The celebrated Malayalam writer M. Mukundan is credited with heralding a new existentialist and creative literary anarchy in the 60s. He experimented with themes, locales and forms and evolved a new genre of writing influencing the young readership in a period when crisis of identity and sense of disillusionment and alienation loomed large. The writings were notable deviations from the then existing styles and were trend setters, with tales of love, frustration and futility of quest. They were heavily influenced by foreign literature and philosophy. In Mukundan’s early stories differences between form and content were very thin and he heavily experimented with form. This won him laurels and appealed to all generations of readership....More >>

An Indian Nobel laureate in literature? Yes, Prem Rustum, the main character, a reclusive Indian septuagenarian, in Abha Dawesar’s latest novel; (the other two: Miniplanner and the Stonewell Book Award winning Baby ji). The story unfolds in That Summer in Paris in the sensuous summer from May to September, dealing with relationships between authors and fans and with the connections between sex and death, dichotomy between a writer’s work and the person he really is, and the preoccupations with aging....More >>

" It is a beautiful thing to be able to tell stories to other people ", states the protagonist in " A Folklore of My Generation " in this short story collection* by the best contemporary Japanese writer. The stories were written in three decades, between interludes of writing novels and published in magazines like the New Yorker, Granta etc. Short story is a " kind of experimental laboratory " for Murakami, who concedes that not every short story is a masterpiece, as he can create one out of the smallest details - an idea, a word or an image....More >>