Singapore-based literary startup Kitaab (an imprint of Kitaab International Pte. Ltd) has released its first three titles: The Girl Who Ran Away In A Washing Machine by Anu Kumar, The Gourd Seller and Other Stories by Abha Iyengar and Adventure Stories of Great Writers by Dr. Usha Bande. The books have been released in India and abroad and are already available through Amazon.com and Amazon.in.

“The Girl Who Ran Away In A Washing Machine is my second collection of short stories and am happy it was picked by Kitaab to be among its first new publications,” said Anu Kumar, who currently lives in the USA. “These stories have been with me for a while and have appeared in places like Muse India, Arre, Reading Hour and am glad to find them consolidated here.  The stories are quite varied, some starkly realistic, others quite fanciful and then a couple more in the speculative realm. I really had fun writing these at various phases in the last few years, and it brought me the realization that the short story form has just so many possibilities and promises. And am glad Kitaab thought this too.”

“The Gourd Seller and Other Stories is my first collection of 8 stories published by Kitaab,” said Delhi-based Abha Iyengar. “I have been writing short stories for some time now, and they have been widely published. Zafar Anjum, editor of Kitaab, asked me to select 8 stories close to my heart. So that is how the collection came into being. These stories deal with how we as human beings make our choices depending upon what life throws up for us, what influences us, the compromises we make, and what happens when we draw the line at some point. For example, in The Gourd Seller, a woman rediscovers her emotional self with the help of a gourd; in Marked Territories, the tattoo on a woman’s hips is more than a statement; and in Haircut Sunday, a man comes to terms with loss of hair. I hope these stories strike a chord in my reader’s hearts, touch some nerve.”
“Kitaab is very proud to publish new and emerging writers from across Asia,” said Zafar Anjum, founder and publisher of Kitaab. “We are committed to support new voices. At the moment, our focus is on short stories because we feel that mainstream publishers are neglecting this area of literature. Going forward, we will also publish novels and non-fiction.”

Currently, Kitaab’s titles are only available through online bookstores.