The Seagull Blog

What is it like to be young and broken in a country that is on the brink of collapse? This is what acclaimed poet and sound artist Ulrike Almut Sandig shows us in her debut novel, through the story of old friends Ruth and Viktor in the last days of Communist East Germany. The two central characters

K. G. Subramanyan (1924–2016) was one of India’s most eminent artists who worked with diverse media and materials, and exhibited extensively both within and outside the country. He was known as much for his wide-ranging scholarship as for his artworks which are full of wit, subversion, folklore and

Baselitz and Kluge explore the dynamism of rage and its potential to rapidly grow and erupt into blazing protests, revolution and war. They also reflect the melancholy archetype of the Western hero (and his deconstruction) against the very different heroic ethos of the Japanese antipodes. More power

Northern Spain is the only part of Western Europe where anarchism played a significant role in political life of the twentieth century. Enjoying wide-ranging support among both the urban and rural working class, its importance peaked during its “brief summer”—the civil war between the Republic and G

An extract from Imre Kertész’s book The Holocaust as Culture, where he discusses the memory of the Holocaust under Communist ‘hammer-and-sickle totalitarianism’.The dictatorship of the proletariat did not like people to speak of the Holocaust. It silenced all such voices or forced them into schemas

With evening the autumn woods soundOf deadly arms, the golden plainsAnd blue lakes, over which the sunTrundles hazier; the night envelopesDying warriors, the wild lamentOf their shattered jaws.But silent in the willow-marsh gatherRed clouds, wherein an angry god dwells,The spilt blood itself, lunar

The Last Country is an epic bildungsroman about the life of Ruven Preuk, son of the wainwright, child of a sleepy village in Germany’s north, where life is both simple and harsh.Ruven, though, is neither. He has the ability to see sounds, leading him to discover an uncanny gift for the violin. When

The fall of the Berlin Wall was the monumental event that signalled the beginning of the end of Communism in the former Soviet Union. Yet, why was this collapse of Communism considered final, but the many failures of capitalism are considered temporary and episodic? In The Idea of Communism, Tariq A

The Parlour and the Streets: Elite and Popular Culture in Nineteenth-Century Calcutta analyses the development of the various forms of folk culture of the the urban poor in the new metropolis of nineteenth-century Calcutta. Consisting primarily of traditional artisans and craftsmen who migrated from

Manon Gropius (1916–1935) was the daughter of Alma Mahler, the widow of Gustav Mahler, and the architect Walter Gropius, the founder of the Bauhaus, and the stepdaughter of the writer Franz Werfel. In Manon’s World, James Reidel explores the life and death of a child at the centre of a broken love t

Naveen Kishore, founder of Seagull Books, received the 2021 Words Without Borders Ottaway Award for the Promotion of International Literature on September 30, 2021, joining the celebratory cocktail reception in New York virtually from Kolkata.The Ottaway Award, presented by the renowned on

One of India’s foremost artists of the twentieth-century, Somnath Hore had a long and storied career that overlapped the boundaries between art and activism. My Concept of Art is a quasi-autobiographical essay that leads the reader through different phases of Hore’s life: from his early adventures i

Through this meticulous compilation of newspaper reports, letters, excerpts from contemporary accounts and Gandhi's own writings, and the extensive annotations that bring to light many known and unknown characters and events of the time, as well as accounts of Gandhi's interactions with the 'greats'

In Voices of Dissent, Romila Thapar looks at the articulation of dissent, focusing on nonviolent forms, that which is so essential to all societies, and relates it to various moments of time and in varying contexts as part of the Indian historical experience. Beginning with Vedic times, she takes us

The world’s most powerful man, Qiánlóng, emperor of China, invites the famous eighteenth-century clockmaker Alister Cox to his court in Beijing. There, in the heart of the Forbidden City, the Englishman and his assistants are to build machines that mark the passing of time as a child or a condemned

Snorri Sturluson was an Icelandic politician, writer and historian living during the twelfth century. He was a man of great political influence, and his writings are still researched and valued today. Snorri was killed on September 22, 1241, in Reykholt, where he lived the last years of his life, an

Buyers of books seldom cast more than a glance at the fourth page of a book. In nearly every book this fourth page carries the name of the press which has printed the book. Publishers are required to name their printer because if the book is pirated or obscene, the printer is legally liable. This le

This unique volume, the first book to be published by Seagull Books, offers a collection of early Calcutta woodprints covering a wide range—mythological, social scenes, book illustrations and advertising—with four essays by scholars and artists on different aspects of this popular urban art traditio

Jurek Becker (1937–1997) is best known for his novel Jacob the Liar, which follows the life of a man, who, like Becker, lived in the Lódz ghetto during the German occupation of Poland in the Second World War. Throughout his career, Becker also wrote nonfiction, and the essays, lectures and interview

