Amaryllis – An imprint of Manjul Publishing unveiled the new book 1984: In Memory and Imagination - Personal Essays and Short Fiction on the 1984 Anti-Sikh Riots, edited by Vikram Kapur, Associate Professor of English at Shiv Nadar University on 4th November at the Press Club Of India , New Delhi.
The book was launched by Harry Sachdeva, prominent film-maker & Writer producer of Bollywood Film "31st October" and Manoj Mitta, renowned journalist . They were joined by Hartosh Singh Bal, political editor of Caravan magazine, and Vikram Kapur, editor of the anthology, to discuss the impact of the 1984 riots on the psyche of affected individuals and the nation as a whole.
The panel discussion was moderated by Humra Quraishi, well-known journalist and author. Among the discussion points was how the film "31st October" has been instrumental in bringing the issue into the forefront again and how sensitively the film showcased the plight of the victims during that difficult time and also showcasing the humane side of communities towards each other. Writer Producer Harry Sachdeva congratulate the authors and said 'I congratulate Vikram Kapur on his book and I would like to strongly recommend that each one of us should visit the widow colony and see the miserable condition of the victims , their lives have been abandoned forever and all they are left is to be a part of election manifesto or a news Channels story but no aid has ever actually reached to them, all they seek is is justice which should not take three decades to come '
About the Book:
More than thirty years after they occurred, the events of 1984 refuse to slide into the past. As recently as 2012, Lieutenant General Brar, who led Operation Blue Star, was attacked in London for his role in that operation. In 2014, the Punjabi film ‘Kaum De Heere’, based on the lives of the men responsible for Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s assassination, was banned. To this day, the struggle goes on to deliver justice to the victims of the anti-Sikh pogrom that followed the assassination. Rather than entering the garbage heap of history, the events of 1984 have become a testament to William Faulkner’s words: ‘The past is never dead. It isn’t even past.’
This book examines the human narrative of 1984. It tells the stories, both real and imagined, of men and women whose lives were altered by that tragic chain of events and who continue to live with them to this day. Through the telling of these stories, it gets at the heart beating inside the body of facts to bring out the essence of a society and nation marked indelibly by what happened in 1984.
Contributors to this anthology: Hartosh Singh Bal, Kirpal Singh Dhillon, Ajeet Cour, Humra Quraishi, Preeti Gill, Rana Chhina, Rizio Yohanan Raj, NS Madhavan, Jaspreet Singh, Mridula Garg, Pratyaksha, Vikram Kapur, Harish Narang and Aditya Sharma.
About the Author:
Vikram Kapur is the author of two novels. His short fiction and nonfiction have been published in various Indian and international publications. His short stories have been shortlisted in several international competitions including, among others, the Commonwealth Short Story Prize and the Fish International Short Story Prize. Currently, he is Associate Professor of English at Shiv Nadar University.
About the Publisher:
Manjul’s English-only imprint, Amaryllis, founded in 2010, brings to readers the best in writing from across the globe. Our focus is on fiction and non-fiction, mostly by Indian authors, encouraging emerging voices and nurturing established ones. We bring to our readers books of the highest quality, elegantly designed with exceptional production standards.
Amaryllis has more than seventy successful titles already under its belt and boasts of names like Ashok K. Banker, Deepti Naval, Sushma Seth, Jaswant Singh, Rajiv Malhotra, Sudheendra Kulkarni, Pritish Nandy, Satya Saran, etc., on its list. Amaryllis is, today, a name to reckon with in English publishing in India.
