Anita Agnihotri : Selected Stories

Anita Agnihotri: Selected Stories brings together twelve short stories by Anita Agnihotri, the award-winning Bengali writer known for works including Seventeen, The Sickle and Mahanadi. The stories look closely at lives shaped by poverty, exploitation, displacement and difficult social circumstances, including workers, families and individuals whose experiences often remain overlooked. This English edition is translated by Arunava Sinha.

Drawing on Agnihotri's long engagement with people and communities during her career in the Indian Administrative Service, the collection presents stories rooted in close observation of life in India. Her characters encounter violence, inequality, displacement and abuse, while the writing combines social criticism with empathy and lyrical sensitivity.

About This Book

The twelve stories examine different forms of hardship and human vulnerability. One story follows a newly promoted superintendent of police whose experience of a subordinate's gruesome death leads him to develop a compulsive habit of washing his hands whenever he encounters blood or death. Another centres on a young girl working in a silk factory who repeatedly returns to its dangerous heat chamber despite the exploitation she faces.

Elsewhere, the displacement caused by the Sardar Sarovar Dam provides a parallel for a different kind of suffering. The wife of a Narmada Bachao Andolan activist appears outwardly principled and compassionate while privately experiencing the effects of his abuse and hypocrisy. Across these and other stories, Agnihotri examines the pressures placed on people by poverty, work, social structures and fractured relationships.

The collection reflects Agnihotri's approach to writing as an act of witnessing. Her experiences across towns and cities in India inform stories that pay attention to people whose lives can be difficult to see from the outside, while retaining tenderness alongside an unflinching examination of social realities.

What You'll Discover

• Twelve short stories portraying overlooked lives and difficult circumstances
• A police officer confronting the psychological aftermath of death
• The exploitation and dangerous working conditions of a young silk-factory worker
• The human consequences of displacement linked to the Sardar Sarovar Dam
• Family relationships affected by abuse, hypocrisy and personal suffering
• Stories exploring poverty, displacement, work and social inequality
• A balance of social critique, empathy and lyrical storytelling

Perfect For

• Readers of contemporary Indian short fiction
• Readers interested in Bengali literature in English translation
• Readers interested in social realities and overlooked communities in India
• Readers of Anita Agnihotri's translated works

Why You'll Love This Book

Anita Agnihotri: Selected Stories offers twelve closely observed stories that bring marginalised experiences, social hardship and complicated human relationships into focus. Through precise and empathetic storytelling, Anita Agnihotri transforms observed realities into fiction that asks readers to confront, understand and remember lives often left outside the centre of attention.