• Tamil Sangam Poetry: The Plebeian in the Classical Tradition”, in Aesthetics in India: Transitions and Transformations. Eds. Sreenath V S, Anandita Pan, and Punnya Rajendran. Hyderabad: Orient Blackswan, 2023.

• “To Write was to Cense: Kāvyaśāstra and Creative Freedom in Pre-modern India”, co-authored with Sreenath V S; special article in Economic & Political Weekly, Vol LVII, No 34, Aug 20 2022: 48 – 54.

• "A Gaze Turned Inward: Perspectives from the Orient", Navigating Deep River: New Perspectives on Shusaku Endo’s Final Novel. Eds. Mark W. Dennis and Darren J N. Middleton. New York: SUNY Press, 2020.

• "Dancing in a Hall of Mirrors: Translation between Indian Languages", A Multilingual Nation: Translation and Language Dynamic in India. Ed. Rita Kothari. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2018.

• "Into Bhasha and English: Comparative Study of Bhasha and English Translation in India", Comparative Literature Studies: Vol. 53, No.2, 2016: 359 – 376.

• "Writer-Translators of Ethnicity: Translations and Literatures Written in English", European Journal of English Studies: Vol 18 Issue 3, 2014: 263 – 277.

• "In the Marketplace: Publication of Translations in Regional Indian Languages", Textual Travels: Theory and Practice of Translation in India. Eds. Mini Chandran and Suchitra Mathur. New Delhi: Routledge, 2014: 92 – 111.

• "The Fugitive Reader: Reading the Adhyatmaramayanam through the Ages", South Asian Review: Vol 34: No.2, 2013: 123 – 138.

• "The Jester Sets Out",(translation of a chapter of Purusharthakoothu, the oral performative art of Kerala), Indian Literature: Vol LVII No.6, No: 278 Nov/Dec 2013: 145 – 159.

• "Reclaiming Lost Territory", Economic & Political Weekly: Vol XLVIII: No. 40, October 5, 2013: 26 – 28.

• "The Translator as Ideal Reader: Variant Readings of Anandamath", Translation Studies, the international journal on translation published by Routledge: Volume 4 Number 3 September 2011: 297 - 309

• "The Democratization of Censorship: Books and the Indian Public", Economic & Political Weekly: Vol XLV: No.40, October 2 – 8, 2010: 27 – 31.

• "The Pilgrim’s Progress: Ayemenem House and the Syrian Christian Church in Kerala". Mother-tongue Theologies: Poets, Novelists, Non-western Christianity. Ed. Darren J. N. Middleton. Oregon: Pickwick, 2009: 127 – 139.

• "Whose English Is It? Translating in a Neocolonial World", Apperceptions: Journal of Visva-Bharati, Santinikentan (special issue on Translation and Related Issues): Vol. IV 2009: 38 – 52.

• "Conquest” translation of VKN’s Malayalam short story "Digvijayam", Indian Literature: Vol LII: No.4, July – August 2008: 185 – 188.

• "Flood tides of Language and Submerged Communication: Language and its Inadequacy in Amitav Ghosh’s The Hungry Tide", Inventing Ties and Bonds in English: Diasporic Literary Consciousness. Ed. Binod Mishra and P. J. Paul Dhanasekaran. Delhi: Author’s Press, 2008: 170 – 180.

• "Not Lost in Translation: Chemmeen on Alien Shores". Translation Today. Vol 4: Nos. 1 & 2: 2007: 51 – 62.

• "Rabbit Hunt", translation of N. S. Madhavan’s Malayalam short story "Muyalvetta", Translation. Translation Studies journal of University of California Santa Barbara: Vol. 2, 2007: 61 – 72.

• "Distant Flutter of a Butterfly: The Indian Response to The Last Temptation". Scandalizing Jesus: The Last Temptation of Christ Fifty Years on. Ed. Darren J. N. Middleton. New York: Continuum, 2005: 135 – 144.

