Himal Southasian Podcast Channel

In her biography of the city, the Kashmiri writer highlights the complications of Srinagar’s identity and recentres the everyday lives of its people, particularly women. https://www.himalmag.com/podcast/srinagar-kashmir-identity-women-memory-tourism-history-sadaf-wani Welcome to the Southasia Review of Books Podcast from Himal Southasian , where we speak to celebrated authors and emerging literary...

Putting the year in perspective, editor Roman Gautam and the hosts of Himal’ s podcasts take a look back at the highlights, stories and episodes that shaped an extraordinary and challenging year December is nearly over, and 2025 is just around the corner, so we’re bringing you a very special episode where Himal ’s editor Roman Gautam and podcast hosts Nayantara Narayanan and Shwetha Srikanthan ref...

On 21 November, a deadly attack targeted a convoy of Shia Muslims traveling from Parachinar to Peshawar in Pakistan’s Kurram district, a region with a long history of sectarian violence. The convoy, consisting of over 100 vehicles, was ambushed by Sunni extremists on the Tal Parachinar Road, a crucial lifeline for the Shia-majority area. Despite being under security escort, the convoy was attacked...

In his new memoir, spanning the 1980s and the present, the renowned writer and activist reflects on neoliberalism in the West and turmoil in Southasia, and fiercely critiques the War on Terror and the crimes of Israel: https://www.himalmag.com/podcast/writing-dissent-activism-southasia-palestine-revolutions-memoir-tariq-ali We’re on a mission to give Southasian literature the spotlight it deserves...

Manipur has been mired in an ethnic and political conflict since May 2023, primarily involving violent clashes between the Meitei community, which predominantly resides in the Imphal Valley, and the Kuki-Zomi-Hmars, which are tribal communities mostly living in the state's hilly areas. The violence, fueled by longstanding ethnic tensions, has resulted in hundreds of deaths, widespread displacement...

Welcome to the Southasia Review of Books Podcast from Himal Southasian, where we speak to celebrated authors and emerging literary voices from across Southasia. In this episode, Shwetha Srikanthan, associate editor at Himal Southasian , speaks to Ari Gautier on his new short story collection, Nocturne Pondicherry , translated from the French by Roopam Singh (Hachette India, June 2024), and his nov...

In September, India’s home minister Amit Shah suddenly announced a name change for the capital of the union territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands – from Port Blair to Sri Vijaya Puram. He said the move was meant to “free the nation from the colonial imprints”. But surprised residents of the islands were not entirely happy with the new name that did not resonate with the history of the islands a...

In this episode, Shwetha Srikanthan, associate editor at Himal Southasian, speaks to the journalists Saba Imtiaz and Tooba Masood-Khan about their new book Society Girl: A Tale of Sex, Lies, and Scandal (October 2024, Roli Books).  On one October morning in 1970, phones began ringing all over Karachi. The established poet and former civil servant Mustafa Zaidi had been found dead in his bedroom. H...

In January 2018, Naqeebullah Mehsud, a young Pashtun from Waziristan was killed at the hands of police in Karachi. The incident triggered mass protests by Pashtuns, the ethnic community to which Mehsud belonged, which then consolidated into the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM). Pashtuns had for decades alleged and protested extra judicial killings and enforced disappearances by Pakistan’s security f...

Welcome to the Southasia Review of Books Podcast from Himal Southasian , where we speak to celebrated authors and emerging literary voices from across Southasia. In this episode, Shwetha Srikanthan, associate editor at Himal Southasian , speaks to the writer, producer, and educator Zara Chowdhary, joining us from Madison, to talk about her memoir, The Lucky Ones (Context, September 2024) On the 27...

In mid-October, the Bangladesh interim government announced the cancellation of eight national holidays introduced by Sheikh Hasina during her tenure as prime minister. These holidays celebrated her father and former president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman as well as Bangladesh’s liberation from Pakistan in 1971. An adviser to the interim government headed by Muhammad Yunus also said that it did not recog...

Geetanjali Shree’s Our City That Year, translated by Daisy Rockwell (Penguin India, August 2024), is a tale of a city under siege, reflecting a society that lies fractured along fault lines of faith and ideology. First published in 1998, Our City That Year is loosely based on the communal riots and violence in the lead-up to the demolition of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya in 1992 and its aftermath o...

