How Cities in Fiction help readers locate real world places

On September 13, a quiet crowd of readers and researchers gathered to attend the first ever public launch of Cities in Fiction at Champaca Bookstore. This online archival project, currently focused on India, helps readers find fictional works through locating them on the world map.

Cities in Fiction , founded by Apoorva Saini and Divya Ravindranath, is an online literary archive to find, recognise and pinpoint real world places mentioned in Indian literature. Categorising them through State, city or geography, it ultimately links users to the title of the book and the author’s name.

Operating online for the past three years, they opened on a public stage this week. The launch event, titled ‘Cities in Fiction: A Database of Literary Landscapes’ saw co-founder Apoorva Saini and educator Vijeta Kumar discuss the archive. Fellow co-founder Divya Ravindranath was present in the audience.