• "Obscenity and Offence in Ulysses", The Atlantic Literary Review: Jan-June 2004: 18 – 26.

• "Fabulation as Narrative in Haroun and the Sea of Stories", Jouvert: A Journal of Postcolonial Studies (e-Journal of North Carolina State University): Vol 7, Issue1, 2002:< http://social.chass.ncsu.edu/jouvert/v7is1/chand.htm>

• "The Panoptic Living Room in Manjula Padmanabhan's Harvest", Journal of Literature and Aesthetics: Vol 7, No:1, January-June 1999: 86 – 89.

• "Seclusion on Mount Athos: The Male World of Nikos Kazantzakis", Occasional Papers (A journal of the Panjab University): Vol VI, No.1, 1997-98: 1 – 6.

Books

• An Introduction to Indian Aesthetics: History, Theory and Theoreticians, co-authored with Sreenath V S. New Delhi: Bloomsbury, 2021.

• The Writer, the Reader and the State: Literary Censorship in India,, New Delhi: Sage, 2017.

• Textual Travels: Theory and Practice of Translation in India, (anthology on translation co-edited with Suchitra Mathur): New Delhi: Routledge, 2014.

Book chapters in Malayalam

• Chasing the Monsoon, Mazhakkalam. Ed. Tom J. Mangad. Kottayam: DC Books, 2005.

• Unknown Sin and Known Virtue, book chapter in Arundhati Roy: The Work and Perspectives. Calicut: Mulberry Books, 1999.

Publications in English and Malayalam magazines and newspapers

• In their Tongues, The Indian Express, December 4, 2022.

• Ulysses at 100, The Indian Express, June 16, 2022.

• Whose Line is it Anyways? The Indian Express: February 5, 2021.

• Publish and Perish, The Indian Express: June 29, 2019.

• Can you Hear Me? The Indian Express: February 19, 2018.

• Political Correctness has Morphed into an Undemocratic Censor, The Print: October 1, 2017. https://theprint.in/opinion/political-correctness-censorship/11059/

• A Different Neighbourliness, The Indian Express: August 29, 2016.

• Give the Devil his Due”, The Financial Chronicle, May 6, 2016

• "Lift me as a Wave, a Leaf, a Cloud", The Financial Chronicle, March 3, 2016.

• The Native Sahib, The Indian Express: January 16, 2016.

• Silence, Exile and Cunning, The Indian Express: October 13, 2015.

• Vivartanam, Kalakaumudi weekly: September 2015.

• A More Docile Writing, The Indian Express: June 27, 2012.

• Padanayikayude Karmayogam (The Karmayoga of the Leader), tribute to Lakshmi Sahgal, Kalakaumudi weekly: August 5, 2012

• Rushdie’s Victory, Kalakaumudi weekly: Feb 20, 2009

• The Daredevils of Print, The Hindu Literary Review: March 15, 1998.

• The Saga of Zhivago, Indian Express Sunday edition: November 15, 1992.

• The Gospel of Saramago, Mathrubhumi weekly: November 8, 1998.

• Unseen chains behind women's writing, Mathrubhumi special issue: 1997.

• Feminism: From the Hunted to the Hunter, cover story of Mathrubhumi weekly: November 28,1993.

• Music and Censorship, cover story of Mathrubhumi weekly: November 22, 1992.

Translations (Articles)

• The Best Job in the World, (English to Malayalam), article by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, published in Mathrubhumi weekly: July 27,1997.

• The Final Salute, (English to Malayalam), story by Saadat Hassan Manto, published in Mathrubhumi weekend edition: 1994.

• Distant Visions, (Malayalam to English), story by Kakkanadan, in Dakshina, published by the Sahitya Akademi, 1991.

Translations (Books)

• Autumnal Memories: Life and Times of a Public Intellectual, translation of Joseph Mundassery’s Kozhinja Ilakal from Malayalam to English, Thrissur: Cosmo Books (an imprint of Current Books), 2015.

