Inside/Out: New Writing from Goa

by Amitav Ghosh, Wendell Rodricks, Cecil Pinto

This is the first compilation of original work from Goa Writers. In recent years, the smallest state in India has become the site of profound globalisation and change, and has rapidly developed a diverse and multi-cultural society. inside/out is a cross-section of this changed world: it contains stories by migrants and sons of the soil, and a range of viewpoints that are sure to challenge and destroy the stereotypes that remain prevalent about India's favourite vacation destination.

228 pages, Paperback

Published February 1, 2011

About the author

Amitav Ghosh is an Indian writer. He won the 54th Jnanpith award in 2018, India's highest literary honour. Ghosh's ambitious novels use complex narrative strategies to probe the nature of national and personal identity, particularly of the people of India and South Asia. He has written historical fiction and non-fiction works discussing topics such as colonialism and climate change.
Ghosh studied at The Doon School, Dehradun, and earned a doctorate in social anthropology at the University of Oxford. He worked at the Indian Express newspaper in New Delhi and several academic institutions. His first novel, The Circle of Reason, was published in 1986, which he followed with later fictional works, including The Shadow Lines and The Glass Palace. Between 2004 and 2015, he worked on the Ibis trilogy, which revolves around the build-up and implications of the First Opium War. His non-fiction work includes In an Antique Land (1992) and The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable (2016).
Ghosh holds two Lifetime Achievement awards and four honorary doctorates. In 2007, he was awarded the Padma Shri, one of India's highest honours, by the President of India. In 2010, he was a joint winner, along with Margaret Atwood, of a Dan David prize, and in 2011, he was awarded the Grand Prix of the Blue Metropolis festival in Montreal. He was the first English-language writer to receive the award. In 2019, Foreign Policy magazine named him one of the most important global thinkers of the preceding decade.

Reviews

[Aliya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Inside/Out - a collection a short stories from Goa - has something for every person who has a place for Goa in his heart. The writers come from varied backgrounds, with something common - a love for Goa. And not the Goa of the Indian tourist's vivid but oftentimes incorrect imagination. Some writers write about the fields, others about finding love in Goa, others about what it means to be an 'outsider' in Goa, still others about what it means to be a 'Goan' outside Goa.

Most of the stories/essays are brilliant. Some are eccentric. There are also photographs of different scenes in Goa - a Goan house in a village, boats, a boy next to a pantlo of fish.

The introductions to the authors are witty and at least that, if nothing else, will make you smile and warm your heart.

[Jessica · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you want to get a flavour of the writings from a clutch of talented Goa-based writers this is a good book to pick up. Its got a combination of short-stories, non-fiction and personal essays. I particularly enjoyed reading about how a few of the writers found themselves making Goa their home and their writing-base.

[Anuradha Goyal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Detailed Review here - https://www.anuradhagoyal.com/inside-...