Hope you are enjoying the (hopefully) slower pace of the summer semester.
We’re excited to invite you to SALTA’s inaugural Book Club initiative, led by Dr. Kusum Knapczyk. The SALTA Book Club is a space for readers, thinkers, and lovers of language to come together and celebrate the voices shaping contemporary South Asian literature. Each month, we will explore the work of one remarkable writer.
We begin in August with the evocative and powerful storytelling of Pratyaksha. Details for the first meeting are available in the attached flyer.
Book Club dates for the fall semester are given below:
- Sunday, August 17, 2025, 12–1 PM Eastern Time
- Sunday, September 21, 2025, 12–1 PM Eastern Time
- Sunday, October 19, 2025, 12–1 PM Eastern Time
- Sunday, November 9, 2025, 12–1 PM Eastern Time
- Sunday, December 7, 2025, 12–1 PM Eastern Time
Kindly register using the Google form by August 15, 2025, at 12:00 PM EST to receive the meeting link.
We look forward to reading and reflecting with you!
Monthly SALTA Book Club – August 2025 Session: Writer Pratyaksha
We are delighted to welcome you to the very first session of our Monthly SALTA Book Club, a space for readers, thinkers, and lovers of language to come together and celebrate the voices shaping contemporary South Asian literature. Each month, we will explore the work of one remarkable writer. For August, we begin with the evocative and powerful storytelling of Pratyaksha.
Her stories are tender, layered, and unafraid to explore the silences between words—touching on memory, tribal life, identity, gender, and the quiet (and not-so-quiet) struggles of everyday life, including the complexities of office culture and corruption.
Session Details
This will be a one-hour online meeting held on Zoom.
Date and Time: Sunday, August 17, 2025 at 12:00 PM EST
Led by: Dr. Kusum Knapczyk
Language: Hindi (with English support if needed)
Registration Deadline: Please sign up by August 15, 2025 at 12:00 PM EST to receive the Zoom link.
About the Writer
Pratyaksha is a leading voice in contemporary Hindi literature. Her work spans short stories, novels, and essays, and is known for its poetic language, psychological insight, and emotional honesty. She often writes about memory, gender, tribal life, and the inner lives of women navigating complex social realities.
She has received several prestigious literary awards, including:
- हंस कथा सम्मान
- पहल सम्मान
- कथाक्रम सम्मान
- अन्तर्राष्ट्रीय इन्दु शर्मा कथा सम्मान
- राजस्थान पत्रिका का जनकवि सम्मान
- इंडो-नॉर्वेजियन सम्मान
- सोनभद्र कथा सम्मान
- कृष्ण बलदेव वैद फेलोशिप
- संगम हाउस राइटर इन रेजीडेंसी
- वनमाली विशिष्ट कथा सम्मान
Suggested Readings for August
We encourage you to read the following stories before the session. These are available online and offer a beautiful entry point into Pratyaksha’s world:
From NYU Virtual Hindi (retrieved July 10, 2025):
- जंगल का जादू तिल तिल (three-part story with audio)
https://wp.nyu.edu/virtualhindi/pratyaksha2/ - दिलनवाज़ तुम बहुत अच्छी हो !
https://wp.nyu.edu/virtualhindi/pratyaksha2/ - पार उतरना धीरे से
https://wp.nyu.edu/virtualhindi/pratyaksha2/
From Samalochan (retrieved July 10, 2025):
- बारिश के देवता (Hans Samman-winning story)
https://samalochan.com/बारिश-के-देवता-2/
From Hindi Samay (retrieved July 10, 2025):
- फूलपुर की फुलवरिया मिसराइन
https://www.hindisamay.com/content/5758/1/प्रत्यक्षा-कहानियाँ-फूलपुर-की-फुलवरिया-मिसराइन.cspx - चलो जी किस्सा मुख़्तसर
https://www.hindisamay.com/content/269/1/प्रत्यक्षा-कहानियाँ-चलो-जी-किस्सा-मुख़्तसर.cspx
Session Flow
- Welcome and opening remarks (5 minutes)
- Introduction to Pratyaksha’s life and work (5 minutes)
- A short reading by one of the participants (10 minutes)
- Group discussion (30 minutes)
- Themes, characters, language, symbolism
- Reflections and Q&A (10 minutes)
- Closing and preview of our next featured author: Mamta Kalia (5 minutes)
SALTA 