Kalpabiswa Newsletter Year 10, No 1
Sheldonian Three Knocks…
Captain! Captain! Captain!
Captain Kirk: Yes, Ensign
Ensign: We have news from Tong Ghar
Captain Kirk: You may proceed.
Tong Ghar, the final frontier across all impossible dimensions, is buzzing with the latest update. Well! Happy New Year, 2025, and greetings from one of the biggest festivals in this part of the galaxy, Durga Puja, to our readers across the space-time continuum. Let us proceed with one of the brightest stars: Ujjwal Ghosh, the powerhouse of talent, who has proven his mettle once again at the National Level by being featured on the 10th Oxford Book Store Long List for two of his cover designs for Kalpabiswa Books. The books include the Bengali translation of Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World by Sayak Dutta Choudhury and Byomkeshi Limerick by Prasenjit Dasgupta.
Ujjwal Ghosh also stepped into the garb of a writer with the publication of The Homeless Princess, Book 01 of The Unknowns Trilogy, a Fantasy Series.
Kalpabiswa Publication launched a new section, Kalpabiswa Comics, published comics for the mature audience with the Buddhagram and Shoto Preter Raat, based on modern Science Fiction Short Stories. It involved artwork and variant covers by Ujjwal Ghosh, translation and adaptation by Goutam Mandal (Ranin). These comics were released with variant covers, designed by Ghosh. Dip Ghosh and Supriyo Das orchestrated the Bengali editing.
Check out the logo of Kalpabiswa Comics, designed by Mr Ghosh
As mentioned in the previous newsletter, Goutam Mandal’s work was featured in the Anti-caste anthology. Here is a sneak peek at this contribution in the highly acclaimed anthology published by Blaft. Do check out his work, “God’s Garden.”
Kalpabiswa Publications has been instrumental in paving the way for the all-inclusive development of Speculative Fiction; it has arranged academic talks, seminars, translated world classics, and reprinted old works. It took a step forward by establishing the new body (independent of Kalpabiswa Publications), known as the Science Fiction and Fantasy Society of India, on 26th January, 2025. Although there have been few such bodies, this aims to bridge the gap between writers, translators, editors, artists, publishers, researchers, academicians, and, most importantly, readers (who have been neglected by other bodies). Check out the logo of SFFI designed by you know who, yes. Mr Ghosh strikes again and again…
Kalpabiswa’s mission has always been to assist SF research, inspire authors, and promote speculative fiction. Our editors have presented scholarly papers, created vast digital archives, and produced insightful articles on Indian science fiction over the years, all of which have helped countless researchers and academics. Kalpabiswa Publication, in association with SFFI, Joydhak and Antonym publications, sponsored a two-day seminar on “Dystopian Universe Postapocalyptic and Futuristic Representations of Climate and Nature in Speculative Fiction” at the Department of English, Ramkrishna Mission Vidyamandira, Belur, West Bengal, India, on 11th and 12th March 2025. It witnessed various conference papers that were based on works published in Kalpabiswa. Dip Ghosh and Supriyo Das, our two editors, presented on the topic of “Vernacular Science Fiction Publishing in India: How to Survive Dystopian Landscape.”
The latest edition of the International Kolkata Book Fair had been a dream run for us; our publications came up with original SFF books, a few translated books, collector’s editions, reprints, and yes, comics too. A picture is worth a thousand words; take a look at them.
Rakesh Das, one of our editors and an exceptionally talented translator, mesmerised readers with the Bangla translation of George Orwell’s dystopian classic, Nineteen Eighty-Four. Do not ever dare to miss the impeccable cover by Subinoy Das.
Kalpabiswa has always believed in expanding its horizon; adding to the list of popular titles, Arthur C Clark Golpo Samagra 2 (আর্থার সি ক্লার্ক গল্পসমগ্র ২) has been selling like hot kochuris (we love Lalmohan Ganguly). The sequel to fan favourite, this volume has been edited by Anustup Sett and Dip Ghosh, and it features an ensemble group of translators like Satyajit Ray, Debjyoti Bhattacharya, Saikat Mukhopadhyay, Sayak Dattchaudhuri, Anindya Sengupta, Anushtup Sett, Riju Ganguly, Supriyo Das, Soham Guha and Sarban Bandyopadhyay. Do check out the Bengali translations of the thought-provoking works of Arthur C Clark.
The next in the list is a surprise one; Trylika (ত্রিলিকা), an incredible collection of spine-chilling horror, breath-taking adventures, alternate history and thrilling science fiction tales. It has been impeccably edited by Ranin (Goutam Mandal), and no prize for the cover design and the author, Ujjwal Ghosh.
Kaljoyi Bangla Kalpabijnan 01 (কালজয়ী বাংলা কল্পবিজ্ঞান – প্রথম খণ্ড) brings together some classic tales which led to the birth and development of Science Fiction in Bengal as well as in India. The two editors, Santu Bag and Dip Ghosh, punched a powerful edition for the readers, critics and research scholars.
Next in the line is the tale of one of the fiercest warriors upon earth, Genghis Khan (চেঙ্গিজ খান), originally written in the Russian language by Vasily Yan and skillfully translated into Bengali by the veteran Arun Som. Ujjwal Ghosh designed this striking cover with the contrasting game between gold and black. Kindly note this is a revised and annotated edition.
Special Calendar from Kalpabiswa!
This calendar has been made with twelve different covers from various magazines like Amazing, Fantastic, and Kalpabiswa. It is designed in such a way that you can use it for many years to come. It will be available in very limited quantities, so be ready if you don’t want to miss out. It has been planned by Santu Bag & Ujjwal Ghosh. Mr Ghosh has also done the illustration.
You know about the legendary tale of wanderlust by the esteemed author, Jules Verne. Kalpabiswa feels honoured to publish the Bengali version of the popular work, Around the World in Eighty Days. Kindly have a look at Aashi Dine Bhupradakshin translated by Rajendralal Acharya and edited by Santu Bag.;
Kalpabiswa Comics continues to grow at warp speed. Look at this one Duswapna (Dreams of the Rarebit Fiend) originally written by Winsor McCay and adapted by Yashodhara Ray Chaudhuri for Kalpabiswa.
We have continued our tradition of recognising the contribution of creative individuals to the growth of Kalpabigyan. This year we recognised them with respective awards. In honour of Adrish Bardhan, legendary writer Swapon Bandopadhay received the Ascharya Award. In honour of Ranen Ghosh, the Bisway Award was given to the talented writer Anushtup Sett. Arun Shome, a prolific translator, received the Kalpabiswa Award in honour of Siddharta Ghosh for his unique contribution to Speculative Fiction.
We have been receiving requests from our cherished readers and critics to engage in conversation with our authors for a few days. Kalpabiswa came up with the “Conversation with Authors/Translators/Editors” series featuring various Kalpabigyan authors; the sessions are moderated by the editors of Kalpabiswa Publications.
!!!!News Alert!!!
Kalpabiswa, with Jadavpur University and IIM Calcutta (CDEP), is organising the Convention on Survivology: Fiction on the Edge 2025, focused on Climate Fiction and Speculative Futures. The British Science Fiction Association is collaborating and may fund the workshop. Tentative Dates: Third Week, December 2025.
Before I, the Ensign get ready to leave the Tong Ghar, a few glimpses of the holy shrine of readers, International Kolkata Book Fair, 2025.
OG Terminator said: I’ll be back
……The next edition of the Newsletter will be back….
Tags: Debraj Moulick, English Section, Kalpabiswa, Newsletter, দশম বর্ষ প্রথম সংখ্যা