Pride Month: Why you need to check out these 5 new titles from LGBTQiA+ writers

1 The Sea Elephants by Shastri AkellaSet in 1980s and rsquo90s India Akellarsquos debut novel is concerned with ideas of rejection grief and reclamation Dealing with a complicated relationship with his parents and having lost his twin sisters Mud and Milk the protagonist Shagun Mathur decides to enrol himself in an allboysrsquo school Although his grades are remarkable he struggles to make friends until he finds intimacy in a travelling theatre troupe and an American photographer named Marc Throughout the novel Akella attempts to bring forth Hindu myths composed of queer and trans characters like Chitrangada who have been erased from several translations2 The Broken Rainbow by Ruth VanitaRuth Vanita and Saleem Kidwairsquos compilation Same Sex Love in India is a seminal study of the history of samesex love and an inquiry into the history of desire in Indian literature The Broken Rainbow is Vanitarsquos exploration of similar themes through her poems that come from a private space of love as well as advocacy In a villanelle she comments ldquoYou can take the lesbian out of IndiaStrike matching letters tally up the resthellip The lesbian is still writing verse in Indiardquo In another poem she writes about woke moments of shared silence ldquoI cannot makethe world a smaller place or bringthe moon closer to comfort herrdquo3 The Yellow Sparrow Memoir of a Transgender by Santa KhuraiOriginally written in Manipuri Khurairsquos memoir places her among the most important transgender voices of Manipur From being born male and mocked at school for her femininity to facing loneliness after being abandoned by her family Khurai has had to wrestle with ldquodisappointment despair lies mockery disrespectrdquo she admits in her work The book traces her journey as she searches for hope She comments on gender politics and attempts to analyse gender neutrality of the Manipuri language The book is for anyone who has felt alienated from their surroundings and the norms that have continued to exist 4 Homeless Growing Up Lesbian and Dyslexic in India by K VaishaliAfter coming out to her mother and getting lsquodisownedrsquo by her the author travels from Mumbai to Hyderabad to pursue a postgraduate programme She writes about living in hostels and unfair treatment towards women who were thrown out for their ldquohomosexual tendenciesrdquo She taps into the intersections of her identity reflecting on sexuality neurodivergence caste and disability By homeless therefore she means lsquoone without homersquo in more ways than one Using a style that is akin to a diaristrsquos Vaishali book is refreshing and easy to read5 The Remains of the Body by Saikat MajumdarMajumdarrsquos work challenges normative desire and opens space to understand sexuality in its amorphousness His new novella delves into the lives of three Indian friends Avik Sunetra and Kaustav living in North America caught within the moulds of heterosexuality But what happens to their hidden desires Where do they reside and what thresholds do they cross especially when it comes to questions of marriage and childhood friendship Like much else written by Majumdar this text deserves to be read especially for its ability to reach unexpected and unimaginable placesAVAILABLE Leading bookstores and estoresBonus Reading Listgtgt Over the Rainbow by Aditya Tiwarigtgt Footprints of a Queer History Life Stories from Gujarat by Maya Sharmagtgt Entering the Maze Queer Fiction of Krishnagopal Mallick translated by Niladri Chatterjeegtgt The Many Colours of Anshu by Anshumaan Sathegtgt Mahmud and Ayaz by R Raj Raogtgt From Manjunath to Manjamma by Manjamma Jogathi