Manasi Subramaniam
@sorcerical
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Editor-in-Chief and Vice-President of the imprints Hamish Hamilton, Allen Lane, Viking, Penguin and Penguin Classics @PenguinIndia. Tweets own, etc.
Joined November 2014
What an extraordinary thing to be able to share with the world: In September 2025, we publish Arundhati Roy's first work of memoir, Mother Mary Comes to Me.
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Very excited to see Notes of a Dream: The Authorized Biography of @arrahman by @krishna_trilok on the @crossword_book Popular Choice Awards shortlist in the biography category (alongside so many other wonderful @PenguinIndia titles across categories)!
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And there's this: a double win for South Asia at @TheBookerPrizes this year; a small step for the subcontinent, a giant leap for literature.
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‘Language is courage: the ability to conceive a thought, to speak it, and by doing so to make it true.’ . At long last. @SalmanRushdie’s The Satanic Verses is allowed to be sold in India after a 36-year ban. Here it is at Bahrisons Bookstore in New Delhi. 📸: @Bahrisons_books
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Cover reveal: In September 2025, Mother Mary comes to us all. In this iconic photo by Carlo Buldrini, a young Arundhati Roy blows wisps of smoke into a future she can't yet imagine. She's daring us to look away, but we won't. The perfect cover for a book that refuses to flinch.
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Twenty years after Full House, and the best thing on television is STILL John Stamos with a baby. @Grandfathered
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It's Harry Potter's 39th birthday, and I just want to remind you all that he's such a nerd that every time he put on his invisibility cloak he literally went to the LIBRARY. <3.
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Delighted that @krishna_trilok's book, Notes of a Dream: The Authorized Biography of @arrahman, has won the @crossword_book award in the popular choice category for biography!
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Manu's too modest to say it, so I will: He's outdone himself. His most ambitious work, this book fills a crucial gap, tackling great complexity with remarkable clarity and a light touch. It's nuanced scholarship that reads effortlessly. I can't wait for the world to read it.
Good morning. Happy to announce my new book. Will release in a few weeks with Allen Lane @PenguinIndia. More details here:
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So impressed with the Delhi metro. A woman in my compartment fainted today, and the level of efficiency that kicked in to report it, get her medical assistance, a wheelchair, contact with family - without actually disrupting the service - was simply extraordinary. (She's okay.).
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Today's bibliophile update from the Delhi metro. Two girls are reading The Ministry of Utmost Happiness. They don't seem to know each other, and are standing a few feet apart. But they keep looking up at each other, exchanging knowing smiles, in a silent, intimate new friendship.
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A Faint Smell of Meat by Sukirtharani, translated from the Tamil by Lakshmi Holmstrom, recently dropped from Delhi University's literature syllabus, only to be replaced by the faint smell of fascism.
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My mother's amazing team packing food for flood victims. Ten thousand delivered and counting!
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'How can I not love peace when I've lost so much to war?' - Gurmehar Kaur at the Times litfest preview in Calcutta.
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The Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library—this gorgeous, architecturally stunning literary archive is one of the largest buildings in the world dedicated to rare books and manuscripts.
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She's young, she's restless and she has no intention of being silenced. My rebel girl is back next year with her second book: The Young and the Restless!
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On @TEDTalks, watch @mehartweets, author of the forthcoming book Small Acts of Freedom from @PenguinIndia, introduced by @iamsrk. 'Today, I want to tell you all that we all possess a superpower. Our words.'
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I can't believe it's been a full twenty years since she was just a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking him to love her.
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First copy just in! Fearless Freedom is Kavita Krishnan's blazing, fiery feminist manifesto, which clearly locates the personal and political repercussions of erasing women from public spaces, arguing that many real threats to female autonomy are, in fact, hidden in plain sight.
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Pretty proud of my 2018 list (and can't wait to show you what's coming up in 2019), so please buy yourself a copy of each? Happy new year!
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'@iamsrk has praised student-turned-activist @mehartweets for showing courage and talking about her fears through the TV show TED Talks India Nayi Soch.' @PenguinIndia
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In April, I get to publish these four beauties. My cup runneth over.
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2020 has been horrid, but I did get to work on and publish some incredible books, and they helped me get through some of the absurdities and wretchedness of this past year. This was my year in fiction and nonfiction respectively. I hope you're reading terrific books!
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In the middle of lockdown, my brilliant colleague @ParagChitale bought test tubes and individually filled them with ingredients suggested by @krishashok to stage a home photoshoot for this extraordinary, minimalist cover design for Masala Lab, out from @PenguinIndia in December!
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Briefly emerging from Twitter hiatus to say just this: Victory City by @SalmanRushdie is a truly magnificent thing, the sort of novel that reminds you, through its sheer entertaining prowess, that before he was a political symbol he was a storyteller. Cover art of Indian edition:
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Is there any way for me to send the Hon'ble Justice Hari Shankar these two books?
