Seagull Books

24/02/2026

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How does the present reshape what a society chooses to remember as its past?

Recent interpretations of India’s history have replaced careful inquiry with narratives that mirror contemporary anxieties and ambitions, sidelining the evidence, debate and plurality that once characterized India’s long intellectual tradition. At stake is a shift from understanding history as a method to treating it as a tool of identity and authority.

In The Present Colonizes the Past, Romila Thapar asks: How have cultural and religious identities evolved through interaction rather than isolation? How have dissent and accommodation shaped social change? How have education and public discourse influenced what is accepted as knowledge? And, most urgently, how might weakened institutions and selective pasts redefine our heritage and citizenship?

20/02/2026

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In a realm where the mundane conceals profound depths, these intertwining short stories reveal the unseen reality beneath ordinary existence. Following her divorce, Tereza shuts off emotionally and flits from one faceless lover to the next, until an unexpected visitor shakes her existence to the core. Klara is a bird trapped in a golden cage slowly suffocating her. Eva has sacrificed herself to her children and family. Life is one big party for Karla, or is it? Alice is doing everything she can not to be a crybaby like her mother. Petra has finally had enough and takes drastic measures. Magdalena’s true yearnings bubble up to the surface. Their stories may be different but at certain moments, these women’s paths converge, weaving a vivid tapestry of lives interconnected.

Czech author Lidmila Kábrtová is a master of writing stories of astonishing clarity. Echoing the brilliance of Canada’s Alice Munro, words are handled as translucent veils, allowing the essential truths to shimmer through. Moments move about on tectonic plates somewhere beneath the surface of the everyday, and nothing will be as it used to be. Yet, in this kaleidoscope of narratives, the question lingers: Was it ever truly as it seemed?

16/02/2026

We are now taking applications for the Summer 2026 online publishing course!

Apply now with the link in our bio or visit www.seagullschool.org to find out more!

A two-month course in publishing, run entirely by industry professionals. Inspirational life stories. Hands-on training. Lots of assignments. Online interactions with faculty from across the world. Understanding cover design and layouts, copy-editing and proofreading, tips and tricks of sales and marketing and buying and selling rights, across territories and languages. An intense learning experience that will enable you to work in publishing anywhere in the world.

#2026

21/01/2026

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For too long, Africa has been framed as an afterthought in world history—a continent written into the margins of time. In Africa in the World’s Time, renowned historian Mamadou Diouf dismantles these colonial narratives and reclaims Africa’s rightful place at the center of global historical thought. Moving beyond Western frameworks, Diouf examines the continent’s intellectual traditions and demonstrates how African artists and historians have shaped and reshaped how we understand the past.

Tracing central debates from the independence era to today, Diouf examines figures like Cheikh Anta Diop and Samir Amin, as well as the vital role of literature and film in contesting predominant histories. He challenges the linear, Eurocentric timelines that have long governed historical discourse, and puts forward a vision of Africa as a force that has always been influencing and reimagining the world.

15/01/2026

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In the largely undocumented sphere of political violence in eastern India, Qadir the Spider is a mythological killer and casanova, known for the various assassinations and liaisons he carries out across the region. His oldest son Rahim is the latest entry to the field. A 13-year-old killer, the boy bides his time like his father—killing, farming, and getting high as the battles go on around him. In this world where they only follow orders, mutilation becomes their only expression, the nature of violence their only meaningful form of autonomy in the various power struggles of interior Bengal.

After his first year in the field, as the child is groomed by his father to carry on the ways of their mercenary clan, he begins to confront the various legends surrounding the Spider. However, while roaming the strange, spectral forests surrounding the town, his chance encounter with a pair of wandering musicians leads him to question the killings that pattern his life. As he searches for the answers around him, he is slowly led to confront the man his father truly is, as well as the man he knows he will become.

A gripping tale of inherited violence and identity in politically volatile Bengal, Aurko Maitra’s The Spider contains powerful, disturbing parallels to modern-day conflicts. Boldly interrogating our concepts of autonomy and survival in chaos, this revelatory novel explores the impact of political violence and timeless issues of legacy and intergenerational violence.

14/01/2026

The Seagull Wall Calendar 2026:
When Crows Speak and Swans Wander

Featuring digital collages by Sunandini Banerjee.

Limited edition of 300. Available till stocks last, grab yours now! Visit the link in our bio, or come to our store and get one physically!

#2026

05/01/2026

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What does it mean to have a voice—and how does it shape what it means to be human? In The Human Voice, Giorgio Agamben embarks on a profound exploration of how the human voice transforms from mere sound into meaningful articulation, setting humans apart from the animal world. Tracing this transformation through ancient grammar and the history of writing, he unpacks the intricate relationship between voice and language, and the living being and the speaking subject.

Through a meticulous philosophical inquiry, Agamben reconstructs the mechanisms by which articulation turns expression into knowledge, revealing how the voice is the way we define humanity. This study reaches beyond linguistics, touching on politics and history, as it interrogates the enduring question of what—and who—is considered fully human.

02/01/2026

The Seagull Wall Calendar 2026.
When Crows Speak and Swans Wander.

Featuring digital collages by Sunandini Banerjee.

Limited edition of 300. Available for pre-order now!

Will ship 7 January.

Available for sale in India only. Link in bio!

02/01/2026

And finally, we're happy to announce that the Seagull Wall Calendar 2026 will be available from 7 January. Limited edition of 300. Please pre-order your copy now!

Featuring digital collages by Sunandini Banerjee. Limited edition of 300. Available for pre-order now! Will ship 7 January. Available for sale in India only.

02/01/2026

31/12/2025

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‘Oblivion’ and Other Plays from Post-Revolutionary Iran presents significant Iranian plays written between 1998 and 2019, a period during which the nation experienced a vibrant resurgence in its theatrical output. Featuring five plays from some of Iran’s most prominent and influential playwrights, collected here for the first time in English translation, this anthology illustrates a wide range of performance practices and theatrical modalities that are emblematic of Iran’s post-revolutionary theatrical scene. The plays are presented here alongside historical and cultural context to expand and inform their global audiences.

This collection features an array of work that melds the past and present as well as the East and the West. Plays such as The Sacrifice of Senemar (Bahram Beyzaie) and Oblivion (Hamid Amjad) infuse Western dialogic theatre with the Persian indigenous performance practices of ta’ziyeh, shadow puppetry, and naqqāli. The pieces Bird of Dawn(Sepideh Khosrowjah) and The Child (Naghmeh Samini) centre women’s narratives and discussions of diasporic belonging and allyship, while The Dance of Mares (Mohammad Charmshir) reimagines Federico García Lorca’s Yerma through surrealism and an abstract episodic structure. Together, these plays showcase the diversity of Iranian contemporary theatre, reflecting Persian cultural identity, the use of the stage to explore social and political issues, and a blend of indigenous traditions with European and global dramatic influences.