Click here for the official Delhi Noir book page.
Click here to see more titles in the Akashic Noir Series.
Launched by the summer '04 award-winning, best-seller Brooklyn Noir, Akashic Books continues its groundbreaking series of original noir anthologies. Each book is comprised of all-new stories, each one set in a distinct neighborhood or location within the respective city.
"For those whose view of India is shaped by The Jewel in the Crown, conversations with a call-in center or even Slumdog Millionaire, this anthology in Akashic's noir series will register simultaneously as a shock, an education and entertainment. All 14 stories are briskly paced, beautifully written and populated by vivid, original characters . . . Few books can alter one's perception about the state of a society, but this does, while delivering noir that's first class in any light."
--Publishers Weekly (*starred* review)
"Star of the show is the city itself, and this is where Delhi Noir really succeeds as a work of art. The city is undead, an aggressive and relentless giant lumbering defiant towards a choice of hells, a festering beast playing host to pockets of messy life and easy violence."
--Wasafiri Magazine, August 27, 2010
The legendary city of Delhi, India, provides fertile ground for stories of darkness and despair.
Brand-new stories by: Irwin Allan Sealy, Omair Ahmad, Radhika Jha, Ruchir Joshi, Nalinaksha Bhattacharya, Meera Nair, Siddharth Chowdhury, Mohan Sikka, Palash K. Mehrotra, Hartosh Singh Bal, Hirsh Sawhney, Tabish Khair, Uday Prakash, and Manjula Padmanabhan.
The eyes of the world are gazing at India--the world's largest democracy. But the books you read about this Asian giant only show part of the picture. Delhi Noir offers bone-chilling, mesmerizing takes on the country's chaotic capital, a city where opulence and poverty are constantly clashing, where old-world values and the information age wage a constant battle.
Delhi Noir's fifteen original stories are written by the best Indian writers alive today--the ones you haven't yet heard of but should have. They are veteran authors who have appeared on the Booker Prize short list and budding geniuses who your grandchildren will read about in English class. Delhi Noir is a world of sex in parks, male prostitution, and vigilante rickshaw drivers. It is one plagued by religious riots, soulless corporate dons, and murderous servants. This is India uncut, the one you're missing out on because mainstream publishing houses and glossy magazines can't stomach it.
Hirsh Sawhney has written for the Times Literary Supplement, the Guardian, Time Out New York, Outlook, and the Indian Express. He splits his time between Delhi and Brooklyn.
Delhi Noir
