Seven stories by women, seven stories about women – but for that commonality, the stories in the third release of Out of Print form an eclectic collection. Or do they? Although their voices are distinct and their stories quite different, Jahnavi Barua, Priya Sarukkai Chabria and Saudha Kasim each write about a woman recognising her self. All three stories examine the premise of marriage and a woman’s place in it. In contrast, in Anita Roy’s Jenna, set in the terrifying bleakness of a futuristic prison, we confront isolation and the tentative yet essential instinct to develop relationships. Radhika Venkatarayan also writes of relationships, in this case, the complex ones within a multi-generational family structure. In 16th July, Uma Parameswaran tells of the grace of a woman forced to face the extreme. Finally, in the contemporary allegory, Ma Tujhe Salaam, Divya Dubey deals with the nature of power
Indira Chandrasekhar started writing fiction with an increasing focus on the short story when she returned to India after more than 17 years abroad. She has a Ph.D. in Biophysics and prior to committing to fiction writing she studied the dynamics of biological membranes at research institutes in India, the United States and Switzerland. She is the founder editor of Out of Print, an online magazine for short fiction with connections to the subcontinent. Pangea , an anthology of stories she has co-edited will be published by Thames River Press in 2012.