A Fistful of Mustard Seeds (A Collection of Short Stories)

These 12 stories, originally written and published in Malayalam over a period of almost two decades, represent different phases in E. Santhosh Kumar's writing career spanning a quarter of a century. Hence the themes are different, though there are undercurrents that connect them like a blood stream. As the author says, 'working on a story is like working on a life, a set of characters around the geography where they live ... while writing stories at least, writers do play God, in their little way.' A Fistful of Mustard Seeds explores moral dilemmas, personal traumas and delves into the dark recesses of the soul. These insightful and deeply moving stories illuminate the elevations and abysses of the human condition. Sensitive, thought-provoking and perceptive, each story is a vignette into a different realm of emotional experience.

E. Santhosh Kumar has published more than 15 books in Malayalam, including novels, short story collections, children's literature and a translation. He has won the Kerala Sahitya Academy award for the best short story collection (2006) and for the best novel (2012). Island of Lost Shadows, the English translation of the Kerala Sahitya Academy Award-winning novel Andhakaranazhi (translated by P.N. Venugopal) published by Niyogi Books in 2015, was shortlisted for the Crossword Book Award (2016). Two of his stories have been made into Malayalam films. His stories have been translated into English, Tamil, Hindi and German. He works with National Insurance Company, presently at Kolkata.

P.N. Venugopal, a freelance journalist, translates fiction and biographies from Malayalam to English and English to Malayalam. His translation of the award-winning Malayalam novel Andhakaranazhi as Island of Lost Shadows was shortlisted for the Crossword Book Award (2016).

Building our little worlds brick by brick These 12 stories, written and published in Malayalam over a period of almost two decades, represent different phases in my writing career spanning a quarter of a century now I have published more than 60 stories during this period, apart from writing one novel and a few novellas. In some of these years, especially in the initial ones, I could be prolific enough to produce more than six works a year, but there were lean patches as well, when I could not write even a single story for months together. That explains why the themes are drastically different from one another, even though there can be a few undercurrents that connect them like a blood stream. Again the diversity is always welcome, for working on a story is like working on a life, a set of characters around the geography where they live and a whole new world altogether. Writers create new worlds and new people. While writing stories at least, they do play God, in their little way. Towards the last years of the 1990s, Malayalam fiction, especially short stories, witnessed the emergence of many writers possessing different narrative, themes and techniques. Some of these writers were young, starting to get published after being rejected by the mainstream media for quite long It is really refreshing to listen to new voices, in any language, any time, because the new writers bring new worlds with them.