Kulhar Books: South Asian Literary Innovation

Neelanjana Banerjee / Make It Rain: Keep Kaya Press Thriving!

Support Kulhar Books, the new South Asian diasporic literature imprint at Kaya Press, and support South Asian literary innovation!

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  • $20,000

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About Kulhar Books: South Asian Literary Innovation

Kulhar Books will publish stylistically daring and politically imaginative literature from the South Asian diasporas—and we are the only publishing entity in the United States to undertake this editorial work.

Kulhar was born from a simple but urgent discovery: there are no national government agencies or foundations that support literary translation in South Asia—not in Bangladesh, not in India, not in Pakistan. And in India, many writers and translators told us clearly: even if such state funding existed, they would feel wary about accepting government money for creative work.

Kulhar exists to change this landscape—to build a new, independent, transnational home for South Asian diasporic literature and translation.

You can help make it real. We are raising $20,000 by December 31, 2025, to launch Kulhar Books publicly in 2026. Your support creates space where none currently exists.

Managing Editor Neelanjana Banerjee convened an extraordinary editorial team—award-winning poet + translator Rajiv Mohabir, writer + scholar Torsa Ghosal, and poet + editor Jhani Randhawa—to champion the kinds of writers and stories that have not yet had pathways into U.S. publishing.

In Spring 2026, Kulhar will publish our first two titles:

Orijit Sen’s River of Stories, widely considered the first Indian graphic novel, is a deeply personal account of the massive Narmada Bachao Andolan (Save the Narmada River) movement of the 1990s, when ordinary people across India converged to resist environmental devastation and the forced displacement of Indigenous Adivasi communities. This new edition features a foreword by Arundhati Roy and a new introduction by Sen—an urgent document of environmental activism, resistance, and community power.

Ansley Moon’s Register the Missing is a devastating poetic archive of neglected histories: a widow forced to relinquish her daughter, a child navigating identity and inherited loss, and an unnamed chorus of “unclaimed girls” who remind us that “nothing stays buried, not even a daughter.”

These two titles embody what Kulhar is built to do: publish South Asian diasporic work that reframes dominant narratives, expands our sense of lineage, and places politically engaged artists in the U.S. literary imagination.

But Kulhar is more than a list of books—it is a gathering place, a collaboration space, a vision for how South Asian diasporic literature circulates globally.

What South Asian diasporic voices do you want to see in print?

Your gift today directly enables acquisitions, translations, and author support—the actual building of this long-overdue literary home.

Donate here today—help Kulhar Books come to life in 2026. 

This fundraiser is part of Kaya Press's 2025 Make It Rain annual drive, and all donations are tax deductible. At Kaya Press, we believe that books and community help us all thrive. Your support as readers, writers, educators, and customers is the reason we have made it to 31 years as an independent publishing house dedicated to championing avant-garde, experimental, and expectation-busting literature from the Asian Pacific American and Asian diasporas.