Prayaag Akbar is the author of the novel Leila (2017), winner of the Crossword Jury Prize and the Tata Literature First Book Award. The book was translated into Hindi, Marathi and Turkish and was used as the basis of a Netflix show. Prayaag teaches creative writing at Krea University. He lives in Goa with his wife and son.“
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 17.1pt; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";color:#333333;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in;padding:0in">FROM THE AUTHOR OF THE AWARD-WINNING</span></strong><em style="outline: 0px;"><b><span style="font-size:10.5pt; font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#333333;border:none windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt:none windowtext 0in;padding:0in"> LEILA</span></b></em><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#333333"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 17.1pt; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; vertical-align: baseline; outline: 0px;"><strong style="outline: 0px;"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#333333; border:none windowtext 1.0pt;mso-border-alt:none windowtext 0in;padding:0in">‘Powerful’ – Vivek Shanbhag</span></strong><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; color:#333333"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 17.1pt; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; vertical-align: baseline; outline: 0px;"><strong style="outline: 0px;"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#333333; border:none windowtext 1.0pt;mso-border-alt:none windowtext 0in;padding:0in">‘Brilliant’ – Avni Doshi</span></strong><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; color:#333333"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 17.1pt; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; vertical-align: baseline; outline: 0px;"><em style="outline: 0px;"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#333333; border:none windowtext 1.0pt;mso-border-alt:none windowtext 0in;padding:0in">Mother India</span></em><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; color:#333333"> is the story of two young people living in contemporary Delhi. Plodding away to make a decent living despite a middling education, Mayank is employed in a right-wing content creator’s dingy basement studio. Nisha, recently moved to the city from her small town in the hills, works as a salesgirl for expensive Japanese chocolate in an upscale mall.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 4.3pt 0in; line-height: 17.1pt; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; vertical-align: baseline; outline: 0px;"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; color:#333333">When Mayank discovers Nisha beaming off her Instagram like a beacon, he is smitten, and the video clip he devises for his studio ends up having significant consequences for them both.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p> </p><p style="margin: 4.3pt 0in; line-height: 17.1pt; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; vertical-align: baseline; outline: 0px;"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; color:#333333">Sparkling and unexpected, Prayaag Akbar’s new novel brilliantly captures what it means to be young and alive in today’s India.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
