For Now, It Is Night: Stories brings Kashmiri writer Hari Krishna Kaul’s short fiction to English through a collaboration among four translators. The collection moves across decades of social and political change in Kashmir, while making room for the intimate worlds of family and friendship, as well as humor, isolation and exile.
What is For Now, It Is Night?
Published by Archipelago Books on February 20, 2024, For Now, It Is Night: Stories is an English-language selection of Kaul’s fiction originally written in Kashmiri. Hindustan Times counts 17 stories published between 1972 and 2001; The Tribune describes the selection as drawing on work from 1972, 1985, 1996 and 2001. These accounts frame it as a selection spanning decades, not a chronological record of every story Kaul wrote.
| # | Preview | Product | Price | |
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| 1 |
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For Now, It Is Night: Stories | $19.88 | Buy on Amazon |
| 2 |
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Now that Night is Near | $12.55 | Buy on Amazon |
| 3 |
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The Night Is Normal: A Guide through Spiritual Pain | $17.70 | Buy on Amazon |
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The Night and Its Moon | $8.81 | Buy on Amazon |
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Escape the Coming Night: A Message of Hope in a Time of Crisis | $10.36 | Buy on Amazon |
The collection’s historical setting matters: reviewers discuss political upheaval, Hindu-Muslim tensions, displacement and the erosion of Kashmiriyat. But the stories are not only political chronicles. They also follow family disputes, friendships and social expectations, with wit and playfulness alongside unease. Publishers Weekly notes the treatment of Hindu-Muslim tension in late-twentieth-century Kashmir; the publisher describes characters navigating changing circumstances with humor and making uncomfortable compromises to survive.
Who translated the stories?
The English edition credits Gowhar Fazili, Gowhar Yaquoob, Kalpana Raina and Tanveer Ajsi. The translation grew from a family connection as well as a literary recovery effort. Hindustan Times reports that in 2009 Raina asked her father to read aloud stories by her late uncle. She spoke Kashmiri but could not read its Nastaliq script; hearing the stories prompted her effort to bring Kaul’s writing to English-language readers.
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According to Scroll.in and Hindustan Times, Fazili, Yaquoob and Ajsi worked from the Nastaliq script, while Raina joined through listening to recordings. The translators initially worked separately and later discussed assumptions and alternatives over about two years. That reported account describes the broader collaborative process; it does not establish that every story followed an identical path from script to final translation.
What does the collection offer documentary-minded readers?
For readers drawn to documentaries and historical storytelling, the book offers a different kind of record: fiction shaped by ordinary lives amid political change. Its range matters. Family and friendship sit beside social mores, communal tension and displacement, and humor complicates any single reading of Kashmir’s past. The stories can illuminate lived textures and contradictions, but they are literary works, not a factual documentary account or a substitute for historical reporting.
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The translation’s collaborative origins also shape how to approach it. Raina’s listening and the translators’ discussions connect language, script and memory; the result makes Kaul’s Kashmiri writing accessible to readers who do not read the original. Rather than flattening the work into one political thesis, the collection allows domestic and social experience to remain part of the history it evokes.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Which editions are available?
Archipelago Books lists a paperback and an ebook, both published February 20, 2024. Choose print or digital according to your reading preference; the publisher listing establishes these formats, but not current prices or stock across retailers.
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| Edition | Publisher-listed identifier |
|---|---|
| Paperback | ISBN 9781953861788 |
| Ebook | ISBN 9781953861795 |
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