We are celebrating five years of Guftugu — our quarterly e-journal of poetry, prose, conversations, images and videos. Contiguous with 71 years of the Republic and the declaration of a manifesto for “justice, liberty, equality, fraternity”, this celebration is an assertion of freedom of expression, cultural resistance and diversity.

What does it mean to write in times of censorship? What does it mean to write with an intimacy with what lies in the margins? How do we invoke resistant tradition? What stories do we tell in these times? What stories have been invisible and how are they carving space for their due representation? What horizons of expression is our resistance pushing?

In this issue of Guftugu, diverse voices come together to reflect on our present moment — the threats to our plural and diverse cultures, resistance burgeoning undefeated in radiant forms to stand firm against those attacks, and the directions we must turn to for carrying forward our struggles.

K Satchidanandan

Githa Hariharan

April 2021