About the Book A COLLECTION OF MACABRE STORIES FROM INDU MENON, WHO IS CONSIDERED TO BE KAMALA DAS’S SUCCESSOR A Gond tribal activist is kidnapped by the goons of a giant mining company forcibly acquiring land in his village. In order to defame him, they shoot a porn film with him and a young prostitute who turns out to be his childhood sweetheart; a cobbler skins his daughter’s hanging corpse to make the special ‘Cinderella shoes’ he had once promised her; an LTTE female tiger accused of plotting the assassination of an Indian leader ruminates on the deaths of a Sri Lankan Tamil separatist leader and a French priest who tried to assassinate Louis XV on the same date centuries apart; a nurse with bovine features stalks a female patient whose live-in partner confronts the lesbian cow and is assaulted by her. Indu Menon’s stories are not for the fainthearted. At the centre of all that blood, gore and broken bones lies the inveterate spirit of wronged women, who refuse to go down without a fight. Her stories live unvarnished life truths. With the imagination of a poet, in lyrical and inventive prose, her narratives startle the reader by refusing to draw the line between lived and imagined terrains. Many consider Indu Menon a successor to Kamala Das, having inherited the same insouciance and outlook. This collection may well help us imagine what Das would have written if she were alive today.

The Adhikarathil family had a distinguished history. It prospered both in terms of wealth and eminence, acquiring the status of royalty in Malabar, Kerala, until the birth of a child named Eranimos shocked everyone. Unlike his fair-skinned, Christian forebears, Eranimos was born dark-skinned, leading to controversial conjectures about his lineage. Blackened tells the story of its protagonist’s quest to discover the truth behind his dark skin and caste identity. But weaved into this personal tale are multiple layers of Kerala’s social and political histories—its caste conflicts, its massive waves of conversion and migration, its clashing belief systems, and its rural and urban divide. Originally published as Karikkottakkary in Malayalam, Blackened is an impactful bildungsroman that covers the arc of a conflicted life, and shows us how family histories are tied into the larger historical currents that form communities and shape destinies.

About the Book FROM THE WINNER OF KERALA SAHITYA AKADEMI AWARDS 2019 & 2021 Lightning Tusker is tranquilised and corralled with the help of Dr Tharappan. This is no ordinary elephant; he’s the embodiment of ‘Elephantam’, the very essence of all that is good in the universe. His captors are filled with its nemesis, the dark energy known as ‘Misophantam’. It permeates men like Gunner Chandy who had killed Lightning Tusker’s father, Peacock Plum, for his tusks the colour of peacock feathers. Granny Elephant knows this. She also knows how the universe originated: the tussle between Elephantam and Misophantam, good and evil, how they crashed into one another, caused the Big Bang. She tells the baby elephants in her herd that Elephantam and Misophantam have existed in the sky and on this earth ever since. She can also sense that an elephant in their midst, known to be weak and reclusive—and tuskless—is in fact magical. This is the story of two brothers: Lightning Tusker, the bravest young elephant in the forest, and Tuskless Tusker, written off by everyone as a lost cause. It’s also a story about friendship and courage, about human greed and hubris. From one of Malayalam’s most celebrated young writers, comes a tale that moves and entertains in equal measure.

WITH A FOREWORD BY N.S. MADHAVAN Seetha, an Indian national and a student at the University of Barcelona, arrives in Diyarbakir, Turkey, in search of her Kurdish lover Devran. Having just found out that she is pregnant, she is desperate to find Devran, who has mysteriously vanished. Seetha discovers some disturbing truths upon her arrival. The state is trying to trap Devran and his family for alleged terrorist links. The region is in the midst of a harrowing conflagration, where state-sponsored killings, enforced disappearances, political vendettas and torture cells are the norm. Seetha herself comes under surveillance of the Turkish security forces, who take her into custody and brutally torture her. In the scramble to rescue Sita from their clutches, many find themselves caught up in the conflict between the Kurds and the Turkish government. Set against the 2015–16 Turkish repression of the Kurdistan movement, Zîn is a novel in which an ordinary love story between people of two different nationalities and cultures is flung into an unexpected, extraordinary political and historical setting. The pacey and emotionally stirring novel throws light on how governments reduce minority communities to a lower status and use them as a tool to seize power—a situation that’s become all too familiar across the world.

The ocean has always been a place of freedom for Lisa Whelan, and after her newborn son passes away, she returns to her family home by the sea to seek freedom from her grief. She’s not expecting to meet anyone, and is caught off guard by the attraction she feels for Rachel, the part-owner of a local restaurant. That initial spark is dampened, however, when Lisa realizes that Rachel has a child. Rachel Murray has worked hard to build a life for herself and her son but raising Declan has not been without its challenges. Each day when Rachel picks him up from school, she says a silent prayer that he will be waiting for her in his classroom, and not in the principal’s office. Again. Her son’s behavior has grown increasingly disruptive, and Rachel is at a loss at how to help him. Despite her grief, Lisa finds herself drawn to both Rachel and Declan. She thinks she can keep her emotions at bay— keep from drowning in grief and keep from falling in love—but she finds both to be a tidal wave, washing over her, sweeping her off her feet. Lisa never intended on falling in love with anyone, and she certainly cannot allow herself to fall for someone whose son is a constant reminder of the child she lost. Or can she?

'Interesting and relevant. It brings multiple perspectives and approaches to the study of feminism, lesbianism, and lesbian feminism as these intersect with queer theory.' Mimi Marinucci, author of Feminism is Queer: The Intimate Connection Between Queer and Feminist Theory 'Very much original. An opening of two lines of questioning that are very important: whither lesbian feminism and whither international queer feminism.' Holly Lewis, author of The Politics of Everybody: Feminism, Queer Theory, and Marxism at the Intersection