Helter Skelter Magazine

05/12/2022

✨2014–2022✨

01/12/2022

Identity, volume 7 of the Helter Skelter Anthology of New Writing, is now available for sale through our website and at select bookstores. Tap the link below to get your copy ⬇️

Identity, vol. 7 of the Helter Skelter Anthology of New Writing, features original short fiction and poetry from India handpicked by Mridula Koshy and Sumana Roy.

26/09/2022

Three stories from ‘After Hours’, vol. 5 of the Helter Skelter Anthology of New Writing, have been showcased in an excellent new anthology from , featuring some of the best writing by millennial and Gen Z writers from India. Congratulations to ✨🥂

28/09/2021

We’re running through our final pre-flight checks for IDENTITY, vol. 7 of the Helter Skelter Anthology of New Writing. Coming to your bookshelves soon.

22/06/2021

For far longer than , India has had another highly infectious airborne disease to contend with, one that has seemingly been long-neglected. In a candid essay, Anika Eliz Baby writes about living with and healing from .

For much longer than COVID-19, India has had another airborne disease to contend with. It still affects large sections of the population, but it has seemingly been long-neglected.

17/06/2021

We're 11 years old! 🎉🥰🍷 A huge thank you to everyone who's been a part of our journey, and here's to many more years of Helter Skelter ❤❤❤

07/06/2021

Salma's 'Women, Dreaming' is a generational tale of women bound to each other by blood, marriage, and proximity. Read our review at helterskelter.in ➡

Salma's Women, Dreaming is a feminist text; a generational tale of women bound to each other by blood, marriage, and proximity.

05/05/2021

'The Anger of Saintly Men', the first work of fiction by award-winning author and filmmaker Anubha Yadav, calls out toxic masculinity within the Indian society and family through its nuanced and unafraid take on what it means to be a “man” in India. Read our review—

Anubha Yadav's debut novel calls out toxic masculinity within Indian family and society at large through its nuanced and unafraid take on what it means to be a “man” in India.

15/04/2021

'No Straight Thing Was Ever Made' is a collection of essays by Urvashi Bahuguna that is likely to be a source of comfort, awareness, and reassurance for anyone who has struggled with their own—or a loved one’s—mental illness. Click the link below to read our review.

This collection of essays by Urvashi Bahuguna is likely to be a source of comfort, awareness, and reassurance for anyone who has struggled with their own—or a loved one’s—mental illness.

10/03/2021

We are no longer accepting applications for the Helter Skelter Writing Residency in 2021.

Over the past few weeks, it's been wonderful watching applications pour in to our inbox from exceedingly talented writers across India. A big thank you to everyone who has applied for the residency: you will hear from us very soon, and we hope to meet you in Goa in a couple of months 🖋✨🏖

01/03/2021

We're beyond excited that our mentor for the Helter Skelter Writing Residency in 2021 is one of our favourite English-language authors, Janice Pariat.

Janice is the author of 'The Nine-Chambered Heart', 'Boats on Land', and 'Seahorse'. She was awarded the Young Writer Award from the Sahitya Akademi and the Crossword Book Award for Fiction in 2013. In 2014, she was the Charles Wallace Creative Writing Fellow at the University of Kent, U.K.

As the mentor for the week-long fiction-writing residency in Goa (23-30 May), Janice is looking forward to working with the eight writers who will be selected. Please send us your application if you haven't already done so: there's only 7 days to go. Details at helterskelter.in/residency2021 ➡️

(Photographs courtesy of Janice Pariat.)

12/02/2021

“I see Goa used by others as a location to tell stories, but there aren’t as many stories told about Goa.”
We spoke to Goan filmmaker Sonia Filinto about her documentary film 'Bread and Belonging', and of the connections between bread and migrants. Click the link below to read the full interview.

In conversation with filmmaker Sonia Filinto about her film Bread and Belonging, Goa’s perennially shifting demography, and of the intriguing connection between bread and migrants.

10/02/2021

The first Helter Skelter Writing Residency (23-30 May 2021) will focus on fiction-writing in English, and we’re hosting it in the the ageless village of Saligao in Bardez, Goa. Known for its people, food and the old tale of timid foxes, Saligao is acknowledged as one of Goa’s global villages and finds mention in works as far as Francis Newton Souza’s famed artwork ‘The Red Road’ to photographer and Saligao resident Dayanita Singh’s series of portraits titled ‘Ladies of Saligao’. The village also houses a beautiful mural of Eunice de Souza by Solomon Souza (photograph by Sudeepta Sanyal).

Spend a week in this beautiful part of Goa honing your craft and forming connections with other talented writers and artists. Apply for the residency now ➡️ https://helterskelter.in/residency2021

03/02/2021

Over the past decade or so, we have worked towards building a platform for original and outstanding new literature from India, most notably through the Helter Skelter Anthology of New Writing. After having published six volumes of new writing—with volume 7 coming very soon—we’re now taking our next big leap.

