Herbarium Flexibound – 12 December 2025
Herbarium is a work of eco-fiction of startling ambition and talent. Growing up in Dubai with his parents, Tipu is a sensitive little boy more at home in the glow of video games than in the natural landscapes his mother, Fatima, adores. But during a weekend trip, Tipu’s world of whimsy is upended. Like a transplanted seedling, he comes to live at his mother’s childhood home in Kerala, where he is surrounded by the traces of her past—handwritten notes, pressed flowers and leafs, & the stories people remember her by. In the hush of groves and unspoken wounds carried over generations in their community, Tipu begins to see the world through his mother’s eyes. Plants become dearer to him—the thought of their dwindling numbers parallels his more personal and immediate loss. Following the changes in little Tipu’s life, full of curiosities, friction and the heartbreak of growing up, this story is one of love, loss, and the quiet resilience of being. About the Author: Sonia Rafeek is a UAE-based Malayalam writer & translator, with a MSc in Plant Pathology from Kerala Agricultural University. Her award winning debut Herbarium (2016) is included in Kerala University’s BA Malayalam Literature curriculum. Her other publications include (53) (2019), Penkuttikalude veedu (2021); and 3 collections of short stories. She has translated works by Clarice Lispector, Marguerite Duras, Khalid Jawed, among others, into Malayalam. About the Translator: Ministhy S. is an IAS officer working in the Uttar Pradesh cadre. She translates between three languages: Malayalam, English & Hindi. Her translations have been featured in the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature longlist (The Poison of Love, K.R. Meera, 2017), Crossword Book Jury Award shortlist (The Unseeing Idol of Light, K.R. Meera, 2018), & JCB Prize shortlist (Anti-Clock, V.J. James, 2021).
Categories: Fantasy