In 2019, Anura Kumara Dissanayake contested Sri Lanka’s presidential election against the incumbent Gotabaya Rajapaksa. He won only three percent of the vote. In the parliamentary elections a year later, the National People’s power – the coalition that includes Dissanayake’s party, the Janata Vimukti Peramuna – won only three seats. The JVP was disparaged as the “three percent party.” In 2024, Dis...

On 19 August, the government of the Indian state of Kerala released 233 pages of a report on gender discrimination in the Malayalam language film industry based in the state. The government released the report six years after it was commissioned and more than four years after it was first submitted. The report has come to be called the Hema Committee report, named for the chairperson, the former j...

In the three years since its return to power, the Taliban have excluded women and girls from almost every aspect of public life in Afghanistan, denying them access to education, employment, even speaking or showing their faces outside their homes. Published this August, My Dear Kabul: A Year in the Life of An Afghan Women’s Writing Group (Coronet, August 2024) is the collective diary of 21 fiercel...

On 21 August, Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers formally issued “vice and virtue” laws codifying rules of lifestyle and behaviour, entrenching their control over social interactions and the private lives of people in the country. Unsurprisingly, the strictest measures relate to the dress and demeanour of women. The laws say that Muslim women must cover their faces and bodies around non-Muslim women and...

Welcome to the Southasia Review of Books Podcast from Himal Southasian, where we speak to celebrated authors and emerging literary voices from across Southasia. In this episode, Shwetha Srikanthan, assistant editor at Himal Southasian, speaks to Neha Dixit about her debut non-fiction book The Many Lives of Syeda X: The Story of an Unknown Indian. Neha is an independent journalist based in New Delh...

In this episode of ‘State of Southasia’, Nayantara Narayanan speaks to Ali Riaz, distinguished professor at Illinois State University, who studies democratisation, violent extremism, political Islam, and Southasian and Bangladeshi politics. Riaz details how, after the government displayed absolute disregard for people’s lives, it has further lost legitimacy and seen the political ground shift in B...

Welcome to the Southasia Review of Books Podcast from Himal Southasian, where we speak to celebrated authors and emerging literary voices from across Southasia. In this episode, Shwetha Srikanthan, assistant editor at Himal Southasian, speaks to the Colombo-based author Vajra Chandrasekera about his debut novel 'The Saint of Bright Doors' (July 2023) and his second and most recent novel, 'Rakesfal...

In this episode of State of Southasia, assistant editor Nayantara Narayanan speaks to Harsh Mander, the peace activist and founder of Karwan-e-Mohabbat, a campaign in solidarity with victims of communal or religious violence. Mander says that over the past decade the Modi regime has normalised, legitimised, valourised and incentivised hate to such an extent that it is difficult to undo despite any...

At Screen Southasia, we host monthly online screenings of compelling documentaries from the region, including Nepal, India, Kashmir, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bhutan, Tibet, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Maldives and Sri Lanka. We present a diverse range of films, both classic and new, that showcase the unique cultures, histories and perspectives of Southasia. Screen Southasia is a partnership between Himal S...

Welcome to the Southasia Review of Books Podcast from Himal Southasian, where we speak to celebrated authors and emerging literary voices from across Southasia. In this episode, Shwetha Srikanthan, assistant editor at Himal Southasian, speaks to Siddhartha Deb about his novel 'The Light at the End of the World' and his latest book, 'Twilight Prisoners: The Rise of the Hindu Right and the Fall of I...

Welcome to the second edition of the Himal Fiction Fest, where we celebrated Southasian fiction in translation. Southasia’s rich literary tradition spans hundreds of languages, cultures, regions and traditions – and translators play a vital role in bringing these works the exposure and recognition they deserve, and connect. To kick off the festival, we hosted an online reading of translated storie...

In this episode of State of Southasia, Nayantara Narayanan speaks to Laxmi Murthy, a senior journalist and the editor of the report, about the important role of the media and the struggles of journalists working in crisis conditions in an especially important year for the region, when several countries in Southasia are holding elections. (Disclosure: Laxmi Murthy is a Contributing Editor for Himal...

Welcome to the Southasia Review of Books Podcast from Himal Southasian, where we speak to celebrated authors and emerging literary voices from across Southasia. In this episode, Shwetha Srikanthan, assistant editor at Himal Southasian, speaks to the Siliguri-based poet, writer and essayist Sumana Roy about her latest book 'Provincials: Postcards from the Peripheries'. In Southasian literature, it...