"As a translator and a poet himself, Hoskote is an excellent interlocutor of the giants of the past." Thank you, Aditya Mani Jha , for this richly nuanced response to my Mir book, The Homeland's an Ocean! And I'm especially happy that it appears in a review-essay that also

A new book that is a microcosm of India—that cherished land which is more of an ocean, with a long literary memory and past. Here’s a🧵 about this landmark anthology from Murty Classics as it turns 10, with a foreword by Ranjit Hoskote, publishing in October by Harvard University Press.

Aditya Mani Jha is one of our most brilliant and serious critics. I'm thankful for his perceptive take on Ranjit Hoskote's and my new books... And on the great poets those books honour, Mir and the poets of the classical Tamil canon, both of which deserve urgent re-reading now.

On this week's episode of Below the Radar, we're joined by Ranjit Hoskote, poet, translator, art critic, and curator✍🏻 Ranjit discusses Bombay’s political and cultural milieu in the 1980s and 90s, the promise of interstitial spaces, and more! Tune in at sfu.ca/vancity-office…

Ranjit Hoskote Aditya Mani Jha So happy to read this, dear Ranjit, dear Vivek. Happy too that both of you generously shared selections of your thrilling work with me to further share on Poetry at Sangam . These books re-fire enthusiasm. Ranjit Hoskote Vivek Narayanan Penguin India Hanuman Editions Aditya Mani Jha

RIP Sitaram Yechury. Sharing his last words before he quit Rajya Sabha- “If you try to impose a uniformity, whether it is religious uniformity or linguistic uniformity or cultural uniformity, on our diversity, then this country can never remain together. It will only implode”

I am deeply, deeply saddened by the death of Comrade Sitaram Yechury (1952-2024). A man of profound Marxist convictions, he was never dogmatic or doctrinaire. Personable and reasonable, he was a bridge-builder who sought common ground, a believer in the constructive power of

"Mir was at home in what I have described as the ‘Hindavi continuum’, the spectrum of languages that preceded the official standard modern Hindi that we know today... His poetry is vibrant with Khari Boli, Braj and Awadhi vocabulary and turns of phrase. And on the other hand, Mir

"Today, we see Persian through the narrow lens of nation-state politics as Iran’s national language – but, historically, Persian was the language of what I have called the ‘Iranosphere’, a transregional ecumene far vaster than territorial Iran, embracing Central, West and South

The passing of Sitaram Yechury is profoundly saddening. With his passing, we have lost someone who spoke and fought for the truth fearlessly because he believed in a better India. An India that cares, nurtures and respects those who are marginalised. In a recent message to me,

Ranjit Hoskote Ranjit, an absolutely stimulating and nourishing experience to interview you. Also, I am glad to share reader feedback that the interview was valuable and insightful. All best wishes for the book!

I can't be the only one who does this - buying multiple editions of the same book, over the years. In some cases, simply because the cover of the US edition was more striking than that of the UK edition. More sensibly, because there's a new preface by an older avatar of the

"Translation, to me, is a political act in addition to everything else that it can be as a literary, aesthetic or academic practice. The Mir book is my way of bearing witness to South Asia’s multilingual and cultural diversity. It embodies my rejection of the falsehood that Urdu

"My English draws, as it inevitably must, on its own resources of association and allusion. ... Correspondingly, my English is recast by interplay with Urdu, in places – ‘gham-dīdāh’ comes through into English as ‘grief-gazed’, for instance. Translation is a two-way process, an

"I would speak here as a monolingual writer who happens to be a multilingual reader. I write only in one language, English – but that writerly practice is richly informed and inflected by my reading in several other languages, including Sanskrit, Urdu, German, Hindi, and

So perceptive, so true

It was such a joy to be in conversation with the fantastic Am Johal amjohal of Simon Fraser University's Vancity Office of Community Engagement SFU's Vancity Office of Community Engagement on his podcast, Below the Radar! We talked about poetry, translation, curating, the challenges of getting on with cultural

Prof. Allison Busch’s pathbreaking research on Hindi literature in the Mughal court broke multiple stereotypes nurtured by nationalist and postcolonial histories of Hindi. Remembering Allison (my advisor) on this occasion of Hindi Diwas. Forever grateful to be her student.