The Beacon is a web-based only feature magazine of writing and reading (long-form essays, fiction and poetry) that believes in confluences more than in consensus. The Beacon searches for the intersections at which political/economic analyses meet literature, the personal weaves into the social, the real is imagined and unity spells diversity. Confluences make conversations meaningful and possible; intersections are the locations for cultures—of diversity, differences, pluralism, hybridity.
The Beacon eschews the prioritisation of the real over the imagined, of the social over the personal, of political/economic analyses over literature, of matter over mind and of the material over the ethical. The Beacon will endeavour to become the site for a new language and poetry of resistance–to oppression, to banality and the ghettoization of the mind.
Founder-Editor
Ashoak Upadhyay
After a doctorate in Economics from the University of Poona and a stint on the faculty of the Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics Pune, fled academia and Pune to journalism and Bombay in 1986. Thirty years in various print media starting with the EPW, ending with the Business Line of The Hindu group writing on public policy later, he fled that vile promontory and journalism to read and start the Beacon webzine in 2017 with a little help from friends.
127/5 Ratan Park Phase II D1/3 Pashan, PUNE 411021. INDIA.
ashoak1@gmail.com
ashoak@thebeacon.in
Panel of Editors
Darius Cooper
Taught Critical Thinking at San Diego Mesa College USA. Essayist, poet and film critic he has written on Guru Dutt, Satyajit Ray and published essays and reviews in India and USA. “Aavaan Jawaan” is his latest collection of poems.
1361 South Hudson Avenue. :Los Angeles, CA 90019
dcoop49@gmail.com
Medha Kotwal Lele
Doctorate in Political Science from Pune University, she co-founded Aalochana Centre for Documentation and Research on Women in 1989 as a bilingual women’s resource and training centre in Pune., India. Also taught at Study Abroad Programs IFAS &ACM, USA.
A 802, Oakwood Hills, Baner. PUNE 411045. INDIA
medha.kotwal@gmail.com
Keerti Ramachandra
Teacher, editor and tri-lingual translator,she translated Hindutva or Hind Swaraj by U.R. Anantamurthy (with Vivek Shanbag) from Kannada; short fiction by Gangadhar Gadgil from Marathi and Joginder Paul from Urdu. She lives in Bengeluru.
Flat no 52, Shalimar Apts, D’souza Road, Bangalore 560025 India
keertimanik@gmail.com
Wandana Sonalkar
Till recently, Professor at the Advanced Centre for Women’s Studies, TISS Mumbai. She has translated various Marathi texts into English including Urmila Pawar and Meenakshi Moon’s book on Women in the Ambedkar Movement, Zubaan, New Delhi and some short fiction and poetry. Her translation of the autobiography of the Dalit communist activist R.B. More is forthcoming from LeftWord Books. She lives in Mumbai.
105,Tanay Apartments,
Plot Nos 7,8,9A
Koparkhairane Sector 11,
Navi Mumbai 400709 INDIA
wsonalkar@gmail.com
Council of Advisors
A.J. Thomas
An English language poet, fiction writer and translates creative works from Malayalam into English, Thomas has a doctorate in English (translation studies) from the School of Letters, Mahatma Gandhi University Kottayam, Kerala. He was the Editor of Indian Literature, Sahitya Akademi’s publication.
Avijit Pathak
Professor at Centre for Study of Social Systems, JNU, New Delhi. Among his publications on education and modernity: Recalling the Forgotten. Educaton and Moral Quest. 2009. On Social Constraints and the Great Longing. Essays on the Human Condition. 2014
Geetanjali Shree
Award winning Hindi novelist and short fiction writer. She has also written an intellectual biography of Premchand. Her works have been translated into Gujarati, English, French, German, Serbian and Japanese. Her fifth and latest novel, Ret Samadhi has been translated by Daisy Rockwell into English as Tomb of Sand (due August 2021) and into French by Annie Montaut.
Riyaz Latif
Art and architectural historian. Has authored a number of reflective essays pertaining to visual cultures, literary cultures and poetry, and is the co-author of Sultanate Ahmadabad and Its Monuments (2023). Also a noted poet and translator, with three volumes of Urdu poems and a book of translations from European poets to his credit. Earlier, taught at Wellesley College and Vanderbilt University in the USA. Presently, associate professor at FLAME University, Pune.
Satyajit Rath
Former faculty member at the National Institute of Immunology (NII) New Delhi, now visitng faculty IISER Pune. He also works on science-and-society policies with government agencies and civil society groups Delhi Science Forum and Eklavya. He lives in Pune and New Delhi.
Publisher
Tidewater Learning Foundation
127/5 Ratan Park Phase II D1/3 Pashan PUNE 411021 INDIA
Contact Us
Submissions and Queries should be sent to: contactus@thebeacon.in
Please note: Submissions should be marked for relevant sections (Between the Lines etc). All text files must be Word doc files and reprints/visuals in JPEG format.
The Beacon Webzine is owned and published by Tidewater Learning Foundation, a not-for-profit entity incorporated under Section 8 of the Companies Act 2013.
Tidewater Learning Foundation
CIN: U80904PN2019NPL188654.
PAN: AAHCT6727B
TAN: PNET13874A
Registered Office: 127/5, Ratan Park Phase II, D1/3, Pashan, Pune 411 021 India