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Beyond thrilled to share that @mohammedhanif's next novel, Rebel English Academy, will be out next year, and it's a banger. Unflinching and hilarious, it showcases his unparalleled ability to find humour in the darkest corners of history.
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It’s fifty years of Bangladesh today, and I’m so thrilled to share the gorgeous cover of this Bangladeshi classic, a stunning work of magic realism: Khwabnama by Akhtaruzzaman Elias, translated from the Bengali by @arunava. Out in July! 🇧🇩
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Two Sri Lankan @TheBookerPrizes nominees two years in a row, vastly different in nearly every way, united by their ingenuity and brilliance. What a privilege it's been to publish both, what a meaningful thing it is to have such powerful fiction out of Sri Lanka in this moment.
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Out in 2025: Nearly 20 years after The Inheritance of Loss, Kiran Desai returns with a dazzling new novel, The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny, and we are so proud to bring it home. 📸: M. Sharkey.Details:
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Finally watched the Game of Thrones finale. Looks like the exit polls were wrong as usual.
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Anuk Arudpragasam is one of the subcontinent's most assured voices, and his new book A Passage North is a triumph. Every word has stayed with me from the moment I read the manuscript, and I feel so lucky to be able to share this exquisite masterpiece with the world. Out 13 July.
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It might be a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife, but Marimuthu's path to marriage is strewn with obstacles. Perumal Murugan’s Resolve, translated from the Tamil by Aniruddhan Vasudevan, is out next month.
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We @PenguinIndia are delighted to announce that we will be publishing the first and only authorized biography of @arrahman (Notes of a Dream by Krishna Trilok) in August!
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Out next month: written through Dr Teltumbde's own incarceration by an establishment that fails to understand just how the fight for justice endures, this book is a powerful—and peaceful—reminder of Dr Ambedkar's radical and iconoclastic vision for a free country.
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If this lockdown really does end on 3 May . May the fourth be with you. (Sorry.).
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Perumal Murugan’s first novel Yeru Veyil which in 1991 launched a splendid if tumultuous literary career is a tour de force. Now translated into English by Janani Kannan, it serves as a much-needed reminder of the human cost of relentless urbanization. In bookstores from 6 July!
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'An outstanding book on a very important issue,' says @ShashiTharoor about The Great Smog of India by @siddharth3.
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Editing has it’s own joy. (If you spotted the error in that sentence, maybe this is for you?).
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Out (and Proud!) in June: I Am Onir, and I Am Gay by @IamOnir with Irene Dhar Malik is a raw, eloquent and inspiring memoir, a book that—like his films—breaks new ground.
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I am ridiculously excited about this acquisition announcement. I could not be more pleased that the brilliant, beautiful @priyankachopra has signed on with @PenguinIndia for her debut work of nonfiction: Unfinished.
We are thrilled to announce that we will be publishing @priyankachopra's #Unfinished in 2019! #PenguinAcquires #MajorAcquisition #PriyankaChopra. Get to know all the details here: .
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'If you can get chocolates, should you not be able to get books too? The question by a Kerala bureaucrat gains significance amid the ongoing tussle between the Centre and the state on what goods and services should be exempt from the lockdown.'
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Small acts beget big revolutions. This book is coming to you in January! Preorder here:
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August as Women in Translation month was conceived by @Read_WIT in 2013 as a global reading project to address the gender disparity in the literature that gets translated into English. Here are four books written by women, translated by women, about women to get you started.
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Oh, be still my beating heart. Perumal Murugan's extraordinary book Pyre, translated from the Tamil by Aniruddhan Vasudevan, and possibly his most savage work, has just been longlisted for the 2023 @TheBookerPrizes!.
We are delighted to announce the #InternationalBooker2023 longlist. Congratulations to all the authors and translators. Find out more about each of the books here:
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So proud of @mehartweets, one of @TIME's Next Generation Leaders for 2017! @PenguinIndia publishes her in January!
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First published in Hindi in 1998, Our City That Year defies easy categorization—a time capsule, a warning siren, a desperate plea. Shree's shimmering prose in Rockwell's nuanced translation is a fever dream mirroring the disjointed reality of a city under siege. Out next month.
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'Kaur writes about her father and the circles of solidarity that have held her together in the absence of a father figure in her life.' On @IndianExpress, a review of @mehartweets's book from @PenguinIndia.
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In 1906, Britain's grip on the world was unassailable. Its navy ruled the seas, its trade empire spanned the globe. But in the small port town of Tuticorin, a lawyer had a revolutionary idea that would challenge the might of the empire itself. Out this month from @ARV_Chalapathy.
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From @SachinPilot to @OmarAbdullah, from @Shehla_Rashid to @AUThackeray, from @jigneshmevani80 to @Sowmyareddyr, from @raghav_chadha to @Madhukeshwar - @mehartweets speaks to @TheQuint about who she chose to profile in The Young and the Restless, and why.
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SHEHAN. SHEHAN KARUNATILAKA JUST WON THE @TheBookerPrizes FOR THE SEVEN MOONS OF MAALI ALMEIDA! The brilliant @SortofBooks lot have Facetimed me into the announcement across continents and I bet they can hear my scream across the oceans!
