In this episode, we speak with Aatish Taseer, novelist and non-fiction writer, to examine the cultural influences that have shaped him and his writing. In his new book he charts a road to find himself anew after an enforced exile from his homeland by traveling to places and exploring themes that interested his younger self. In this episode we peel back layers of narrative to reveal the cultural contradictions that underpin the way he looks at the world and navigates his own predicament.

Show Notes

• Return To Self: Excursions in Exile https://www.amazon.in/Return-Self-Excursions-Exile/dp/9369897720/ref=sr_1_1?crid=14FRAFYDV0SSQ&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.nam6klDq8aR4kutKsCluw9FjiZ1KShSa2ckJkNpJRqpnAOSb_JHjZH9G2ErvHgpJu5LIIU1idU31SC33v9MI7g.9KtHa40JDcqKv482Nr0ajLf-t-woVXrhhqvP7wD_f9o&dib_tag=se&keywords=a+return+to+self+aatish+taseer&qid=1757921863&sprefix=return+to+self%2Caps%2C257&sr=8-1

• VS Naipaul: The Grief and the Glory https://granta.com/vs-naipaul-the-grief-and-the-glory/

• Satanic Verses and Midnight’s Children, Salman Rushdie

• JM Coetzee on Samuel Beckett https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetry-news/78818/jm-coetzee-reads-into-samuel-beckett-eight-times

• Stranger in the Village, James Baldwin https://harpers.org/archive/1953/10/stranger-in-the-village/

• Manto, translated by Aatish Taseer https://www.amazon.in/Manto-Selected-Stories-Aatish-Taseer-ebook/dp/B008M7S672

• On Rebecca West https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/apr/06/wests-world-lorna-gibb-review

• Girish Karnad on VS Naipaul https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/vs-naipaul-slammed-by-girish-karnad-for-his-views-on-muslims-503528