• Ormakkurippukal, (translation from English to Malayalam), Capt. Lakshmi Sahgal's A Revolutionary Life: Memoirs, Trivandrum: Women's Imprint, 2005.

• Chirikkunna Atmakkal, (translation from English to Malayalam), Geeta Iyer's Laughing Spirits, New Delhi: National Book Trust, 2000.

Book Reviews:

• R. K. Narayan through an Indian Philosophical Lens: Ranga Rao’s New Book Shines, The Print: December 2, 2017. https://theprint.in/pageturner/afterword/r-k-narayan-indian-philosophical-lens-ranga-raos-new-book-shines/19924/

• Review of Chandrika Balan’s Arya and Other Stories, Indian Literature, Vol. 59, No. 2 (286) (March/April 2015), pp. 179-181.

• Review of Chandrasekhara Kambar’s Sivaratri, Indian Literature, Sep/Oct 2014: 185-187.

Invited talks:

• “The Two Faces of Translation”, talk at Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IISER Bhopal: March 18, 2023.

• “Kadambari’s Progeny”, at the three-day online International Conference “Comparative Literature Frames, Methods and Practice”, organized by Calcutta Comparatists and SNDTW Mumbai: March 5, 2022.

• “Literature in/through the Classroom”, lecture for the three-day FDP on “Innovative Teaching and Research Methods in Humanities and Social Sciences", organized by Vellore Institute of Technology, Chennai: April 27, 2022.

• Podcast on pedagogy of South Asian philosophy in Oxford University: http://podcasts.ox.ac.uk/episode-3-approaches-south-asian-philosophies, 2021.

• “Liberally Illiberal: The Nature of Proscription in British India”, distinguished lecture delivered at the online international conference on “Proscribed Hindi Urdu Print and Colonial Historiography” by Department of Hindi, Hyderabad Central University and Centre for Study of Developing Societies, New Delhi: November 15, 2021.

• “Control and Creative Freedom in India”, invited lecture as part of the lecture series marking 75 years of independence organized by the Department of English and Cultural Studies, Panjab University: September 24, 2021.

• “Riti, Guna and Anumana”, as part of the one week workshop on “Soundarya and the Sahridaya: Aesthetic Discourses in India & the West” jointly organized by the Research and Development Cell of Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit, Kalady, Kerala and Sahapedia: November 27, 2020.

• “The Vernacular Cosmopolitan and the Making of a Literary ‘Commons’”, at the Centenary Commemoration Seminar on the establishment of the Department of Modern Indian Languages, organized by University of Calcutta in collaboration with Central Institute of Indian Languages: March 2019.

• “English as Bhasha: The Bilingual World of Kamala Das”, at the symposium on Kamala Das and the Bilingual Tradition organized by the Sahitya Akademi and Institute of English, University of Kerala: March 2015.

• “Beyond Borders and Differences: Transnational Literary Spaces”, keynote address at the UGC sponsored national seminar on Receding Boundaries: Transnational Spaces, Representation and Nationhood in South Asian Diaspora at Mar Ivanios College, Trivandrum: December 2015.

Conference Papers

• “Out of Home and Hearth: The Santhals of India”, ATINER International conference held in Athens, Greece: May 2018.

• “A Bird Tells a Story: Sreemahabharatam kilippattu in Malayalam”, IACLSC International Seminar on Epic Tradition and World Literature: Gandhinagar, April 2018.

• “Appropriated and Mainstreamed: Indigenous Narratives from Kerala”, National conference organized by IACLALS and IIT Guwahati, Guwahati: February 2017.

• Sangam Poetry: Song of the Common Man, International Seminar on “Poetry as Counter-culture”, organized by the Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla: May 16-18, 2016.

• A Centre at the Periphery? Indira Goswami's The Bronze Sword of Thengphakri Tahsildar, at IACLALS Annual Conference on "Margins, Globalization and the Postcolonial", organized by Panjab University, Chandigarh: February 2014.

