The Shelf Life: Champaca Bookstore Blog — recommendations
June Recommendations — Pride Month
This year, Pride Month coincides with the phenomenal wave of protests in the US and the Black Lives Matter movement. It reminds all of us that Pride Month, which commemorates the Stonewall Uprising, was a brave fight against police oppression and brutality, and at its forefront were people of colour and transfolk. We celebrate Pride month in India now, so many years later, in our very different context. Let us remember its origins, and honour the many people who have paved the way for queerness to be a part of our social reality. But let us also remember that in India, we have a long way to go.
Meet the Champaca Staff
What better time than our birthday month to introduce you to the Champaca staff — read about them, and books that they have picked especially for you. Find all their recommendations on our online store.
May Recommendations — Reading for an Indian Summer
Indian summers come in many shades and flavours. Your experience is defined by where you live (geography), your family (history and culture; caste, class, and gender) and even where you are in your life. Some of us remember summers in terms of childhood memories of holidays, fun and games, and travel. As adults, summer is a nostalgia for those times. For many in rural India, it is a time of withdrawal from farm work and migration to cities in search of sustenance. In recent times, summer is changed by anthropomorphic climate change, which is wreaking havoc with summer and its experience as well.
April Recommendations — Dalit History Month
Since 2013, April has been celebrated as Dalit History Month. Modeled on Black History Month, it is a month-long annual observance that commemorates and celebrates the neglected histories, lives and works of Dalit, Bahujan and Adivasi people. Here at Champaca, we’ve put together a list of recommendations for Dalit History Month — books that moved us, and books we think are essential for you to read too.
What we're reading — with Paper Planes
Cross-posted from Paper Planes Magazine.
The team at Champaca shares a list of five must-read titles from their discerningly put together bookshelves.