Anandhu S. The sun sank below the horizon, painting the sky a deep red before twilight took over. Birds flitted across the evening sky racing to their nests as darkness wrapped around the village of Panchavankadu. Adithyan Namboothiri, the youngest of the Kizhekkeparabil family, walked quickly along the shadowy path holding a flambeau made from … Continue reading The Femme Fatales: The Enigmatic Yakshis of Kerala
The Fruit
Kalpita Mukherjee As stories and fantastical tales have been shared among and between generations from antiquity through oral storytelling, the author of this piece too tells her tale orally for the reader to close their eyes, open their ears, and visualise the images and emotions she conjures with her voice. For the listener, and the … Continue reading The Fruit
Of Civets and Men
- Kajori Patra You must have heard of Gaganendranath Tagore — one of the leading artists of the Tagore family, the brother of Abanindranath Tagore, Jyotirindranath Tagore’s protégé, the illustrator of Rabindranath Tagore’s Jibansmriti and a determined proponent of swadeshi. Unlike his illustrious brother and uncles, Gaganendranath was a somewhat loner, in his span of … Continue reading Of Civets and Men
Bridging Worlds Through Stories: Sohini Dasgupta’s Insights from the ChLA 50th Annual Conference
Telling Stories, Bridging Worlds: Reflections from Golden Jubilee ChLA 2024 conference. “śṛṇvantu viśve amṛtasya putrāḥ . . .” Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 2.5 I had a profound experience at ChLA50 when I met researchers from around the world. It reminded me of a quote from the Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad that my father often recites to me. The quote … Continue reading Bridging Worlds Through Stories: Sohini Dasgupta’s Insights from the ChLA 50th Annual Conference
Ruggy Journeys
- Titas Bose One of the co-founders of ACLiSA, Titas Bose is most likely to be found in public libraries and archives, rummaging through twentieth-century magazines or negotiating with librarians these days. She is a PhD candidate at University of Chicago, training to be a literary scholar and a book historian. Some of her writing has … Continue reading Ruggy Journeys
Reading Fantasy Is Way Easier Than Writing About It
Shreya Prasad Childhood is a magical time filled with stories of fairies, goblins, quests and adventure. Perhaps it is because the fantastic reach of magic helps a child comprehend the unfamiliar. But mostly, it is because fantasy is fun. It is the power to see the world not as it is but as it can … Continue reading Reading Fantasy Is Way Easier Than Writing About It
CFP: ACLiSA Feature Series: Fantasy in South Asian KidLit
As children we crossed the Seven Seas and Thirteen Rivers in search of Patalkanya Manimala and fell asleep at the touch of the Golden Stick while listening to Scheherazade’s never-ending stories. We danced with Cinderella at the Ball and held Frodo’s hand on Mount Doom, all the while learning how to swish and flick at … Continue reading CFP: ACLiSA Feature Series: Fantasy in South Asian KidLit
Whispers of My Heart
We started as apes long ago, with nothing to wear, nowhere to go. Now we have so much more, life has improved, But sometimes it feels like we haven't really moved. Why do we strip away, what we've worked so hard to gain? Why call it fashion when it brings us pain? They say "protect … Continue reading Whispers of My Heart
The Rhythm of Grief: Sailen Ghosh’s novella on suffering and love
I’m no one to comment on the rarest and remotest of writers, but if I randomly caught hold of a bunch of 90s kids and asked them their favourite Sailen Ghosh novel, things are bound to get a little awkward for us all. Writing profusely in the 1960s, Sailen Ghosh was a Bengali dramatist, illustrator … Continue reading The Rhythm of Grief: Sailen Ghosh’s novella on suffering and love
Early Bengali Children’s Periodicals: an Archival Bibliography
The history of the children’s periodical in Bengal can be seen as a narrative of the evolving idea of childhood and juvenile reading practices. As an ephemeral cultural commodity, it recorded the various contentious ways in which generations of Bengalis responded to colonialism and anti-colonialism, nationalist pride and transnational exposure, communalism and social unity, war … Continue reading Early Bengali Children’s Periodicals: an Archival Bibliography