The Freedom To Write

"The upheaval we are caught up in is so vast, and so uncertain - is this the best of times? the worst? - that Indian writing has barely begun to take the measure of the conditions in which it functions."

- Siddhartha Deb on the legacy of empire in Indian literature. Meanwhile, Hirsh Sawhney resurrects an old, indignant question: "With healthy literary traditions in over 20 official languages, why is so much more attention paid to the small number of Indian authors writing in English?" (Don't try asking Sir Salman that.) And here's Kamila Shamsie on the history of the English-language novel in Pakistan