As sole proprietor of Salt Desert Media/ Pippa Rann Books, why do I publish things with which I disagree? It is worth noting that I do so primarily where I feel that the work communicates a point of view that is soundly argued, well expressed, and should be heard. Let me explain that in the […]
In celebration of Independence Day 2025: Why do I publish what I don’t agree with? Read More »
I was at the centre of a Venn diagram. One circle held friends from school and college, all from different communities..The other circle I belonged to was a Goan Catholic community, which shaped who I am. — Michelle Mendonça Bambawale By Selma Carvalho Michelle Mendonça Bambawale is an environmental activist, educator, photographer and
Becoming Goan: Beyond Ancestral Pasts Read More »
In 2011, on the 25th anniversary of the publication of Black British Literature: An Annotated Bibliography, I was invited by Newcastle University to give a lecture. Just imagine – in 200 years, no one had compiled even the most basic tool of research, a bibliography. That was why, despite all my limitations, I worked away
The Struggle for Black British Literature Read More »
Like most youngsters of my generation, I collected stamps, and found them hugely interesting as well as instructive in terms of geography and currencies. However, stamp-collecting did not lead me to any great appreciation of history. That was probably due to the fact that, as the family fortunes were then rather low, I could not
From a letter There’s a letter from Dad to our mother dated the 21st of September, 1938. He’s twenty-one, she’s eighteen. He’s impatient, impetuous and very much in love. Impatient: – “Those damned mails are late by 72 hours. It means that I won’t have any news from you till tomorrow evening.” Wondering: – “What do
Since the first translation of the Bhagavad Gita in 1789 by Charles Wilkins, there have been hundreds of translations into English. Some have translated the poetry of the Gita into prose, and some others have attempted metrical poetry. Whereas prose translations do not convey the delights of the original, good metrical translations have no choice
Michelle Mendonca Bambawale’s just-published book ‘Becoming Goan’ (Ebury-Penguin, 2023) is a story told at three levels. First, it is the story of a return to Goa by a daughter of the soil whose family has been out for generations. Secondly, it tells you about the rapid (sometimes destructive) changes Goa has been going through, as
Michelle’s Goa, a story told bluntly – a review by Frederick Noronha Read More »
Author(s): Michael Mitchell Publication date Pub: 22 December 2022 Journal: Journal of Indentureship and Its Legacies Publisher: Pluto Journals Though much has been made of the fact that Silent Winds, Dry Seas is the first Anglophone novel from Mauritius to have achieved wide circulation, readers of Caribbean fiction will be struck by an impression of familiarity. The reason is not hard to
Vinod Busjeet, Silent Winds, Dry Seas (New York: Doubleday, 2021), 288 pp Read More »
There’s an old platitude that does the rounds every Independence Day: though we won freedom from the British back in 1947, it goes, we continue to remain unfree in many ways to this day Book: Caged Tiger: How Too Much Government Is Holding Indians Back Author: Subhashish Bhadra Published by: Bloomsbury There’s an old platitude
Book review – Gilded cage Read More »
