22 December 2005
Dear All,
Seasons Greetings!

Zubaan announces the third publication in its Zubaan-Penguin series - a collection of short stories
These Hills Called Home: Stories form a War Zone by Temsula Ao.

(150pp Pb o Rs.195 o ISBN 81 89013 71 8 o All Rights Available.
Published in collaboration with Penguin Books India.)

More than half a century of bloodshed has marked the history of the Naga people who live in the troubled northeastern region of India. Their struggle for an independent Nagaland and their continuing search for identity provide the backdrop for the stories that make up this unusual collection.

Describing how ordinary people cope with violence, how they negotiate power and force, how they seek and find safe spaces and enjoyment in the midst of terror, the author details a way of life under threat from the forces of modernization and war. No one ­ the young, the old, the militant with his gun, the ordinary housewife, the willing partner, the young women who sings even as she is being raped ­ is left untouched by the violence.

Economical and unadorned, these stories bring alive the poignant and bewildering experiences of a people caught in a spiral of violence. In doing so, they speak movingly of home, country, nation, nationality, identity and direct the reader to the urgency of the issues that lie at their heart.

Temsula Ao has contributed a number of articles on oral tradition, folk songs, myths and cultural traditions of the Ao Nagas in various journals. She has published four collections of poetry and is the author of Ao-Naga Oral Tradition (2000). She is a Professor in the Department of English, North Eastern Hill University, Shillong and also Dean, School of Humanities and Education (NEHU).

For further enquiries, please contact:
Satish Sharma / Elsy
Zubaan,
An imprint of Kali for Women,
K-92, First Floor, Hauz Khas Enclave,
New Delhi ­ 110016 INDIA
Tel: +91-11-26521008, 26864497
Email: zubaanwbooks@vsnl.net and zubaan@gmail.com
Website: www.zubaanbooks.com and www.penguinbooksindia.com

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In other news, Mala Khullar (Ed.) Writing the Women’s Movement: A Reader was interviewed by Shruba Mukherjee in Deccan Herald http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/dec112005/editpage1723320051210.asp

We are still accepting/processing orders for the ZUBAAN Diary 2006. The Zubaan diary features posters from the Women’s Movement since the 1970s. Poster Women, is a Zubaan project that is a visual mapping of the women’s movement in India and will culminate in a travelling exhibition in 2006.

Finally, a link sent by Rada Ivekovic of her recent article "French Suburbia 2005: the return of the political unrecognised", http://www.mondialisations.org/php/public/art.php?id=21678&lan=EN

If any of you would like to share articles, website links, comments/announcements please write to: zubaanwbooks@vsnl.net and zubaan@gmail.com

Cheers,
JAYA BHATTACHARJI