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On 17 August 1947, the kingdom of Thiruvithamkoor declares itself a free nation, refusing to join India. In the years that follow, it becomes a republic of coups, betrayals and revolutions - chronicled by a shadowy informant known as the CID.Through his eyes, S. Hareesh reimagines Kerala''s history as an alternate world where the lines between fact and fiction, faith and power, sanity and madness blur beyond recognition. At once speculative history and sly metafiction, August 17 explores how nations are built - and undone - by the stories they choose to believe.

For poetry lovers, Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib (1797-1869) needs no introduction. His poetry remains both emblematic and enigmatic, and his name is indelibly associated with the ghazal. However, apart from some well-known verses, the larger public is unacquainted with his body of work. In The Essential Ghalib, veteran scholar, author translator Anisur Rahman presents an exemplary selection of Mirza Ghalib''s Urdu couplets, translated in English along with critical commentaries. Using colloquial and contemporary language, the translations provide an accessible and pleasurable route to understanding Ghalib''s poetry, while the commentary explores the multiple meanings of the Urdu original.