Space for short stories not shrinking

It is a great time for translated works in India. After Tomb of Sand by writer-translator duo Geetanjali Shree and Daisy Rockwell won the International Booker Prize in 2022, it was the turn of the Kannada writer Banu Mushtaq's Heart Lamp to win the prize in 2025. Deepa Bhasthi translated into English Mushtaq's collection of 12 short stories she wrote in Kannada between 1990 and 2023.

- A.J. Thomas, writer and translator BY SHUBHANGI SHAH

And it is a good time for Indian short stories, too. Proof of that is 100 Indian Stories: A Feast of Remarkable Short Fiction from the 19th, 20th, and 21st Centuries, edited by A.J. Thomas.

From master storyteller Rabindranath Tagore's 'Kabuliwala' and the celebrated Odia writer Fakir Mohan Senapati's poignant 'Rebati' to Satyajit Ray's 'Two Magicians' and Ismat Chughtai's 'Of Fists and Rubs,' it is an ambitious collection. The regional representational is impressive, and even a foreign language finds space—Portuguese—which casts light on the several layers of the intersection between culture, society and colonialism.

In an interview, Thomas, who has also translated four of the six Malayalam short stories in the collection, talks about the idea behind the collection, the theme he followed and the space for Indian short stories. Excerpts:

Q/ What was the idea behind curating such a diverse selection? How did you go about choosing the authors and stories?

A/ The idea was, firstly, to bring together, in a single volume, the best short stories of our national literature of the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries. Then there was the desire to showcase the beauty and strength of this unique genre in English translation, which, of late, was under the threat of being sidelined in mainstream publishing, much like English poetry and unlike long-form fiction which was being promoted the world over through massive advances, big-money prizes and awards.

Regarding the choices, it was among the best of the very best. Many people asked me, 'Why no Upendranath Ashk from Hindi, why no Amrita Pritam from Punjabi?’ To them, I would say, they are in no way any less than the other writers. But the compulsions, primarily of space and representational requirements, influenced the choices.

Q/ Was there a particular theme or themes you were aiming to highlight throughout the collection?