CHENNAI: From Ruskin Bond’s How To Be Happy, which will be released on his 90th birthday in May, to Vikram Sampath’s book which dives deep into the history of the controversial Kashi’s Gyanvapi, there is much for bibliophiles to look forward to this year.
Knife By Salman Rushdie (Penguin Random House, April)
The big one coming from internationally-renowned writer and Booker Prize winner Salman Rushdie is a searing, deeply personal account of enduring and surviving an attempt on his life 30 years after the fatwa that was ordered against him. This is the first time Rushdie will be sharing the traumatic events of August 12, 2022, when he was stabbed multiple times, which resulted in him losing vision in one of his eyes.
The Cooking of Books: A Literary Memoir Ramachandra Guha (Juggernaut, January)
The Cooking of Books takes us back to Delhi in the 1980s when historian Ramachandra Guha was an unpublished PhD scholar and Rukun Advani was the editor with Oxford University Press and Guha’s most reliable reader. It is not often that an author and his editor strike up a relationship that survives 40 years. The book, which was built around letters and emails between the two scholars, gives a good dose of wit despite clashing political viewpoints.
Waiting for Shiva: Unearthing the Truth of Kashi’s Gyan Vapi by Vikram Sampath (BluOne Ink, February)
This time, historian Vikram Sampath dives deep into the history of highly controversial Kashi’s Gyanvapi. The book documents these cataclysmic events in the temple’s history. The final death blow was dealt in 1669 by the Mughal ruler Aurangzeb, who demolished the temple and erected a few domes on the partially-destroyed western wall to call it a mosque. With the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in the picture, the book has already stirred a lot of anticipation.
The Idolaters by Manu Pillai (Penguin Random House, Sept)
Historian Manu S Pillai writes about India’s extraordinary past and the startling colonial connections that have shaped independent India’s narrative. The book will examine the influence of the West on Indian beliefs and culture and how its present self-image was conceived. The book shows India through the 18th and 19th centuries, exploring everything from caste to religion and people from diverse backgrounds. Pillai will look at the lives of some of the remarkable men and women who were instrumental in shaping modern India.
The Golden Road: How Ancient India Transformed the World by William Dalrymple (Bloomsbury, September)
Scottish-born historian William Dalrymple highlights India’s oft-forgotten position as a crucial economic and civilisational hub at the heart of the ancient and early medieval history of Eurasia. From Angkor to Ayutthaya, The Golden Road traces the cultural flow of Indian religions, languages, and artistic and architectural forms throughout the world.
How To Be Happy by Ruskin Bond: (HarperCollins, May)
After two bestselling books How to Be a Writer and How to Live Your Life, Ruskin Bond’s latest addition is How To Be Happy. For someone who continues to charm his readers with his words and stories, the book is interspersed with thoughts and quotes. The book is scheduled to be released in May 2024 on his 90th birthday.