Foundation Initiatives

Yaarbal Books is an independent publishing imprint based in New Delhi, India. It takes its name from a Kashmiri language word for the riverbank, and suggests a place of conviviality. As yet there is no physical space where these conversations can take place, only through our books. Our logo, a bold Y integrated with a slingshot, is a fair representation of the intentions: both resourceful and resolute, at once toy and weapon. It also stands in for a commitment to swim against the tides of power, commerce, and conformity. Yaarbal is an imprint of Octave Communications, a production house with a three decade long track in documentary film and television. It came into existence simply because no publisher would take on our first title, the 2017 photobook ‘Witness – Kashmir / 1986-2016’, which was later that year listed in New York Times Magazine’s year-end list of Best Photo Books of 2017. In 2020 Yaarbal continued its conversations around Kashmir with a second title, the critically acclaimed Cups of nun chai by Alana Hunt.