Joe Sacco: Where do religious minorities fit in India? | Southasia Review of Books #39

♦️For more than three decades, Joe Sacco has been at the forefront of graphic journalism, combining rigorous reporting with comics to document conflict, displacement and political violence. His landmark works, including ‘Palestine’ and ‘Footnotes in Gaza’, have helped define an entire genre and inspired generations of cartoonists and journalists. His latest book, ‘The Once and Future Riot’ (2025), turns its attention to India, examining the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots in Uttar Pradesh and the political forces that shaped them. In doing so, it asks larger questions about violence, democracy, memory and the stories societies tell about themselves in the aftermath of conflict. The book has also become the subject of a controversy of its own. Earlier this year, Penguin India decided not to distribute it after raising a series of legal and editorial objections, prompting wider debates about censorship and how histories of violence are told. In this episode of the Southasia Review of Books podcast – a show from Himal Southasian featuring conversations with celebrated authors and emerging literary voices from across Southasia – Himal's associate editor Shwetha Srikanthan speaks to Sacco about ‘The Once and Future Riot’, the controversy surrounding its publication, and more. Music: The Story Begins by Pecan Pie This episode is also available on: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/00oX... Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... Himal Southasian is Southasia’s first and only regional news and analysis magazine. Stretching from Afghanistan to Burma, from Tibet to the Maldives, this region of more than 1.4 billion people shares great swathes of interlocking geography, culture and history. Yet today neighbouring countries can barely talk to one another, much less speak in a common voice. For three decades, Himal Southasian has strived to define, nurture, and amplify that voice. ✨ Thank you for listening to the Southasia Review of Books podcast from Himal Southasian. If you enjoyed this episode, please share, subscribe, rate and review the show on your favourite podcast apps. ▶️ If you haven’t already, please subscribe to the Himal Southasian YouTube channel and help us spread the word by sharing these conversations widely. ✉️ We’d love to hear your thoughts. Leave a comment on YouTube or write to us at [email protected]. 📚 Sign up for the Southasia Review of Books newsletter for a roundup of our latest reviews, essays, interviews and literary news from across Southasia: https://www.himalmag.com/newsletters/ 🙏🏼 If you’d like to support our work, please consider becoming a Himal Patron to help make conversations like this possible and sustain our work throughout the year: https://www.himalmag.com/#/portal #JoeSacco #TheOnceAndFutureRiot #GraphicJournalism #Muzaffarnagar #India #Books #SouthasiaReviewOfBooks #HimalSouthasian