The Sane Dreamer

WINNER of the JCB PRIZE FOR LITERATURE 2018 An Excerpt I sat again in front of the microphone for my beloved live programme, Rush Hour. It had been three months since I was in the studio. No one had expected me to go live as soon as I returned, or for that matter, even return. Maybe that is why our programme manager, Imthiaz sir, told me, ‘You don’t have to go live if you are not up for it, just record something.’ He was trying to be kind, but it made me sadder. To not go live? Is that why I returned to the studio even though Taya and my chachas told me not to? Is that why I asked the studio to announce my return even when they were hesitant? Does Sameera give in that easily? About the Book Young Radio Jockey Sameera Parvin from Pakistan immigrates to an unnamed city in the Middle East where she tells the story of the Arab Spring of 2011 in Benyamin’s new novel. Sameera moves to an unnamed Middle Eastern city to live with her father and her relatives. She thri...

In its 16 th edition, the prestigious Crossword Book Award in association with Shoppers Stop , Home Stop and Kotak Mahindra Bank witnessed a remarkable literary event, which saw a venerable celebration of Indian writing in English for books published in the year 2017 at the majestic Royal Opera House - Mumbai. As India’s oldest and most respected literary award, the Crossword Book Award encompasses a total of 11 awards in categories such as fiction, non-fiction, children’s, translation in the jury as well as popular categories. Two additional categories - business & management and health & fitness are part of the popular awards alone. The summit of the evening is the Lifetime Achievement Award, instituted in 2016, given to a literary stalwart. Dr. Shashi Tharoor, Commonwealth Writers’ Prize winner and prolific author with a global fan following, was conferred the same, for his exemplary contribution to Indian writing in English. For the first time in the histor...