A conversation with Vishwambhari Parmar on curating and translating The Blaft Anthology of Gujarati Pulp Fiction, and uncovering the genre’s darker and more irreverent worlds in Southasian literature.

Welcome to the Southasia Review of Books podcast, where we speak to celebrated authors and emerging literary voices from across Southasia. In this episode, Shwetha Srikanthan speaks to Vishwambhari Parmar, the curator and translator of The Blaft Anthology of Gujarati Pulp Fiction (Blaft Publications, December 2024).

The term “pulp” comes from the cheap wood-pulp paper on which stories considered lowbrow were printed on. Their content often reflected society’s darker sides: crime, corruption, misogyny and problematic caricatures. And despite – or because of – their racier subject matter, pulp fiction was wildly popular in Southasia. 

These stories also helped shape much of what we now consider canon in Southasian science fiction, noir, horror and romance. Over time, paperbacks, comics, and higher-quality magazines largely replaced pulp publications – but the stories never stopped being written.

The Blaft Anthology of Gujarati Pulp Fiction, curated and translated by Vishwambhari Parmar, and edited by Rakesh Kannah, preserves this rich and often overlooked Gujarati literary world. From supernatural crime thrillers and folk horror, to Mumbai underworld revenge fantasies, the anthology brings a taste of Gujarat’s bestselling adventure, dark fantasy and mysteries to wider English-reading audiences.

Let’s keep the conversation going – please share your thoughts on the episode. Leave us a comment here on Youtube or send me an email (shwethas[at]himalmag[dot]com).

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