The two novels, The Book of Mordechai and Lazarus, trace the legacy of the Holocaust in Hungary. The Book of Mordechai tells the story of three generations in a Hungarian Jewish family, interwoven with the biblical narrative of Esther. Lazarus relates the relationship between a son, growing up in th

The year is 1938. The great Russian poet and essayist Osip Mandelstam is forty-seven years old and is dying in a transit camp near Vladivostok after having been arrested by Stalin’s government during the repression of the 1930s and sent into exile with his wife. Stalin, ‘the Kremlin mountaineer, mur

Part fantastical fable, part realistic history, A Land Like You draws on ethno-psychiatrist Tobie Nathan’s own Jewish Egyptian heritage and deep knowledge of North African folk beliefs to create a glittering tapestry in which spirit possession and religious mysticism exist side by side wit

On 6 September 2018, a decades-long battle to decriminalize queer intimacy in India came to an end. The Supreme Court of India ruled that Section 377, the colonial anti-sodomy law, violated the country’s constitution. ‘LGBT persons,’ the Court said, ‘deserve to live a life unshackled from the shadow

In Torture and the War on Terror, Tzvetan Todorov argues that the use of the terms 'war' and 'terror' dehumanize the enemy and permit treatment that would otherwise be impermissible. He examines the implications and corrupting impact of the attempt to impose 'good' through violence and the attempt t

During a 1960 interview, East German writer Christa Wolf was asked a curious question: would she describe in detail what she did on September 27th? Fascinated by considering the significance of a single day over many years, Wolf began keeping a detailed diary of September 27th, a practice which she

In Aranyak, a semi-autobiographical novel, Satyacharan is a young graduate in 1920s Calcutta, who, unable to find a job in the city, takes up the post of a ‘manager’ of a vast tract of forested land in neighbouring Bihar. As he is increasingly enchanted and hypnotized by the exquisite beauty of natu

Porcelain is a book-length cycle of forty-nine poems written over the course of more than a decade that together serve as a lament for Durs Grünbein’s hometown, Dresden, which was destroyed in the Allied firebombing of February 1945. Musical, fractured, ironic, and elegiac, Porcelain 

On April 8, 1945, several American bomber squadrons were informed that their German targets were temporarily unavailable due to cloud cover. As it was too late to turn back, the assembled ordnance of more than two hundred bombers was diverted to nearby Halberstadt. A mid-sized cathedral town of no p

Using the same musical sense of language she applies to her translations, Nancy Naomi Carlson masterfully interprets herself in An Infusion of Violets. Filled with striking images and sensuous language, this book is an evocative mix of formal and free-verse poems.Buy this title from our we

1939. As Europe cascades into war, two Swiss women, Annemarie Schwarzenbach and Ella Maillart, travel from the Balkans to the frontiers of the subcontinent in a Ford. Hoping to flee bellicose Europe, they encounter the rival forces of provincial conservatism and urban modernity in Afg

In Doing, one of the most prominent and lucid articulators of contemporary French theory and philosophy examines the precarious but urgent relationship between being and doing. His book is not so much a call to action as a summons to more vigorous thinking, the examination and reflection that must p

In Conversations: Volume 2, Jorge Luis Borges and Osvaldo Ferrari engage in a dialogue that is both improvisational and frequently humorous as they touch on subjects as diverse as epic poetry, detective fiction, Buddhism and the moon landing. With his signature wit, Borges offers insight into t

Written by one of India’s best-known public intellectuals, Voices of Dissent has immense relevance. It is essential reading for anyone who contemplates not only the Indian past but also the direction in which society and the nation is headed.Buy this title from our website.An ExcerptDissent, di

This lyrical novel, set in the surroundings of the Palestinian village of Zakariyya, weaves a narrative rich in sensory detail yet troubled by the porousness of memory. It tells the story of the relationship between two figures of deep mythical resonance in the region, Yahya and Zakariyya, figures w

Palestinian writer Hussein Barghouthi was in his late forties when he was diagnosed with lymphoma. He had feared it was HIV, so when the cancer diagnosis was confirmed, he left the hospital feeling a bitter joy because his wife and son would be spared. The bittersweetness of this reaction

One might say that the womb of death—the Middle Passage, slavery, and colonization—gave birth to Black populations. Taking this observation as her point of departure, Nathalie Etoke examines Black existence today in her riveting new book, Shades of Black. In a white-supremacist world, Blac

Banaphool—which means wildflower—was the pen name of beloved Bengali writer Balaichand Mukhopadhyay (1899–1979). Wildfire brings together 45 short pieces by Banaphool that are brilliantly representative of his uncompromising, multifaceted talent. Stark and short, often much too short, some

The ten stories collected in this volume portray the dreams, hopes, fears and anxieties of their protagonists, brutally exposing their human frailties. A wife is forced into her husband’s cross-border trafficking business; a fakir is tortured for not following scriptural norms; a Hindu widow times h

