My knowledge of Indian literature to my shame is restricted to the few kilometres of the city I reside in. Delhi is not even the state of my birth or my origin. English is not even my native language. And yet, I am not even acutely aware of the various authors and literature beyond these two realms.
I stumbled upon Ann Morgan’s blog ‘A Year of Reading the World’. She said that our selective reading limits our potential to know many cultures, peoples, and myriad other social milieus that exist. I am unaware of the writers from the South of India. I didn’t know there is a Khasi community in the North East. There is so much I just don’t know. I think anyone who is a reader would agree that the reason one reads is to know the world and what exists beyond ourselves. At the onset of this year, I planned to diversify my reading while exploring Indian writers at the same time.
I asked friends and acquaintances to suggest stories, poems, translation works, anthologies, novels, and anything from different states of India. I will keep editing this list as and when I receive more suggestions. Meanwhile, if you have any recommendations, do let me know.
On a side note, as I was searching for states from where I could get no suggestions from friends and acquaintances, I started looking for recommendations from The Bookstore, Jorbagh and coincidentally they have their list curated in the same name! Some books overlapped with the shop’s suggestions so I am going to mark them with an asterisk for easy identification.
Do visit the shop, if you ever get time. It is the prettiest!
I will keep striking the books as I read them. I must warn you, I get diverted by different books and movies and beauty and will take definitely more than a year.
PS: If you have any recommendations, you are more than welcome to share them in the comment box :)
Andhra Pradesh
That Man on the Road: Contemporary Telugu Short Fiction
T̶h̶e̶ ̶U̶n̶t̶o̶u̶c̶h̶a̶b̶l̶e̶ ̶S̶p̶r̶i̶n̶g̶Doll’s Wedding and Other Stories by Chaso*
The Hussaini Alam House by Huma R Kidwai*
Arunachal Pradesh
M̶a̶m̶a̶n̶g̶ ̶D̶a̶i̶’̶s̶ ̶T̶h̶e̶ ̶l̶e̶g̶e̶n̶d̶s̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶P̶e̶n̶s̶a̶m̶*̶Land of the Dawn-Lit Mountains by Antonia Bolingbroke-Kent
Assam
The Man from Chinnamasta by Mamoni Roisam Goswami (have been suggested this by many so I went and googled her and one thing I just love is writers having pen names. Her original name is Indira Goswami and she is a Sahitya Akademi Award winner for her writings, so I guess a must-read then!)
U̶n̶d̶e̶r̶t̶o̶w̶̶b̶y̶ ̶J̶a̶h̶a̶n̶a̶v̶i̶ ̶B̶a̶r̶u̶a̶His Share of Sky by Rashmi Narzary
Forest Beneath the Mountains, Ankush Saikia*
His Father’s Disease, Aruni Kashyap*
Mitra Phukan
Bihar
Maila Anchal by Fanishvar Nath Renu ( I read that he is one of the most influential and successful authors post-Premchand era and his work is considered to be one of the best in Hindi literature after Premchand’s Godan)
Kurukshetra by Ramdhari Singh Dinkar
Curse of Yesterday by Anumita Sharma
Bihar Is In The Eye Of The Beholder, Vijay Nambisan
Phoolsunghi, Pandey Kapil
Chhattisgarh
Vinod Kumar Shukla’s Naukar ki Kameez
The burning forest by Nandini
Goa
A̶̶̶g̶̶̶e̶̶̶ ̶̶̶o̶̶̶f̶̶̶ ̶̶̶F̶̶̶r̶̶̶e̶̶̶n̶̶̶z̶̶̶y̶̶̶ ̶̶̶b̶̶̶y̶̶̶ ̶̶̶M̶̶̶a̶̶̶h̶̶̶a̶̶̶b̶̶̶a̶̶̶l̶̶̶e̶̶̶s̶̶̶h̶̶̶w̶̶̶a̶̶̶r̶̶̶ ̶̶̶S̶̶̶a̶̶̶i̶̶̶l̶̶̶Goa, a Daughter’s Story by Maria Aurora Couto*
Skin by Margaret Mascarenhas
Just Matata by Braz Menezes
Full Disclosure by Manohar Shetty
Ferry Crossing: Short stories from Goa
Gujarat
By the Sabarmati by Esther David (intense! incredible! never read anything like this ever before. A must-read for everyone for sure! JUST WOW! Keeps you on the edge till the end in every story right from the beginning)The Burden of Refuge by Rita Kothari
Karan Ghelo by Nandshankar Mehta
Ratno Dholi: The Best Stories of Dhumketu*
Saraswatichandra by Govardhanram Madhavaram Tripathi (considered one of the best in Gujarati Literature but I could not find any English translations if you want a Gujarati copy, drop a message in the comment)
Haryana
(I am looking for recommendations from here)
Alhad Bikaneri
Dada Lakhmi Chand (Kalidas of Haryana)
Himachal Pradesh
The Red Tin Roof, Nirmal Verma
Simla: The Summer Capital of British India
Jharkhand
Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar’s My Father’s Garden*
The Adivasi Will Not Dance and Other Stories, Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar*
Karnataka
G̶h̶a̶c̶h̶a̶r̶ ̶G̶h̶o̶c̶h̶a̶r̶ ̶b̶y̶ ̶V̶i̶v̶e̶k̶ ̶S̶h̶a̶n̶b̶a̶g̶h̶The Scent of Pepper by Kavery Nambisan
Suragi, U R Ananthamurthy*
Kerala
Kamala Das (I read that the author was one of thefiercest women in Keralaand is famous for writing about female sexuality unapologetically)Goat Days by Benyamin
