Multiple award-winning, Mumbai-based author, Murzban F. Shroff, recently released his latest book, titled ‘Muses Over Mumbai’, a collection of 17 stories underlining the belief that Mumbai lives through the characters inhabiting the city, gaining immense international praise from literary greats including Booker Prize winner – Salman Rushdie, Pulitzer Prize Laureate – Robert Olen Butler, Sahitya Akademi Award recipient – Amit Chaudhuri, and Booker Prize nominee – Jeet Thayil.

Described as a prolific tribute to the spirit of Mumbai, 16 of the 17 stories have appeared in premier literary journals across the UK, USA and Australia, including the Chicago Tribune, India Abroad, Asia Literary Review, Washington Square Review and Transnational Literature. The collection has a rich cast of characters and deals with urban issues such as the veg-non-veg divide, alcoholism, terrorism, caste and communal prejudice, class snobbery, corporate greed, public sector incompetence, destruction of green zones and random development.

‘Muses Over Mumbai’, published by Bloomsbury India, is indeed an unputdownable read, detailing fascinating accounts of eclectic Mumbaikars – including a war hero struggling to resolve a housing society feud, a mother’s overpowering protective instincts for her twin-daughters, an upright constable grappling with forbidden love, an advertising executive pursued by a homicidal cabbie, a half-crazed tycoon trying to fend off an extortion threat, a waste collector on a mission to save the city’s stray dogs, and the author himself bemoaning the city’s degradation from ‘Bombay bonhomie’ to ‘Mumbai mayhem’, and more.

As per Salman Rushdie, while today’s Mumbai is a city with a dark side, the spirit of its people is still a rich subject, saying, “These fine stories set that spirit against the darkness, to original and powerful effect.” Robert Olen Butler praises the novel as brilliant where Shroff’s “Consummate artistry not only gives us a ravishingly vivid portrait of Mumbai but turns that city into a portrait of the universal human condition in every large city around the world.” And Jeet Thayil terms it, “A fitting companion volume to Breathless in Bombay, these stories ring timeless and true.”

Murzban Shroff’s works have been published in over 75 literary journals worldwide. He is the recipient of the John Gilgun Fiction Award and the Bacopa Review Fiction Award. He holds seven Pushcart Prize nominations. His story collection, ‘Breathless in Bombay’, was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize while ‘Waiting for Jonathan Koshy’ was a finalist for the Horatio Nelson Fiction Prize and ‘Third Eye Rising’ featured on the Esquire list of Best Books of 2021. Shroff is a sought after guest speaker at several literary festivals and universities across the world.