India is familiar ground for Granta, having devoted two classic issues to the country, though much has changed since the last dispatch, published on the cusp of the Modi era.

173 will feature exceptional contemporary fiction and poetry in translation, as well as articles dedicated to the Indian space program; the bloody twilight of the Naxalites in Jharkhand; archaeology wars, Bollywood, jingoism, and national myth-making; the murder of Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar in British Columbia; the delicate and fraught care for an ailing parent; as well as a historical introduction by the editor that situates contemporary controversies and aesthetic fault lines in perspective. Plus, in-depth interviews with leading writers and historians, alongside work from emerging and established photographers. Contributors will be drawn from across the country, with a focus on vernacular authors as opposed to the elite enclaves of Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata.