Sadie Kaye — Excerpt: Rifaz’s startling gift as a writer is to make the heaviest of emotions feel miraculously airborne without sacrificing their weight. The result is a poignant, beautifully crafted narrative that elevates and uplifts.
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Under the Same Moon: Seeing Ourselves in Vibha Batra’s Spotless
Wani Nazir — Excerpt: Spotless isn’t about pain. It’s a coming-of-age story, a journal, and a cosmic poem all at once. The narrator’s voice is sharp, self-aware, and funny when you least expect it. You can taste it and feel the muck.
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Translating Melancholy — Sabika Abbas Naqvi’s Rendition of Rahman Abbas’s Rohzin, or The Melancholy of the Soul
Wani Nazir — Excerpt: Naqvi’s translation doesn’t merely change Abbas’s prose into English; it also brings back the depth of Rohzin’s pain, its remarkable beauty, and its intellectual complexity.
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Modern Dating Red Flags: As Interpreted by a Birdwatcher
Sabyasachi Roy — Excerpt: Specimen 5: The Hobby Cultist. Latin Name: Singulus obsessionae. They don’t date—they recruit.
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The Audition
Devin James Leonard — Excerpt: “I’ll work on my French accent.” The casting director wagged his head and rolled his eyes at that.