South Asian Popular and Pulp Fiction

The University of Texas at Austin Libraries is developing a collection of popular and pulp fiction in the regional languages of South Asia. These novels, novellas and serialized stories help us challenge what qualifies as “worthy” both in terms of style and substance while also providing a unique lens through which themes of gender, sexuality, caste & religion, authority can be explored.  Beyond literary content, the graphic covers are also of great interest.

The entire collection is discoverable through the UT Library catalog, including by language:

• English
• Hindi
• Malayalam
• Tamil
• Telugu
• Urdu

In addition, we are building an online collection of scanned covers of these books.  Please explore and enjoy them here!

For more background on the collection and its continued growth, see TexLibris blog posts from May 2015, June 2016, February 2017, February 2018, December 2018, and January 2020.

The collection is UT's "niche" contribution to the South Asia Cooperative Collection Development Workshops.

We have been creating small exhibits as introductions to authors and themes within the Popular and Pulp Fiction Collection.  Please visit:

• "Ibne Safi" by Nicole Marino (also available here), which highlights one of the largest collections of the author's works, primarily in Urdu but also in Hindi and English translation.
• "Indra Soundarajan," by Daniel Dillon, an introduction to the prolific Tamil author's life and works.
• "Kottayam Pushpanath" by Darsana Mayanathu Sasi (also available here), about one of the most significant detective novelists in Malayalam.
• "Representations of Women in South India," by Daniel Dillon, which highlights trends from cover design.