At the time of India's independence in 1947, only about 12% of the population was literate. Today that figure is over 80%. To satisfy this hungry population of one billion new readers, there's been an explosion of crime novels, horror writing, science fiction stories, kitschy romance, noir, and supernatural thrillers--in nearly every one of the country's 22 official languages. Blaft Publications, an independent publishing house from Chennai, has been hunting down the wildest & craziest of these stories and translating them into English for a local and global audience. Join editors Rakesh Khanna and Rashmi Ruth Devadasan for a discussion of Tamil-language detective duos, Urdu-language supervillains, and their latest release, The Blaft Anthology of Gujarati Pulp Fiction. There will also be a slideshow of incredibly wacky pulp cover art from all over the country!
Rashmi Ruth Devadasan is a writer with over twenty-five years of experience in indie publishing, feature films, and Indian English theatre. With Blaft she has been part of the selection, editing, design and production of the company's fiction in translation, comic book anthologies, original fiction, and zines. She is the author of Kumari Loves a Monster, a picture book created with the artist Shyam, and co-editor of The Blaft Book of Anti-Caste SF.
Rakesh Khanna grew up in Berkeley, California, of mixed Punjabi and Anglo-American heritage. He is the author of Ghosts, Monsters, and Demons of India, and the editor of The Blaft Anthology of Tamil Pulp Fiction, Vol. 1 and 2 and The Blaft Anthology of Gujarati Pulp Fiction. Sometimes he edits mathematics textbooks. He is also interested in marine invertebrates, palaeontology, demonology, combinatorics, and banging on things to see what they sound like.
Blaft Publications is an independent publishing house based in Chennai, India. Our list includes Indian, Pakistani, and Nigerian pulp novels in English translation; weird fiction; folktales; ghostlore; graphic novels; zines; speculative fiction by writers from caste-oppressed communities; and picture books about young women who are in love with monsters.