View writers that garnered attention in 2023

A number of authors’ publications garnered attention among the many books that were published this year for different reasons. These are CE’s top selections.

Mani Shankar Aiyar

Career diplomat and politician Mani Shankar Aiyar provides a unique look into the first fifty years of his life with the release of Memoirs of a Maverick: The First Fifty Years. The book chronicles his journey from a difficult upbringing in Dehradun, where he was raised by a widowed mother, to his experiences in the Indian Foreign Service and politics. The book examines key events, such as his time studying under Rajiv Gandhi at The Doon School and his change from diplomat to close aide to Gandhi in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO). Known for his candor and humor, Aiyar imparts life lessons and stories, covering topics such as his mother’s influence, his transition into a staunch atheist, and his own thoughts.

Meena Kandasamy

Meena Kandasamy, a writer and anti-caste campaigner, made her literary breakthrough in 2006 with her first book Touch. Ever since then, Kandasamy has explored topics of oppression, dismantled violence, and enlarged the parameters of literature. The primary focus of Kandasamy’s work is activism; she has edited the periodical The Dalit since she was a teenager and wrote an anti-novel called The Gypsy Goddess on the Kilvenmani Massacre. Her most recent book, The Book of Desire, which was released in February, is a feminist adaptation of Kamattu-p-pal by Tiruvalluvar. After several translations in which women have been the exception, she reclaims feminine sexuality and desire in her translation.

Gowda Chandan

Another India: Events, Memories, People, the most recent book by author and scholar Chandan Gowda, was published earlier this year. It is a social anthropology that delves into India’s rich history, customs, and cultural development. In the book, Gowda explores the dichotomies of contemporary society: urban-rural and modern-traditional, and how they often favor urban, more contemporary viewpoints while undervaluing the richness of rural and traditional life. He emphasizes the need to appreciate traditional communities and their solutions to moral conundrums. The book is a plea to recognize and incorporate the moral and aesthetic richness of India’s vernacular cultures rather than a criticism that seeks to replace Western principles with local ones.

Murugan Perumal

This literary chronicler from Namakkal has spent the last thirty years mapping the rural landscape of Tamil Nadu using themes of caste and class. Murugan sharply criticizes the cruelty of caste in his novels and short tales. Murugan started writing at a young age and released his first book, Eru Veyyil, in 1991. Despite his many accolades, he was included to the International Booker Prize longlist for Pyre in 2023. He was awarded the Ramnath Goenka Sahithya Samman for Literary Excellence by The New Indian Express and the JCB Prize for Literature later this year. This year saw the publication of the translation of author Kavitha Muralidharan’s collection of short stories, Sandalwood Soap.

Guha Ramachandra

The book Rebels Against the Raj: Western Fighters for India’s Freedom, written by acclaimed historian Ramachandra Guha, garnered him attention in 2023 and earned him the Elizabeth Longford Prize for Historical Biography. The book explores the lives of seven Europeans who arrived in India in the late 19th and early 20th century and were heavily engaged in the Indian Independence Movement. Guha claims that the book has been living in his head for 25 years. In addition to providing a historical background, the book also discusses current concerns. Guha sees it as a counter to the naive, jingoistic nationalism that permeates modern India. Through these people’s lives, he demonstrates how identity is malleable and how being foreign is not always a bad thing. Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore’s epigraphs highlight this theme focus, which emphasizes the complex relationship between nationalism and identity.

Srinivasaraju Sugata

The in-depth examination of Sugata Srinivasaraju’s most recent book Strange Burdens: The Politics and Predicaments of Rahul Gandhi attracted a lot of attention in 2023. The book, which offers a viewpoint on Gandhi’s development in Indian politics derived from his decades-long experience as a writer, is more of a political commentary than a biography. In the book, Srinivasaraju draws attention to the differences between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Mahatma Gandhi, with the intention of examining the nuances in their respective political narratives rather than inciting conflict. In the book, he characterizes his methodology as “critically sympathetic,” recognizing Gandhi’s advantages as well as disadvantages and assessing his most recent dramatic turn in politics.

CS Lakshmi

Politics is personal. This proverb is powerfully captured in the works of CS Lakshmi or Ambai. Breaking through as a feminist writer from Tamil at a period when there weren’t many in the mainstream, she questions gender norms and the craft of storytelling. Her paintings, which range from A Night with a Black Spider to The Purple Sea, explore women’s everyday lives. She expanded her impressive collection of honors this year by receiving the Tata Literature Live! Lifetime Achievement Award and the Shakti Bhatt Body of Work Prize.

Siddhartha Mukherjee, an MD

With his most recent book, The Song of the Cell: An Exploration of biology and the New Human, Pulitzer Prize-winning author and cancer specialist Dr. Siddhartha Mukherjee examined the subject of cellular biology and its implications for treating illnesses, including cancer. Due to his own experience with depression, Dr. Mukherjee has a unique perspective on mental health and emphasizes the significance of understanding it at the molecular level. His book reflects his varied experiences as a doctor, scientist, and patient by combining scientific talks with human tales.

Dr. Mukherjee’s method, which emphasizes the ground-breaking developments in biological research and invention, attempts to make complicated medical information understandable to the general population.