Rajagopalan’s reading-featuring thunderstorms, serial murder, and supernatural intrigue-was a compelling teaser for the wild tale originally written in Tamil by pulp veteran Indra Soundar Rajan. At their most recent book launch, a welcoming open-air event at an indie bookstore with intrigued passers-by stopping to watch, co-founder Rakesh Khanna and translator Nirmal Rajagopalan talked about and read from two new releases: Math Problems with Dinosaurs (which is what its title promises-a math book featuring dinosaurs) and The Aayakudi Murders, Blaft’s latest offering in translated Tamil crime fiction. ![]() Over the past decade they’ve filled a distinct niche with their off-beat book list (everything from Indian folklore to graphic novels to weird fiction), strong design aesthetic, and the fact that they publish some of the only available English translations of pulp crime fiction from both India and Pakistan, bringing regional writing to an English-reading audience. ![]() In their hometown of Chennai, India, they’re especially left-field. ![]() What happens when a professional from the Tamil film industry and a California native with a background in math education get together to form a publishing company? Blaft Publications, founded in 2007, is unorthodox even as indie presses go.
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