We're pleased to announce the Helter Skelter Writing Residency 2021! It is a project that is close to our hearts and has been in the works for a long time. We're excited at the form it's taken, and to be sharing this with you.

It is a week-long residential workshop in May 2021 that aims to support and educate writers across India, and we're hosting it at Bate Papo- House Cafe Boutique, a gorgeous boutique homestay in the charming and serene village of Saligao in Bardez, Goa. We're looking for eight special writers to be a part of the first edition of the residency, to be mentored by a singularly gifted and widely acclaimed author: Janice Pariat (Boats on Land, Seahorse, The Nine-Chambered Heart).

For details and to learn about how you can apply for the residency, head on over to https://helterskelter.in/residency2021 ➡️

30/01/2021

In Rohena Gera's ʼIs Love Enough? Sirʼ, the home, closed off from prying, judgemental eyes, is also, if momentarily, an empathetic space, allowing conversations and the forging of a connection that could not have developed or existed outside of it. Read our review of the film—

In Rohena Gera's Is Love Enough? Sir, the home, closed off from prying, judgemental eyes, is also an empathetic space, allowing conversations and the forging of a connection that could not have developed or existed outside of it.

21/12/2020

“People who are strict about heteronormative standards are probably afraid of their own capacity for being a little bit q***r.”

Click the link below to read our conversation with two-time Commonwealth Short Story Prize winner Anushka Jasraj about 'Principles of Prediction', her debut collection of short stories (Context / Westland Books).

In conversation with two-time Commonwealth Short Story Prize winner Anushka Jasraj about her stories and characters, surrealism, and her writing process.

30/11/2020

“Unable to be less in love with him, she has decided it is easier if she is also in love with someone else.”

Read an excerpt from ʼThe Triangleʼ, one of the stories from Nisha Susan's ʼThe Women Who Forgot to Invent Facebook and Other Storiesʼ: https://helterskelter.in/2020/11/the-triangle-nisha-susan/ ➡️

26/11/2020

"My fiction is not political communication. It’s art. I want readers to follow me in and out of rooms and worlds and meet all kinds of people as they go along."

Nisha Susan talks to us about her new book 'The Women Who Forgot to Invent Facebook and Other Stories' (Context / Westland Books).

In conversation with Nisha Susan about writing her new book The Women Who Forgot to Invent Facebook and Other Stories, romance, endings, flawed protagonists, and much more.

17/08/2020

“The light turned green and Annie discovered that keeping up with a man in possession of such powerful buttocks was not an easy task.”

Helter Skelter is a proud partner of the Desperate Literature Prize for Short Fiction. ‘A Pursuit’ is an evocative and quietly powerful story by Catherine Bisley that was one of the final shortlisted entries for the prize in 2020. Read it here: https://helterskelter.in/2020/08/a-pursuit-catherine-bisley/

15/08/2020

‪“If you grow up with a healthy understanding of consent, you often feel violated in situations everyone else considers normal.” Q***r brown women speak to us about attraction, sexuality, gender, and consent.

A few openly q***r women speak to us about how they view attraction, sexuality, gender, and consent.

09/07/2020

"The publishing standard internationally is white—anything else demands explanation, flattening exoticisation, italics. The anthology subverts this tradition, and in that regard it succeeds."

'The Brown Anthology: Language', the first release from artist-owned ૧૦:૧૦ Press, explores solidarities that are built on recognising that our roots and futures are tangled up in each other across disjunctions and continuities. Read our review—

The Brown Anthology: Language, the first release from artist-owned ૧૦:૧૦ Press, explores solidarities that are built on recognising that our roots and futures are tangled up in each other across disjunctions and continuities.

06/07/2020

Deepa Anappara's debut novel leaves you wondering whether mystical spirits and djinns are, after all, the only ones who can save the millions of neglected and downtrodden human lives in India. Read our review—

Deepa Anappara’s debut novel is vivid and deeply moving, plunging you into the distraught lives inhabiting a slum in a smog-heavy, unnamed Indian city.

30/06/2020

We cherish these warm and flowery emails from our readers around the country :)

You can order your own copy of Dissent, vol. 6 of the Helter Skelter Anthology of New Writing, at https://helterskelter.in/newwriting/vol6/

29/06/2020

A reflection on the myriad and plentiful greens of the listless city of Pune in an attempt to ward off the disparaging heat-fatigue of New Delhi.

25/06/2020

A coming-of-age tale, Sabin Iqbal’s debut novel 'The Cliffhangers' is a nuanced blend of the personal and the political, set against the dreamy backdrop of a picturesque coastal village in Kerala. Read our review—

A coming-of-age tale, Sabin Iqbal’s debut novel is a nuanced blend of the personal and the political, set against the dreamy backdrop of a picturesque coastal village in Kerala.