May 1992. In Russia, Boris Yeltsin is showing millions of communists the spectre of capitalism. Yugoslavia is disintegrating. United Germany is uncertain about their next move, and communism is collapsing all around. And in a corner of old Calcutta, Herbert Sarkar, sole proprietor of a company that

In Our Sanitikentan, the late Mahasweta Devi, one of India’s most celebrated writers, vividly narrates her days as a schoolgirl in the 1930s. As the aging author struggles to recapture vignettes of her childhood, these reminiscences bring to the written page not only her individual sensibility

Set in the early days of the Jewish state, Yankinton tells the stories of refugees from the Holocaust and antisemitism who struggled to build new lives in Israel. Through the eyes of a young Orthodox Jewish girl growing up in Tel Aviv, we watch a colourful mosaic of characters from Soviet revolution

This acclaimed novel is set during the Lebanese Civil War and offers a rare depiction of women’s experiences amid this sprawling, region-defining conflict. In Alawiya Sobh’s hands, the details of everyday life mix with female voices from across classes, sects, and generations to create an indel

An unforgettable portrait of Beirut and the Lebanese Civil War (1975–90), seen through the eyes of a young man caught in-between a religious upheaval.Translated from the Arabic by Paula Haydar and Nadine SinnoAn ExcerptAround ten o'clock, Beirut exploded all at once. The factions had restrained the

On a plastic chair in a parking lot in Ramallah sits a young man writing a novel, reflecting on his life: working in a dance club on the Israeli side of the border, scratching his father’s amputated leg, dreaming nightly of a haunting scorpion, witnessing the powerful aura of his mountain-lodging au

Drawing on her personal experiences as a biracial Ethiopian-French woman and her family history, Tadessé explores the realities of life for mixed-race individuals in France through her searing and honest memoir.Translated from the French by Gila WalkerBuy this title from our webs

In this highly acclaimed novel, Jana Bodnárová offers an engrossing portrayal of a small Slovak town and its inhabitants in the north of the country against the backdrop of the tumultuous history of the twentieth century. As Sara, the protagonist of Necklace/Choker, returns to her native t

Captivating and enchanting, Seasons in Hippoland plays with the tradition of magic realism. Every image in this novel is a story, and every story is a call for resistance to anyone who tries to confine our imagination or corrupt our humanity.Buy this title from our website.An ExcerptAt thirteen

This roller-coaster of a novel takes us from the shores of Africa to the musician protagonist’s ancestors’ arrival in the Americas in the hold of the slave ships. From there, the characters journey from Tennessee—under the tutelage of Lili Williams, Sammy’s beloved African-born grandmother—to N

Marking the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp in 1945, Alexander Kluge’s newest work is a book about bitter fates, both already known and yet to unfold. Above all, it is about the many kinds of organized machinery built to destroy people.Translated from the German b

We Defy Augury moves easily from Hélène Cixous’s Algerian childhood, to Bacharach in the Rhineland, to, eerily, the Windows on the World restaurant atop the World Trade Center, in the year 2000. This unique experience, which could only have come from the pen of Cixous, is now available in English, a

What happened to paradise after Adam and Eve were expelled? The question may sound like a theological quibble, or even a joke, but in The Kingdom and the Garden, Giorgio Agamben uses it as a starting point for an investigation of human nature and the prospects for political transformation.Translated

A searing farce based on Donald Trump’s presidency, as topical as the evening news, yet with insight built on a lifetime of closely observing politics and culture, On the Royal Road brings into focus the phenomenon of right-wing populism, which spreads like a virus and has a lasting effect on global

The Quarantine Tapes is a daily program from Onassis LA and dublab. Hosted by Paul Holdengräber, the series chronicles shifting paradigms in the age of social distancing. Each day, Paul Holdengräber calls a guest for a 20-minute discussion about how they are experiencing the global pandemic.In a

'Life takes you to a platform where you are constantly changing trains or waiting for one to take you elsewhere' I have an aluminium trunk last carted in 2004, when I moved from a rented flat to my own apartment. It’s been lying in the same place ever since. Occasionally, I repla

At the beginning I had no intention of making writing a career or earning any money. Back then, when I began (around 1975 and the years thereafter), I did not think of writing as a calling at all; I had sought a path for the, at that time, existentially unsatisfactory situation I’d put myself int

So the magpie adorns its nest with everything it finds, no matter how nondescript.It likes to pull out everything that glitters, not caring much whether it’s paste or diamond.My magpies are / indispensable, / they laugh at me.There’s no relying on you, / magpies. / How you surpass me.You do know wha

Independence. Of choice. To do what you want to and not be dictated by ‘target audiences’. No one can know for certain what people will read. It is always after the ‘event’ that one grows wise to the fact. Often the same wisdom winks back at you and asks, ‘What if you throw me out of the window and