Aarachaar (English translation: Hangwoman) by KR Meera
The Cock is the Culprit, Unni R*
Madhya Pradesh
Harishankar Parsai
Baramasi by Gyan Chaturvedi
A Dying Banyan by Manzoor
Indra Sinha’s Animal’s People*
Maharashtra
Rochelle Potkar (author)
Baluta by Daya Pawar
Breathless in Bombay by Murzban(I didn’t like it so I left it in between. I do not mind leaving books in between if they do not engage me or if I feel ‘eh’ while reading them. Books are like people; interesting, unique, and individualistic, outcomes of various chapters, but they need not necessarily be something that you wanna put up with. A lot of people have given good reviews on Goodreads and The Guardian which I think is one of the best media outlets out there has also praised the book, so maybe I’ll come back to it in a few years when I am less biased or maybe not.)Smritichitre, Lakshmibai Tilak*
Shala, Milind Bokil*
Kiran Nagarkar’s Seven Sixes are Forty-threeThe Prisons We Broke, Baby Kamble
Manipur
Mothers of Manipur by Teresa Rehman
The Maharaja’s Household by M.K. Binodini Devi
Mother, Where’s My Country, Anubha Bhonsle*
The Princess and the Political Agent, Binodini* (won the Sahitya Akademi Award)
Linthoi Chanu
Meghalaya
Neti, Neti by Anjum Hasan
Janice Pariat books ( I loved Nine Chambered Hearts)High Wind, Tilottoma Misra*
Mizoram
Zorami — A Redemption Song by Malsawmi Jacob
The Blaft Book of Mizo Myths, Cherrie Lalnunziri Chaangte*
Despite the State, M Rajshekhar*
Is That Even a Country, Sir!, Anil Yadav*
Nagaland
Easterine Kire’s Son of the ThundercloudLaburnum for My Head by Temsula Ao ( have seen this suggestion on multiple forums)
The Many That I Am: Writings from Nagaland, ED: Anungla Zoe Longkumer*
The Last Night of Glory Days, Avinuo Kire*
Odisha
Six Acres and a Third by Fakir Mohan Senapati*
Bheda, Akhila Naik*
Paraja by Gopinath Mohanty
Citadel of Love by Pratibha Ray
Punjab
Tamas by Bhisham Sahni (written from the experiences witnessed at Rawalpindi, a part of undivided Punjab at the time of Partition)Amrita Pritam’s Raseedi Ticket
Zindaginama by Krishna Sobti*
Rajasthan
Harilal and Sons, Sujit Saraf*
Cuckold, Kiran Nagarkar*
Sikkim
The Land Where I Flee by Prajwal*
The Light of His Clan by Chetan Raj*
Legend of the Lepchas: Folktales from Sikkim, Yeshey Doma
Tamil Nadu
Estuary by Perumal Murugan (I decided to not read Perumal for now because I have read a lot about him and his style and I want to give it some time so that I can forget the critical articles I have read. I want to form my own understanding of his work, independent of any influence)
Ponniyin Selvan by Kalki
Along With The Sun: Stories from Tamil Nadu’s Black Soil Region, ED: Ki Rajanarayanan*
JJ: Some Jottings, Sundara Ramaswamy*
Why Women Were Enslaved, Periyar
Telangana
A Shift in the Wind by Aminuddin
Ant Among Elephants
Tripura
The Monk-King, Rabindranath Tagore
Uttarakhand
I absolutely adore Ruskin Bond (I personally recommend him. He is one that should be and must be read)
Mountain Echoes by Namita Gokhale
In the Shadow of Devi Kumaon by Manju Kak
The Good Girls, Sonia Faleiro*
Looking Through Glass, Mukul Kesavan*
Uttar Pradesh
Munshi Premchand’s Godan
Raag Darbari by Shirlal Shukla
Kitney Pakistan by Kamleshwar
Aag ka Dariya by Qurratulain Hyder
Diddi, Ira Pandey*
The Chipko Movement, Shekhar Pathak*
West Bengal
Saikat Majumdar
Sunil Gangopadhyay
Dozakhnama(Conversations in Hell) by Rabisankar (I thoroughly enjoyed this one. I read it in Hindi and would recommend to anyone who can read Hindi and have it as their preferred language over English to read it in Hindi. The wittiness would be more enjoyable)Feluda by Satyajit Ray
G̶o̶r̶a̶ ̶b̶y̶ ̶R̶a̶b̶i̶n̶d̶r̶a̶n̶a̶t̶h̶ ̶T̶a̶g̶o̶r̶e̶Daughter of Jorasanko by Aruna Chakravarti
Draupadi by Mahasweta Devi (most of her work is tribal narrative and I have been suggested this by many)
Moom, Bani Basu*
Hooghly: The Global History of a River, Robert Ivermee*
Andaman and Nicobar Islands
Islands in Flux: The Andaman and Nicobar Story by Pankaj Sekhsaria
Chandigarh
Storm in Chandigarh by Nayantara Sahgal
Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu(Daman)
Delhi
Khushwant Sinha’s Train to Pakistan
Mohan Rakesh (a pioneer of the Nai Kahaani movement. I would suggest one to read more about this literary movement in the Hindi literature. It was only while curating this list did I come across this knowledge)
Jammu & Kashmir
The Country Without a Post Office by Agha Shahid AliThe Book of Gold Leaves
Ladakh(Leh)
Lakshadweep
Puducherry
Auroville: A City for the Future by Anuradha Majumdar
The Pondicherry Kitchen by Lourdes Tirouvanziam-Louis
Bibhutibhusan Bandyopadhyay