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Editorial – Anthology Jan 2026

Interview – Tishani Doshi

Finding Feminism

To My 21-Year-Old Self

Anjum

Not Quite Anything

To remind us of what spaces that are safe, inclusive and self-affirming for each person could look like, we have curated a selection of articles from the last five years of In Plainspeak for this anthology – our gift to wish you a wonderful 2026.

By TARSHI

Editorial – Anthology Jan 2026

Photograph of a woman with long hair in red sari, sitting with a brown dog against a background of bushes with vines and pink azaleas. The woman is resting her chin on one hand and petting the dog with the other.

I’ve essentially thought of movement as a kind of freedom, but one that has the capacity to destabilise you in some way. My most creative moments are when I’m not moving, when I am in fact rooted and still.

By Shikha Aleya

Interview – Tishani Doshi

Anthology Issue January 2026 Interview

On Learning and Becoming: “To Whom Do I Owe the Woman I Have Become?”

We become women before we become a woman. Of course, we don’t need to try hard to do so…We learn the sides and folds of the gendered box we are in before we gain the perspective to decide we don’t fit in and build a customised box or choose to have no box at all.

By Anjali

On Learning and Becoming: “To Whom Do I Owe the Woman I Have Become?”

Anthology Issue January 2026 Issue In Focus

finding feminism: a woman handling a book

Standing behind the camera, with a microphone in one hand, I have felt this power imbalance first hand. The camera may humanise the person in front of it more than a text analysis would, but the modes of production remain in someone else’s hands.

By Surbhi Dewan

Finding Feminism

Anthology Issue January 2026 Voices

A multicolored image of a swirl in the middle of the image

Gender has perplexed me throughout life. I never quite understood femininity or masculinity much – I mostly lived in what other people thought I was. One thing I did know always is that I never, ever, want to be seen as a man. But can I still hold masculinity?

By Sudipta Das

Meanings and Meaninglessness

Anthology Issue January 2026 Voices

How would it be if we grew up embracing sexuality?

bottom half of a person in blue denim jeans and pink and white nike sneakers standing against a wall with their legs crosssed.

Growing up is a tedious task in our society because of the institutionalised practices, societal constructs and boxed identities and expressions that we are expected to adhere to. Anything beyond these implies harm, danger, and deviance.

By Sreejani

How would it be if we grew up embracing sexuality?

Anthology Issue January 2026 Voices

The novel turns the idea of masculinity on its head through the story of Brit, a boy who is as sharp as he is fragile. Born with osteogenesis imperfecta, Brit’s bones break easily, but his spirit doesn’t.

By Abhigya Singh

To Exist is to Defy

Anthology Issue January 2026 Review

A close-up photograph of a white blank paper upon which letters are scribbled. Upon the paper is a black fountain pen and some violet flowers.

‘Is the future so dark?’ you might ask. I am here to tell you that it is not. As you begin your exploration into the world of queer theory and feminist theory, you will learn that the straightjacket version of sexuality cooked by our families was undercooked.

By Chand

To My 21-Year-Old Self

Anthology Issue January 2026 The I Column

When I Grow Up I Want to be a List of Queer Possibilities

An arrangement of miniature colourful ceramic houses

To be a gentle / friendship breaker for S. To be // a candle-lit confetti apology for S.

By Aakanksha Ahuja

When I Grow Up I Want to be a List of Queer Possibilities

Anthology Issue January 2026 Fiction & Poetry

You dreamt of your pink dupatta flying over the Lal Quila last night.

By Sara Haque

Anjum

Anthology Issue January 2026 Fiction & Poetry

He didn’t wear his identity on his sleeve, and therefore he seemed more real than most people who did.

By Taarina Therese Chandiramani

Not Quite Anything

Anthology Issue January 2026 Fiction & Poetry

भाषा की ताकत – LGBTQIA+ पहचान और समावेशिता की दिशा में क़दम

भाषा सिर्फ अभिव्यक्ति का माध्यम नहीं है, यह पहचान, संबंध और संघर्ष का भी ज़रिया है। भाषा सामाजिक संरचना, पहचान और सत्ता-संबंधों को दर्शाने का भी औज़ार है।

By Imran Khan

भाषा की ताकत – LGBTQIA+ पहचान और समावेशिता की दिशा में क़दम

Anthology Issue January 2026 हिन्दी

In Plainspeak publishes one issue every month, with a single theme running across two months. Our aim is to expand safe, inclusive self-affirming spaces.

CURRENT ISSUE:Anthology Issue Jan 2026

SISA – Safe, Inclusive, Self-Affirming – these words seem utopian, almost nonsensical, in a world greedy for power and consumption. But they are not; they are our only hope. To remind us of what spaces that are safe, inclusive and self-affirming for each person could look like, we have curated a selection of articles from the last five years of In Plainspeak for this anthology – our gift to wish you a wonderful 2026.

UPCOMING ISSUE:

February-March 2026: Digital Intimacies and Sexuality

With ever-increasing (for most of us) access to and reliance on digital modes of connecting, we are no strangers to digital intimacies – erotic, sexual, platonic, emotional – on social media, gaming platforms, dating apps, and so on. While digital spaces afford possibilities of sexual freedom and pleasure, they also hold the threat of surveillance, exposure, and abuse. So what do we do to optimise our experience? Do we use different modes of self-representation, visibility/anonymity and self-censorship on different platforms? How do factors like queerness, ethnicity, caste, a/sexuality, and disability play out in the creation and sustenance of digital intimacies? Are the sexual intimacies that digital spaces afford congruent with those in our offline lives? Must they be, or is there a particular thrill in their not being so? What is ‘authenticity’ when it comes to our online persona/e and our sexual lives? These are some of the questions that this issue of In Plainspeak engages with.

फरवरी – मार्च २०२६: डिजिटल अंतरंगता और यौनिकता

हम में से अधिकांश लोगों के लिए डिजिटल माध्यमों तक पहुंच और उन पर निर्भरता लगातार बढ़ती जा रही है, और सोशल मीडिया, गेमिंग प्लेटफॉर्म, डेटिंग ऐप्स आदि पर डिजिटल अंतरंगता – कामुक, यौनिक, गैर-यौनिक, भावनात्मक – हमारे लिए कोई नई बात नहीं है। डिजिटल स्थान यौन स्वतंत्रता और आनंद की संभावनाएं तो प्रदान करते हैं, लेकिन साथ ही निगरानी, पर्दाफाश और हिंसा का ख़तरा भी पैदा करते हैं। तो हम अपने अनुभव को बेहतर बनाने के लिए क्या कर सकते हैं? हम विभिन्न प्लेटफॉर्मों पर आत्म-प्रतिनिधित्व, दृश्यता, गुमनामी और आत्म-नियंत्रितता को कैसे अलग-अलग तरीक़ों से इस्तेमाल करते हैं? क्वीयर होना, अयौनिक होना, यौनिकता, जातीयता, जाति, और विकलांगता जैसे कारक डिजिटल अंतरंगता के निर्माण और उसे बनाए रखने में क्या भूमिका निभाते हैं? क्या डिजिटल मंचों द्वारा प्रदान की जाने वाली यौनिक अंतरंगता हमारे ऑफलाइन जीवन की अंतरंगता के अनुरूप है? क्या ऐसा होना ज़रूरी है, या फिर ऐसा न होने में एक ख़ास रोमांच है? हमारी ऑनलाइन पहचान और हमारे यौन जीवन के संदर्भ में प्रामाणिकता (ऑथेंटिसिटी) क्या है? इन प्लेनस्पीक का यह अंक कुछ ऐसे प्रष्नों पर विचार-विमर्श करता है।

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