The Hooghly Review is a digital non-profit and free-access magazine of literature, culture & arts with the aim to publish creatives in all stages of their career. Named and conceptualised by Tejaswinee Roychowdhury in July 2022, she invited fellow writer-poet and friend, Ankit Raj Ojha, onboard in October 2022. The two have since been editing the magazine, expanding and developing it, and building its foundations to humbly serve the literary community in the years to come.
our mission
Our focus is on individuals and their lived experiences rather than on social/political/religious/cultural communities at large because we understand and recognise how truly alone and cornered one can feel when shunned by their community—those they thought they belonged with, for the 'crime' of going against the accepted norms and/or stepping outside the group-think. Additionally, we believe in the inherent goodness of all human beings despite their many imperfections because it is easy to be lost in this insanely difficult world; we believe in reformation and rehabilitation rather than in shaming and retribution, and thus, we believe in second chances. As such, this is a space for creative expression by all individuals including rebels, free-thinkers, outcasts, and fallen angels.
We want diverse voices and pride ourselves on not practising censorship either on the creative works we publish or of artists while at the same time not allowing and/or enabling hate speech and/or bigoted arguments backed by historical and/or factual inaccuracies.
Balance, truth, empathy, and flow are the key aesthetics of our magazine.
Pull back the curtain for a peek at the internal mechanism of The Hooghly Review from our interviews with Jim Harrington on his blog Six Questions For . . . and with Suchita Senthil Kumar, EIC of Zhagaram Literary.
meet the team
Tejaswinee Roychowdhury is a Pushcart-nominated writer and poet from West Bengal, India. She also dabbles in the occasional art/photography. With her interview episode on The Nuts & Bolts of Writing Podcast with Imelda Wei Ding Lo featured in Arizona State University's Superstition Review blog, Tejaswinee's work spanning across genres has been curated in thirteen countries. Her publications include Muse India, Taco Bell Quarterly, HOAX, The Bayou Review, Stanchion, Black Bough Poetry, Dreich, Anti-Heroin Chic, San Antonio Review, JAKE, The Unconventional Courier, miniMAG, Culinary Origami, Roi Fainéant, Twin Pies, Vocivia, Third Lane, Borderless Journal, Kitaab, A Thin Slice of Anxiety, Yuzu Press, Ongoing, and Paddler Press, among others, and has been featured in the Pandan Weekly Newsletter. Tejaswinee is an Advocate at the Calcutta High Court, having obtained an LL.M. in Business Law from the University of Calcutta, and is currently pursuing M.A. in Criminology and Criminal Justice Administration from Tamil Nadu Open University.
Website: linktr.ee/tejaswinee
Twitter: @TejaswineeRC
Instagram: @tejaswineeroychowdhury
Ankit Raj Ojha is a Pushcart-nominated poet, writer, assistant professor of English, former rock band frontman and former software engineer from Chapra, Bihar, India. Winner of the Briefly Think Essay Prize 2023, his writings are curated in sixteen countries, including venues such as Indian Literature (Sahitya Akademi), Outlook India, Poetry Scotland, Poetry Wales, The Honest Ulsterman, Stanchion, Dreich, Ink Sweat & Tears, The Dillydoun Review, The Broadkill Review, The Bayou Review, Roi Fainéant Press, San Antonio Review, Paddler Press, A Thin Slice of Anxiety, and Streetcake Magazine among others. He is the author of Pinpricks (Hawakal, 2022) and editor of Wives: poems (Hawakal, 2023). Ankit works with the Department of Higher Education, Haryana, and has a PhD in literature from IIT Roorkee. He has research articles in Routledge and Johns Hopkins University Press journals, and a book chapter with Vernon Press. He is an editor at The Hooghly Review, guest editor at Essence & Critique: Journal of Literature and Drama Studies (Bingöl University, Türkiye), and a consulting editor with Routledge.
Website: https://linktr.ee/rajankit
Twitter: @ankit_raj01
Instagram: @ankitrajojha1
editors in conversation
What kind of work would you like to see more of in the submissions’ inbox for your magazine?
— Suchita Senthil Kumar
I don’t really have a preference. My goal is to make it exciting for the reader and I will always look for variety in the read pile and mix things up.
— Tejaswinee
I’m not picky. I enjoy every genre, every style. And I’d love our submitters to send in a healthy mix [...] try me with anything and everything you’ve got. If I like it, I like it.
— Ankit
Read the full interview at Zhagaram Literary
What advice can you offer others interested in starting their own magazine?
— Jim Harrington
Better have a good team. [...] Establish a rhythm, and have shared values and visions. For me, Ankit and I just clicked in inexplicable ways. We are a good team. Period. There is more spontaneity than planning in the way THR operates. We are willing to stumble, get back up, learn, and grow, over and over again.
— Tejaswinee
I feel that to keep a magazine up and running you have to make it as much about your contributors and readers as it is about you as showrunner. [...] Be a positive force in the publishing industry. [...] Keep the technicalities tight, work hard, treat your audience as you would your friends, and hope for the best while being prepared for the worst.
— Ankit
Read the full interview at Six Questions For . . .