Mohak Media. A woman’s skin remembers every touch it has ever known. A village weaver wields the power to save a life on Kurukshetra’s battlefield. A mother finds her dead daughter waiting in the kitchen on her birthday. A tiger keeps vigil on a forest road for the poacher who killed its kin. The 24 stories in the first Red Pen Anthology range from the mythic and the everyday to the bizarre and the familiar.
This collection by the Indian Copyeditors Forum was born when shapers of other people’s stories shaped their own, when copyeditors whose red pens smatter other manuscripts with corrections decided to use them to write their own stories.
Curated by Cora Pereira Bhatia and Inderpreet Kaur Uppal, let this debut endeavour by editors-turned-authors surprise you.
Cora Bhatia
About the author
Cora Pereira Bhatia is a Mumbai-born developmental editor and published writer, with over 12 years of experience in editing, credited on nearly 200 books across fiction and nonfiction genres spanning contemporary fiction, romance, thrillers, and crime. She has collaborated with well-known publishers and authors bringing clarity, empathy and narrative craft to every manuscript.
Her short stories and poems have appeared in international anthologies: 31 Days of October and The Power of Forgiveness, and nationally in the Fundação Oriente Short Story Competition Anthologies: Balcão Tales and Still Waters. Also in the anthology: Folk Tales from Goa.
Most recently, she co curated and edited The Red Pen Anthology (2026), a landmark project born from her initiative in the Indian Copyeditors Forum, inviting editors to set aside their red pens and craft their own stories.
As both editor and author, Cora understands the creative process and offers supportive edits that preserve each writer’s unique voice. She enjoys editing, contemporary fiction, romance, crime and thrillers, but avoids erotica.
Away from words, now based in Goa, she enjoys the sea, reading, painting, and crafting handmade jewellery – creative outlets that balance her literary life and fuel her artistry.
INDERPREET UPPAL
About the author
Inderpreet writes for her love of writing, edits manuscripts, and reads endlessly.
An authors’ editor with twelve years of experience, she provides manuscript critique, linguistic editing, substantive editing and developmental editing for fiction and nonfiction.
Inderpreet enjoys romance, paranormal, and contemporary fiction while ignoring horror, violence, and gore.
Inderpreet is the author of Generously Yours, We Women Wonder; and Self-Editing, Editing, and Editors.
She co-curated and edited The Red Pen Anthology (Vol I: Beyond the Margins) an official release by the Indian Copyeditors Forum, India’s preeminent body.
She is an OG member of the Indian Copyeditors Forum (ICF) and the curator of the ICF Book Club.
She lives in the capital city of New Delhi, India.
