Born in 1978, Anjali Kajal is a short story writer originally from Ludhiana, Punjab. Kajal has been writing short stories for over twenty years. her first story, Itihaas (History), published in 1999 in the renowned Hindi monthly magazine, Hans, and went on to be translated into several other languages. her stories have since been published in popular literary magazines, and one, Sailab, has been adapted for the stage. Anjali’s stories tend to explore women’s lives and caste-based discrimination in India.
Kavita Bhanot is a writer, researcher, translator, teacher and organiser. Her fiction, non-fiction and academic writing has been published widely, including the influential essay Decolonise not Diversify. She is the editor of three short story collections., including Too Asian, not Asian Enough (2011) along with Violent Phenomena: 21 Essays on Translation (2022). Ma is Scared, her translation of Anjali Kajal’s stories won a 2021 Pen Translates Award. her first novel won the third prize in the SI Leeds Literary Prize. She founds and directs Literature Must Fall and Jaag: Panjabi and Pahari-Pothwari Language and Literature Festival. Kavita teaches Creative writing at Birmingham University.