• Invited paper, Local Worlds in a Glocal Language, at "The Indian Worlds of Indian English Literature" organized by Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi: March 2013

• His Master's Voice: Colonial Subjectivity and Mimicry in Zachariah's Bhaskara Pattelarum ente Jeevithavum, at The Postcolonial and/in the Indian Languages, organized by IACLALS and University of Lucknow: Lucknow, February 2013

• Ideological Mediations of Utopia: Retellings of the Ramayana, at "Media and Utopia: Imagination, History, Technology", the XV International Conference of the Forum on Contemporary Theory held in Allahabad: December 2012

• Red Star over Kerala: Translations and the Moulding of a Literature in Kerala, at "Translation and the Postcolonial: Multiple Geographies, Multi-lingual Contexts", an international conference organized by the Leverhulme Network on "Postcolonial Translation: The Case of South Asia" at Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK: June 8-9, 2011

• Reading as Resistance: The Spiritual and Political Power of Reading, National Conference on "Comparative Cultural Studies: Towards New Postcolonial Paradigms" organized by IACLALS (Indian Association for Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies) and Centre for Comparative Literature, Institute of English, University of Kerala at Thiruvananthapuram: January 2011

• Reading Across Cultures: How the Daffodils fill an Indian Heart with Pleasure, "Strokes Across Cultures", 15th Triennial International Conference of the Association for Commonwealth Language and Literature Studies held at Nicosia, Cyprus: June 2010

• The Recognition of the Fisherman: Literary Representations of the Unnamed, XII International Conference of the Forum on Contemporary Theory in Thiruvananthapuram: December 2009

• One Text, Many Discourses: The Strange Case of Anandamath, International Conference on "Translation and Postcolonialities" organized by IACLALS (Indian Association for Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies) and Department of English, Karnataka University at Dharwad: February 2009.

• Not Lost in Translation: Chemmeen on Alien Shores, National Seminar on Nation and Translation organized by Department of English, Pondicherry University and Central Institute of Indian Languages, Mysore at Pondicherry University: February 2008.

• Of Centres and Peripheries: Cultural Subversion in VKN's Short Stories, National Conference on Postcolonial Discourse in Bhasha Literatures organized by Faculty of Arts, Benares Hindu University in Varanasi: September 2007.

• The Democratization of Censorship: Books and the Indian Public, International Conference on A World Elsewhere: Orality, Manuscript and Print in Colonial and Postcolonial Cultures jointly organized by Rhodes University and Centre for the Book in Cape Town, South Africa: April 2 - 4, 2007.

• "What's the Use of Stories that aren't even True?": Politics and the Book, paper on the controversy surrounding The DaVinci Code at New Word Order, the SHARP Asia-Pacific Regional Conference held at Jadavpur University, January 2006.

• Locating the White Writer in post-apartheid South Africa, at "Teaching Postcolonial Texts: Theory and Strategy", the Annual Conference of the Indian Association for Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies held at Madras, February 2005.

• Imagi(nation) in Amitav Ghosh's The Shadowlines paper on Amitav Ghosh at the 13th Triennial International Conference of the Association for Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies held at Hyderabad in August 2004.

• 1986-1990: Subeditor, Vanitha women's magazine of the Malayala Manorama newspaper group, Kerala

• 1994-1996: Lecturer, Mar Athanasius College, Kothamangalam, Kerala

• 2001 - 2003: Lecturer of English, Dept of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Kanpur

• 2003 - 2009: Assistant Professor in Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Kanpur

• 2009 onwards: Associate Professor, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Kanpur

• Excellence in Teaching Award, IIT Kanpur, September 2022

• Letters of commendation from Director for excellence in teaching at IIT Kanpur

Office

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Office Phone: 0512-259-7191 (O)

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Email: minic[AT]iitk.ac.in