Westland's 'Literary Activism' Imprint Publishes 'Against Storytelling'

Westland releases "Against Storytelling," an essay collection exploring art beyond storytelling. Edited by Amit Chaudhuri, the book features perspectives from various creatives, including novelists, poets, and thinkers. Originally presented as talks at Literary Activism symposia, these essays challenge traditional storytelling norms. Contributors include Anjum Hasan, Arvind Krishna Mehrotra, and Jean-Frédéric Chevallier. The collection aims to spark discussions on creativity beyond mainstream and academic contexts.

Publishing house Westland on Tuesday announced the launch of ''Against Storytelling'', a collection of essays delivered originally as talks at a Literary Activism symposium.

The book, which is the third release under Westland and Ashoka University's 'Literary Activism' imprint, is edited by Amit Chaudhuri, the director of the Centre for the Creative and the Critical and general editor of the imprint.

''The literary activism symposia have given writers and artists a forum to counter unspoken assumptions that pervade culture today, and there can be few better examples of this than the essays in this collection,'' said Chaudhuri in a statement.

The book introduces readers to ways of thinking about art that go beyond story and storytelling.

It features contributions by novelists, poets, and thinkers including Anjum Hasan, Arvind Krishna Mehrotra, Charles Bernstein, Geoffrey O'Brien, Gurvinder Singh, Jean-Frédéric Chevallier, Jeremy Harding and Tiffany Atkinson, all of whom engage with the belief that what is most absorbing in a novel or film is not necessarily the 'story'.

'Literary activism', a project that began in 2014 with a series of annual symposia, aims to create a space for the kind of discussion on creativity no longer available in mainstream contexts or in academic ones.

Award-winning poet Arvind Krishna Mehrotra's and Chaudhuri's ''On Being Indian'' are the two books released under this imprint last year.

The book, priced at Rs 499, is currently available for purchase across offline and online stores.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)