24/06/2020

We now have a brand new website ✨Our new website has been designed to improve readability across devices and make it easier for you to find and share your favourite Helter Skelter content. Give it a spin at helterskelter.in ➡️

12/06/2020

And so we have it. Volume 7 of the Helter Skelter Anthology of New Writing will have 22 new and original pieces of writing by 21 talented Indian authors around various aspects of Identity. A huge thanks to our vol. 7 judges Mridula Koshy and Sumana Roy for their skill and time and patience with the selection process.

We’re currently hard at work on producing the anthology. Watch this space for updates!

10/06/2020

Helter Skelter turns 10 years old today! 🥳 A huge thanks to all the readers, writers, illustrators, and other collaborators who have been on this wild ride with us so far. 10 years old, and there’s a lot more to look forward to ✨🍷

06/06/2020

'Stateless in India' is a documentary which examines the human cost of preparing the National Register of Citizens (N.R.C.) in Assam. We spoke to Sumithra Prasanna, the film’s director and producer, about her experiences of filming through Assam as the state grappled with the repercussions of the N.R.C., the 1.9 million people who have been rendered stateless by it, the dreadful conditions of the detention centres where several have been detained, and the face of a changing India where people are recognised by their religion rather than their humanity. Read the interview here—

In conversation with Sumithra Prasanna about her film Stateless in India, and her experiences of filming through Assam as the state grappled with the repercussions of the N.R.C.

02/06/2020

First-time director Achal Mishra's Maithili-language film 'Gamak Ghar' is pieced together from old photographs, people’s recollections of local ceremonies, books found in dusty trunks and diary entries about daily errands and grocery—tangible and intangible relics from and of an earlier time and place. Through the medium of film, these relics find their place in and help to create a new, varied and more permanent record of that past. Read our review here—

Achal Mishra’s Maithili-language film Gamak Ghar is pieced together from tangible and intangible relics from and of an earlier time and place.

02/03/2020

"One of the things I found in a lot of places was, if there was a riot, there would be a famine in the years that followed. No connection, absolutely no connection. But I just begin to see—maybe in my magical realism-steeped brain—some sort of divine vengeance, and then it was just easy to run with that thread."

We spoke to Varun Thomas Mathew about his debut novel 'The Black Dwarves of the Good Little Bay', the nostalgia of city life, and the relationship between magic realism and memory. Click the link below to read the full interview—

In conversation with Varun Thomas Mathew about his debut novel, the nostalgia of city life, and the relationship between magic realism and memory.

17/02/2020

“We have a tendency to blame everything on politicians. Especially in a democracy, we keep forgetting it’s of the people and by the people. There’s no point saying that a political party is like some alien that comes and magically injects venom. That doesn’t happen.”

We spoke to poet, playwright, and novelist Annie Zaidi about her new book ‘Prelude to a Riot’, inequalities within South Asia, and why we can never escape time. Read the entire interview here: https://helterskelter.in/2020/02/point-of-pain-annie-zaidi-prelude-to-riot-interview/ ➡️

01/02/2020

The gorgeous People Tree store in Goa is now selling ‘After Hours’ and ‘Dissent’. Go have some lovely food at the Gunpowder café next door and pick up your copies of Helter Skelter! :)

19/01/2020

‘After Hours’ and ‘Dissent’, volumes 5 and 6 of the Helter Skelter Anthology of New Writing, are now available at the lovely Paper Boat Collective store in Goa :)

15/01/2020

It’s that time again :) Today is the FINAL DAY to send in your writing for volume 7 of the Helter Skelter Anthology of New Writing (theme: Identity). If you haven’t done so already, please send in your short-fiction and poetry submissions before 11.59pm today. To those of you who have emailed us already: thank you, and you’ll be hearing from us soon!

27/12/2019

Only 20 days remaining to send in your writing for vol. 7 of the Helter Skelter Anthology of New Writing (theme: Identity)! For submission rules and other details, visit: https://helterskelter.in/2019/11/submissions-open-new-writing-vol7/

26/12/2019

“We used the word ‘sadcore’ to describe the mood of the film. There is a genre of music like that where everything is pretty but the mood of the song is very depressing. I would say that the film belongs to that kind of a genre.”

In conversation with Bhaskar Hazarika about his critically acclaimed film Aamis, and its place within a genre that combines the bleak with the beautiful.

In conversation with Bhaskar Hazarika about his critically acclaimed film Aamis, and its place within a genre that combines the bleak with the beautiful.

20/12/2019

Aruni Kashyap's stories in 'His Father's Disease' call for greater humility, acceptance of difference, and keeping our strongly held (maybe even ill-formed) opinions about others to ourselves. Our review—

Aruni Kashyap's stories call for greater humility, acceptance of difference, and keeping our strongly held (maybe even ill-formed) opinions about others to ourselves.