicated organizations whose first commitment is not to democracy or equality” but Hindu nationalism, leaving out the biggest question of “What does India stand for”, writes biographer and historian, and Mahatma Gandhi’s grandson, Rajmohan Gandhi as he reflects on the state of the nation in the 75 years since Independence.
Leading British scientist warns of “perilous, all-pervasive, climate breakdown”
Mayank Chhaya- With Earth experiencing a rash of extreme heatwaves, wildfires and floods across its length and breadth, a leading UK scientist has warned that it is no longer possible to avoid “perilous, all-pervasive, climate breakdown.” Bill McGuire, emeritus professor of geophysical and climate hazards at University College, London, says in his book “Hothouse Earth”, […]
