Explore our favourite short stories around themes of travel, love, loss, memory, fear, and death that will resonate with you no matter who you are or where you're from. 

Florida

From the acclaimed author of ‘Fates and Furies’, Lauren Groff’s award-winning ‘Florida’ is a collection of eleven gripping stories set in and around the landscape of Florida, with all its swamps, storms, and snakes. With a powerful sense of place and Groff’s beautifully distinct prose, ‘Florida’ examines the complexities of womanhood, loneliness, love, and loss.

Unclaimed Terrain

Translated from Hindi by Laura Brueck, Ajay Navaria’s ‘Unclaimed Terrain’ is a work of Dalit literature that features a bold collection of short stories that explore spaces of ambiguity: of identity, morality, and politics. Populated by complex characters who occupy an ambiguous space between good and evil, these stories explore the harsh reality of the violence the caste system inflicts.

Polymorphism

‘Polymorphism’ by Indira Chandreshakar, a Bangalore-based scientist, writer, and editor, offers a strange, mind-bending collection of short stories that explores the idea of transformation when it is forced upon us. It is a must-read for those who enjoy horror, science-fiction, and speculative fiction. 

Lake Like a Mirror

In ‘Lake Like a Mirror,’ Ho Sok Fong, a Malaysian author who writes in Chinese, tells the stories of women who live in modern-day Malaysia and struggle to fight against the oppression they face every day. In nine disturbing stories, translated by Natascha Bruce, Ho Sok Fong paints a brutally honest picture of women living in structures that trap them.

Preeto and Other Stories: The Male Gaze in Urdu

‘Preeto and Other Stories’, an anthology collected by Rakhshanda Jalil, explores how male writers in Urdu literature have viewed women. In the introduction, Jalil offers us context for the portrayal of women in these stories. There is a shifting lens through which the male writers portray these women—sometimes idealising them and their suffering, sometimes remaining unsympathetic. In a way, the stories serve as ‘time capsules’—a way to see the prevailing attitudes of the time they were written, as well as the individual quirks of each writer.

No Presents Please

In Jayant Kalkani’s ‘No Presents Please: Mumbai Stories’, translated from Kannada by Tejaswini Niranjana, we meet people from all corners of the city in sixteen stories. A glimpse of the history and culture of Mumbai, and an intimate and careful portrayal of its people, ‘No Presents Please’ captures the beating heart of a city.

Skinship

In Yoon Choi’s debut collection, ‘Skinship’, she tells us the stories of Korean American families scattered across the US. She writes of struggles unique to the immigrant experience, with delicate focus and exquisite prose. In exploring the clash between first and second generations, the weight of displacement, and the cracks in a relationship, these stories express a profound understanding of love, humanity, and intimacy. 

The Women Who Forgot To Invent Facebook and Other Stories

Nisha Susan’s debut collection of short stories is searing and whimsical, exploring the connections between people, and the intimacy and violence that make up their relationships. With a keen focus on technology and the transformation of the digital landscape, these stories explore the feelings of a modern generation in contemporary India.