Social media, luck and a delicately crafted email
Social media, luck and a delicately crafted email
Reviewing a cultural-fiction book for Atta Galatta - Bangalore Literature Festival Book Prize
Hi reader!
Atta Galatta, a bookstore in Bangalore, announces Book Awards by Indian authors in various categories (known as AG-BLF Book Prizes) in association with the Bangalore Literature Festival and they published my first book review yesterday. It was an exciting project to undertake, given that it was new to me and I had to read the book in question much more analytically.
A friend of mine asked me how I landed this opportunity and I told her it was a combination of social media, luck and a delicately crafted email.
Hello!
I am Ragha Abhinaya M, a 21-year old writer-by-early-morning, reader-all-day, living in Bangalore. I just graduated with a B-Tech from IIT Kanpur and I’m pursuing my ever-present passion of writing alongside my corporate day-job through my Substack newsletter, “Naya”. I like to describe it as being all about navigating the newness of the world as a twenty-something, hyper-sensitive person.
To me, the creative process is drenched in wonderment and I try to constantly realise it through writing, making art, dancing and of course, reading.
My favourite genre to read is contemporary fiction and about writing, I’m attaching my work here for your reference. I would love to take part in the process of reviewing the AG-BLF Book Prize entries so I can discover “naya” literature, get associated with the AG family and hone my own skills. After all, in the words of Cormac McCarthy, “books are made out of books”.
I had fun thinking and crafting this email!
Hope you have a good one today,
Abhinaya
They sent me a wonderful cultural fiction novel, ‘Breaking Free’ written by Vaasanthi and translated from the Tamil language into English by N. Kalyan Raman. This was one of the few translated books I read and helped me understand the nuances of the intricate process of translating. Furthermore, it touched upon important social crises in the history of the country I live in. I devoured it - on flights, in a friend’s room and during precious reading time in between work sessions. Do try to check this out, and, yes, thank me later.
Book: Breaking Free - A Novel
Author: Vaasanthi
Translator: N. Kalyan Raman
My rating: ★★★★☆
My full review on BookSmart: Breaking free - a Novel
Note from Naya
I received many wishes for my birthday from friends and family. I wanted to give a small-newsletter-size shoutout to them all. Thank you! I feel blessed.
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