Title: For Now, It is Night
Author: Hari Krishna Kaul
Translated by: Kalpana Raina, Tanveer Ajsi, Gowhar Fazili & Gowhar Yaqoob
Publisher: Harper Collins
Releasing Date: 24 September 2023
ABOUT THE BOOK
Hari Krishna Kaul, one of the very best modern Kashmiri writers, published most of his work between 1972 and 2000. His short stories, shaped by the social crisis and political instability in Kashmir, explore – with an impressive eye for detail, biting wit, and deep empathy – themes of isolation, individual and collective alienation, corruption, and the social mores of a community that experienced a loss of homeland, culture, and language.
In these pages, we will find: friends stuck forever in the same class at school while the world changes around them; travelers forced to seek shelter in a battered, windy hostel after a landslide; parents struggling to deal with displacement as they move away from Kashmir with their children, or loneliness as their children leave in search of better prospects; the cabin fever of living through a curfew…
Brilliantly translated in a unique collaborative project, For Now, It Is Night brings a comprehensive selection of Kaul’s stories to English readers for the very first time.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Hari Krishna Kaul (1934–2009) was born in Kashmir and lived there for most of his life. He taught Hindi literature in various colleges of the University of Kashmir until he was forced to leave in 1990. Kaul started his literary career writing short stories in Urdu and Hindi but switched to writing in Kashmiri in the mid- 1960s. His first collection of short stories in Kashmiri, Pata Laraan Parbat, was published in 1972 and immediately established him as a major writer. Three other collections of short stories and numerous television and radio plays followed, cementing his position as an important figure in the modern literary landscape of Kashmir. His only novel, Vyath Vyatha, was published in 2005. He was the recipient of many awards including the Sahitya Akademi Award for Kashmiri fiction in 2000.
ABOUT THE TRANSLATORS
Kalpana Raina was born in Kashmir and lives in New York. She is a senior executive, board director and adviser with over thirty years of experience in both corporate and not-for-profit sectors. This is her first work of translation.
Tanveer Ajsi is an independent art historian and cultural theorist. He has written extensively on theatre, performing arts, visual arts and literature, besides translating and directing plays, and curating and conceptualizing exhibitions.
Gowhar Fazili teaches political science and sociology. His writing has appeared in various journals and edited volumes, and a monograph based on his doctoral thesis is slated to be published soon.
Gowhar Yaqoob is an independent research scholar based out of Srinagar. Her research practice focuses on the medieval and modern history of literature with special focus on Kashmir.