Trolls may attempt to silence Gurmehar Kaur, but she will relentlessly continue to tell her story. This time, not through the erstwhile flurry of Facebook posts and Twitter replies, where the 20-year-old sought to explain her side to everyone who disagreed – but through a book.
Penguin Random House India will be publishing Gurmehar’s Small Acts of Freedom in January 2018 – and the publishing house has already sparked interest with its enigmatic tease-in:
“Gurmehar Kaur has a story to tell. But it’s not the story you think it is.”
Telling the tale of three passionate women (her grandmother, her mother and herself) who have faced the world on their own terms, the book’s unusual narrative structure criss-crosses elegantly between past and present, spanning 70 years from 1947 to 2017. According to the publishing house:
It’s a story of resilience, strength and love. From her grandmother who came to India from Lahore after Partition to the whirlwind romance between Kaur’s parents, from her father’s state funeral to her harrowing experiences since her days of student activism, Kaur’s book is about the fierceness of love, the power of family, and the little acts that beget big revolutions.
“We Cannot Wait to Publish Her”
The 20-year-old Lady Shri Ram College student, who made headlines in February this year after participating in a peaceful campaign during the Ramjas College clashes, had faced a lot of online hate – including death and rape threats, with stars like Virender Sehwag and Randeep Hooda mocking her stance too. She had later posted a blog, which The Quint had republished with her permission: I’m Not Who the TV Channels Showed Me to Be, Writes Gurmehar Kaur
Gurmehar explained how the book came about in a post on her Facebook wall:
The book, as Gurmehar writes endearingly in her post, is for her ‘Papa’.
Also Read: I Didn’t Tweet, My Hands Did: Gurmehar Kaur To Randeep Hooda
Manasi Subramaniam, Senior Commissioning Editor, Penguin Random House India says:
Gurmehar Kaur is that rare creature that cannot be boxed into a single definition. She’s brave and beautiful and kind and thoughtful. At the same time, she’s also a young woman with dreamy eyes and a lilting laugh, just as overjoyed by a cheesy film as she is by a literary novel, just as curious about the next big fashion trend as she is about the state of the nation. With this book, she unravels every notion that any one might have about her: the martyr’s daughter, the student activist, the online campaigner, the peace protester. She’s all of that, yes, but she’s so much more. And she’s got a heck of a story to tell. We cannot wait to publish her.
Agrees Meru Gokhale, Editor-in-Chief, Literary Publishing, Penguin Random House India:
Growing up in a family where courage and valour course through everyday life, Gurmehar has come to embody the integrity that the generations before her have impressed upon her, in words and in deeds. We are delighted to be sharing Gurmehar Kaur’s unique, special voice with the world.
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