Arundhati Roy returns with force to fiction

My book review in The National newspaper: Twenty years is a long time to wait for new writing but in the case of Indian writer Arundhati Roy she’s remained deeply engaged with her country over the last two decades. After the huge success of her first novel, The God of Small Things won the Man…

Cups of Nun Chai project aims to remember Kashmir

Back in 2011 I participated in the project, Cups of Nun Chai, started by writer and artist Alana Hunt in Australia. Its aim was to commemorate the horrific killings of civilians in Kashmir. Now, years later, the Kashmir Reader newspaper is publishing it all… including my meeting with Alana: This participatory memorial, by artist… Alana Hunt, emerged…

In conversation with evocative photographer Teru Kuwayama

Australian clothing brand Saxony recently invited American photographer… Teru Kuwayama to Australia. He’s spent much of the last decade documenting life and war in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Kashmir: I spent time with Kuwayama in Sydney and he is a humane man who has seen the reality of catastrophic Western policies in countries that need more than…

This is how writers with spine relate to the real world

Literary events aren’t devoid of real world politics (well, they shouldn’t be, anyway). The recent cancellation of a proposed Kashmir literature event was a stunning example of such issues being brought into the public domain. One of the key players behind protesting the event, Basharat Peer, writes wonderfully in The Hindu about why he acted…