Nish

“Akhila, may you also have the good fortune of having your children arrange your wedding,’ and spat out enough bitterness for a lifetime.”
― Banu Mushtaq, Heart Lamp: Selected Stories

“But, mostly, Mariam is in Laila's own heart, where she shines with the bursting radiance of a thousand suns.”
― Khaled Hosseini, A Thousand Splendid Suns

“This sisterhood to which those of us who identify as women belong is the cushion I place my translation on. The coping mechanisms we devise, the solutions we find and the adjustments we make around men are survival strategies nurtured across generations. The particulars may be different, but at the core is a resistance to being controlled, ‘tamed’, or disallowed the exploration of our full potential. These experiences, both Banu and I believe, can be found anywhere in the world. Some of us step on the cindering balls of coal and carve a space for ourselves. Some of us learn to exist too close to the fire. None of us are left unscarred.

__ Translator's Afterword”
― Banu Mushtaq, Heart Lamp: Selected Stories

“book A Place Called Lost the author believed that every hardship in life was a key to some greater understanding, and it was up to you if you chose to use it to unlock the future or bolt the door.”
― Evie Woods, The Lost Bookshop