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Paro by Namita Gokhale is not just a novel; it’s a cultural touchstone. Originally published 40 years ago, it went on to become a cult classic. So our ruby anniversary edition is, of course, to let it claim its status by reissuing it as a Penguin Modern Classic.
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And it's publication day in India for Languages of Truth by @SalmanRushdie! Gathering pieces written between 2003 and 2020 (essays, criticism, speeches + more), including several never previously in print, it is a collection that chronicles a period of momentous cultural shifts.
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On Father's Day, read a book a daughter wrote for her father.
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August is Women in Translation Month, and here are two stunning novels by women, translated by women (from Tamil and Malayalam respectively into English). Please do read them.
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Fire Bird by Perumal Murugan, translated by Janani Kannan, wins @TheJCBPrize—it both celebrates their literary brilliance and underscores the significance of narratives of migration and displacement. (His Tamil publisher Kannan Sundaram and I collected the award on their behalf.)
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'@mehartweets doesn’t care if you think she’s anti-national. Now, Kaur is out with her debut, Small Acts of Freedom (@PenguinIndia), an account of her eventful last year, and the personal family history that brought her to that moment.'
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This Saturday, @arunmsukumar will speak to @iamsrk about the future of man-machine interaction. Don't miss it. (You can also preorder his brilliant book Midnight's Machines: A Political History of Technology in India here: )
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The brilliant, wonderful and heartbreaking novel The City and the Sea by @rajkamaljha wins the Book of the Year (Fiction) award at the @tatalitlive awards!
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Please stay home and get your Holi colours from books. (And read more women.)
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Happy birthday to the wonderful and brilliant @mehartweets, who's shown the world the power of small acts and a big heart.
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This is absolutely and without exaggeration one of the cleverest, most thought-provoking and genre-defying books I have ever read. Its intense, voracious curiosity and intelligence made me ponder each sentence several times over. Translated from the Spanish by Adrian Nathan West.
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I can only speak for myself, but one thing that has helped me disengage from the fast news cycle is the slow reading cycle. We seem to be built for the long term, not the short term. Our shelf life seems to extend beyond immediate trends, beyond an ever-shifting zeitgeist.
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And the @sahityaakademi Yuva Puraskar Award 2021 for the English language has been awarded to the searing novel A Burning by @MeghaMaj!
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Irwin Allan Sealy's latest novel Asoca is out on 12 July—and it's pure dynamite! Epic in scope, Shakespearean in drama, imaginative in historical reconstruction, and incredibly alive with Sealy's trademark whimsy, here is Emperor Ashoka as you've never seen him before.
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I now have a separate notebook for jotting down what people on the Delhi metro are reading every day. Today, there's one Tolstoy (War and Peace) and one Wodehouse (with a title I cannot see). Both women.
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'Netflix is pioneering a genre I’ve come to think of as ambient television [. ] Ambient denotes something that you don’t have to pay attention to in order to enjoy but which is still seductive enough to be compelling if you choose to do so momentarily.'
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.@avalaina: ‘You can shut your eyes for a few minutes to avoid what I’m showing you. The people of Ukraine cannot.’
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My @airvistara flight just announced that e-readers are permitted on the flight as long as they are 'no larger than a small paperback'. Should I walk into the cockpit to discuss folio sizes and figure out what kinds of paperbacks they mean?.
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I need you to stop doing whatever you're doing and do this instead. Go to Google. Type 'Ross Geller' into your search box and hit enter. Click on the couch to the side of his name with your volume turned up. Do this four times. You're welcome.
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In 1666, an apple from this tree supposedly fell on Isaac Newton . and you know the rest. 🍎 (This tree is a grafted descendant of the original one at the home of Newton's mother in Woolsthorpe.)
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Truly fantastic news! Midnight’s Machines: A Political History of Technology in India by @arunmsukumar wins the Ramnath Goenka award for nonfiction!
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August is Women in Translation month. As we near the end, allow me to show off Gunjan Ahlawat's stunning cover design for Women, Dreaming by @salma_poet, translated exquisitely from the Tamil [Maanamiyaangal] by @meenakandasamy. Out soon from @PenguinIndia and @TiltedAxisPress!
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Based on the blood-curdling murder of a Dalit boy by Rajput landlords in Kodaram village in 1964, Vultures is a devastating novel, originally written in Gujarati by Dalpat Chauhan, translated deftly by Hemang Ashwinkumar. Out on 18 April.
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A centre display commemorating one hundred years of the Russian Revolution at the Seagull Bookstore, Calcutta.
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I really want to bring your attention to Harshad Marathe's jacket art for Rising Heat by Perumal Murugan. I know I did a double take when I saw it - the pure harmony, the stylized perspective, the depth and distance, all in a palette that pops. It's nearly an optical illusion.
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If I left my fitbit at home and went for a run, did I even really go for a run?.
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