Editor’s Note
A year has gone by since we launched our inaugural issue in April 2023. Issue 2 followed in October, then came Wee Hooghly early this year. Add to that the 84 Weekly Features we have published since last summer and the couple of times we sat in conversation, with Six Questions For… and Zhagaram Literary. Looking back at the fun we have had this past year and how generously you guys have loved and supported us makes us beam with gratitude.
The feather in our cap is most certainly the #3 spot on Chill Subs’ Best Lit Mags of 2023. Thanks to you all (Chill Subs included), there was an even bigger flood of submissions for this issue, which made it hard to say no to some brilliant pieces. The ones we did end up accepting are sure to sweep you off your feet.
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We had this notion sometime ago (since we are too itchy to get comfortably settled at a place for long) that the layout and design of our regular issues might be becoming repetitive. Make no mistake: the first two issues were unanimously loved for their design, but we have to keep experimenting.
So, for this one here, we have a new aesthetic, inspired in part by the illustrated mass market paperbacks we grew up on, thanks to libraries, thrift shops and roadside vendors we have an abundance of. You’ll see in these pages that we have done away with full-page photographs, relying on old school, black-and-white illustrations to accentuate the pieces. While the earlier issues—with their gloss and colour—were classy, this one we have tried to make massy—which is class in its own right.
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We are suckers for works from diverse places, cultures and identities, for we believe it acquaints one to multiple truths and fabulations that fascinate and humble the consumer. This time again the universe conspired. Some amazing work popped up in our inbox from countries we were yet to add to our honour roll. These include Ghana, Guyana, Venezuela, Chile, Mexico, Mozambique, Armenia, Bulgaria, Serbia, Poland, Italy and the Netherlands. With these onboard, we are proud to announce that we now have contributors from 46 countries on earth, and that frozen landmass on the Southern end, for one of our globetrotting contributors has lived and worked in Antarctica.
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It feels unreal to think how what began in 2022 on a temperamental laptop by a river in India has reached far-off lands. We’ll give it all to keep this gig running for creatives of all origins and identities.
Do write to us when you can. We are chatty.
Ankit Raj Ojha
April 2024
Panchkula
Inside the Issue
EDITED BY — Ankit Raj Ojha & Tejaswinee Roychowdhury
COVER ART — Anis Tabaraee
INTERIOR DESIGN — Tejaswinee Roychowdhury
EDITOR’S NOTE — Ankit Raj Ojha
FEATURE — Pedro Pereira Lopes, tr. by Beth Hickling-Moore | Beth Hickling-Moore in conversation with Pedro Pereira Lopes
POETRY — Abel Johnson Thundil | Akil Contractor | Alka Balain | Allison Zaczynski | Ankur Jyoti Saikia | Audrey T. Carroll | Bethany Jarmul | Bex Hainsworth | Brandon Shane | C.C. Apap | Chandra Persaud | Christina Daub | Danielle Lisa | Derville Quigley | Deryck N. Robertson | Devjani Bodepudi | Devon Neal | Diana Sanders | DS Maolalai | Elizabeth Barton | Elizabeth Loudon | Evgeniya Dineva | Frances Klein | Grant Shimmin | Gretchen Filart | Imogen Forster | James Lilliefors | Janna Wilson | Jonathan Fletcher | Julián Martinez | Justin Lacour | Karl Koweski | Kate Porch | M.R. Mandell | Mark J. Mitchell | Matthew Isaac Sobin | Max Cavitch | Mona Mehas | Nathanael O’Reilly | Nikita Deshpande | Peter Lilly | Réka Nyitrai | Ronita Chattopadhyay | Sanjeev Sethi | w v sutra | Yuan Changming
MICRO PROSE — Ada Pelonia | Alison Lock | Elena Zhang | Enya Fang | Huina Zheng | Jared Povanda | Katie Baughman | Lindsay Comer | Lisa Thornton | Rukman Ragas | Sam Cai | Sarah R. New | Suzanne Johnston | Tyler Fisher | William Doreski
FICTION — Anshika Ravi | Anthony Neil Smith | Beth Ford | Bethany Cutkomp | Blanka Pillár | Caroline Ashley | Charles Pineda | Danielle Barr | Emma Schoors | Fabiana Elisa Martínez | Gianluca Cinelli | Hilary Ayshford | Jake La Botz | Joseph Clegg | Kath Richards | Kati Bumbera | Katie Holloway | Liam Hegarty | MJ Huntsgood | Marina Richards | Pooja Joshi | Robert Nazar Arjoyan | Sara Siddiqui Chansarkar | Saskia de Leeuw Kyle | Susan Bloch | Tanya Huntington | Valentina Copello | Winston Lim | Yimin Huang
CREATIVE NONFICTION — Angela Townsend | Esmé Kaplan-Kinsey | Esther Omoye | Jason Prokowiew | Kellie Scott-Reed | Kyle Ross | Lindz McLeod | Madeleine Armstrong | Naana Eyikuma Hutchful | Paromita Patranobish | Victoria Hood
ESSAY — Shane Schick
DRAMA — Courtenay Schembri Gray | Gary Beck | Justin Karcher | Taylor Steck
FILM SCRIPT — Steve Passey
ART — Anis Tabaraee
MIXED MEDIA — Mirjana M.
PHOTOGRAPHY — Aneeta Sundararaj | Clarissa Cervantes | D.C. Nobes | J.B. Kalf | Jacelyn Yap | Nandan | Ojo Victoria Ilemobayo | Sarah Thomas | Shikha S. Lamba
COMICS — Helena Pantsis | Jerrod Schwarz