Literature

Taylor Swift's 'Eras Tour Book' sold 800,000 copies in first week of launch

Despite skipping major retailers like Amazon and facing online criticism for typos in the $39.99 hardcover, Swift's fans propelled the book to success

Upamanyu wins JCB Prize 2024 for 'Lorenzo Searches for the Meaning of Life'

Writer Upamanyu Chatterjee on Saturday won the JCB Prize for Literature for his book "Lorenzo Searches for the Meaning of Life". Chatterjee's book, published by Speaking Tiger, follows the story of a young Italian man who starts leading a life of spirituality after an accident only to discover the banalities of the path. The award was announced at a ceremony at JCB India Headquarters in Faridabad. Chatterjee received a cash prize of Rs 25 lakh along with a trophy sculpted by Delhi artist duo, Thukral and Tagra, titled Mirror Melting'. "When I was writing it I thought it was one hell of a boring story but it seems to have worked, so thank you for that," Chatterjee said after receiving the award. The winning book was chosen by a jury headed by poet Jerry Pinto along with art historian Deepthi Sashidharan, writer Tridip Suhurd, filmmaker Shaunak Sen, and artist Aqui Thami. "For me, the book is both a small canvas, because it is a canvas inside a man's heart and soul. It is a faith .

Regional languages face uphill battle for relevance despite 'classical' tag

Linguists raise questions around selection criteria, emphasise need to link language with employability

Gained in translation: How mastery in languages can be made a career

Demand for translating Indian language literature and nonfiction is expanding

Sahitya Akademi Awards 2023: Neelum Saran Gaur, Sanjeev among 24 recipients

Twenty four writers, including English author Neelum Saran Gaur and Hindi novelist Sanjeev, received the Sahitya Akademi Award for 2023 here on Tuesday. The award ceremony coincided with the 70th anniversary celebrations of the National Academy of Letters at the 'Sahityotsav'. The awards were given for literary works including nine books of poetry, six novels, five of short stories, three essays and one literary study. Sanjeev for his novel "Mujhe Pehchaano" and Gaur for her book "Requiem in Raga Janki" received the prestigious award. Sadiqua Nawab Saher received the award for her book "Rajdev Ki Amrai" in Urdu, while Swarnjit Savi was awarded for his book of poetry "Mann Di Chip" in Punjabi. Other recipients of the awards in poetry include Vijay Verma (Dogri), Vinod Joshi (Gujarati), Manshoor Banihali (Kashmiri), Sorokkhaibam Gambhini (Manipuri), Ashutosh Parida (Odia), Gaje Singh Rajpurohit (Rajasthani), Arun Ranjan Mishra (Sanskrit) and Vinod Asudani (Sindhi). Apart from Gaur,

Benjamin Franklin Day: 10 motivational quotes by Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin Day: Benjamin Franklin was one of the founding fathers of America and he made several contributions to different subjects like science, literature, politics, etc

Urdu poet Munawwar Rana passes away at 71 due to cardiac arrest in Lucknow

Renowned Urdu poet Munawwar Rana has died at the age of 71 due to cardiac arrest. He took his last breath in SGPGI at 11 pm on Sunday

Noted poet and artist Inderjeet, known as Imroz, passes away at 97

Noted poet and artist Inderjeet, known as Imroz, known for his enduring relationship with poet Amrita Pritam, passed away in Mumbai on Friday at the age of 97 due to age-related issues, family sources said. Alka Kwatra, Pritam's daughter-in-law, told PTI that his last rites were performed at the Dahanukarwadi crematorium at Kandivli in north Mumbai in the presence of family and close friends. The funeral pyre was lit by Pritam's granddaughter. Amiya Kunwar, a close acquaintance of Imroz, said he was suffering from health issues for some days and had been hospitalised. Born on January 26, 1926 in Lyallpur, Punjab, Imroz met Amrita Pritam in the 1950s when she was already a well-established figure in Punjabi literature. They lived together for over 40 years until Pritam died in 2005. Imroz began writing poems after Pritam started keeping unwell, and even after her death, he wrote several poems dedicated to her. One of Pritam's most celebrated works, 'Main tainu phir milangi,' is ..

'Authentic' to 'hallucinate': Words of the Year 2023 are centred around AI

Prominent dictionaries have taken note of the technology that is the talk of the town

Economics through mysteries

Can detective stories be a clever gateway to learning complex subjects? Two American professor show the way

Hindi publishers behave as they are doing a favour to writers: Rajesh Joshi

The poet talks about artificial intelligence, translation and 'capitalism's weapons'

Book Lovers Day 2023: History, Importance, Quotes, and Everything

National Book Lovers Day is celebrated every year on August 9 to raise awareness about the importance of books and the unique place they hold in our lives

Mere holding of certain literature would not attract provisions of UAPA: SC

Mere holding of certain literature through which violent acts may be propagated would not attract the provisions of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, the Supreme Court on Friday said as it granted bail to activists Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case. A bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose and Sudhanshu Dhulia said the actual involvement of Gonsalves and Ferreira in any terrorist act has not surfaced from any third-party communications. "Mere holding of certain literatures through which violent acts may be propagated would not ipso facto attract the provisions of Section 15(1)(b) (use of criminal force or the show of criminal force or attempts to do so or cause the death of any public functionary ) of the said Act. "Thus, prima facie, in our opinion, we cannot reasonably come to a finding that any case against the appellants under Section 15(1) (b) of the 1967 Act can be held to be true," the bench said. According to the NIA, various letters a

A calculating look at literature

The only sections that may require more than secondary school knowledge are on cryptography and fractal dimensions

Power and diplomacy: An insider's eye view

This is a most readable book by a discerning eyewitness but also a key participant at "centres of power"

A case study in labour vs management

Anjali Deshpande and Nandita Haksar's book examines the 2012 violence at Maruti Suzuki's Manesar plant and offers a rare worker's perspective on labour management practices in India

A Xi Jinping primer

Professor Kerry Brown's book attempts to provide insights into the personal and political growth of the Chinese leader, and his mission to make China a great power again

International Booker Prize 2023: Six books shortlisted, Tamil 'Pyre' misses

Last year, the award was won by Geetanjali Shree and translator Daisy Rockwell for 'Tomb of Sand', the first Hindi novel to win the prize

The migratory human

Sedentary people living in nation-states was never the inevitable outcome of human evolution, argues Sam Miller in his new book

War, peace and environmental devastation

In The Long Reckoning, Black unites his areas of expertise in international affairs and the environment to explore a landscape littered with the detritus of war