Zertab Quaderi

A tribute to the written word

'A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies'

2d ago

An exploration of the history and panoply of Indian Subcontinental cuisine

Review of ‘Forgotten Foods: Memories and Recipes from Muslim South Asia’ (Picador India, 2023) edited by Siobhan Lambert-Hurley, Tarana Husain Khan, and Claire Chambers

6m ago

Time-travelling through London and Tehran

The London Bookshop Affair and The Stationery Shop of Tehran are veritable time-travel portals. They offer a deep look at the political mishaps of the times

7m ago

'Prophet Song': Full of sound, fury, and significance

The 309-page-long dystopian novel is an oppressive account of Eilish who tries to keep her family from falling apart as everything around her crumbles.

8m ago

When fiction and nonfiction create a literary supernova

When a book mentions one of my favourite authors, W. Somerset Maugham, and the short description suggests betrayal, intrigue, secret affairs, political uprisings, failed marriages, and a whodunnit, there’s little I can do but take it.

9m ago

Rising from the ashes

The literary world was shaken on August 12, 2022, when the news of Salman Rushdie being stabbed on stage in upstate New York started to pour in. Ironically, he was all set to talk about his involvement in a project to create a refuge in the USA for those writers who are not safe in their country.

10m ago

Should this lost novel have been found?

Articles on Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s last novel to be published by his sons against the author’s wishes built up my anticipation and I couldn’t wait for April to arrive. Thanks to Bookworm, I got my copy the moment they had it in store and I read it twice. It didn’t impress me the first time as it was just a string of chapters describing how a promiscuous woman drove herself into the arms of different men on her annual August 16 visits to a Caribbean island.

11m ago

Of Ramzans past

Thirty-odd years later, in my two-member home, I try to recreate the Ramzan vibes with overpriced and undersized lamps and lanterns sporting star and crescent motifs

1y ago
January 19, 2024
January 19, 2024

Friday flavours and feels

There were always some guests who would drop by on Friday mornings and in those days, there were no pre-visit calls to check if it would be alright to drop by.

December 5, 2023
December 5, 2023

Love, loss, and hope in Tehran

Overnight, the saffron summer afternoons and evenings of dreamy stargazing tumble into a tale of grief, guilt, and pain.

  •