3 min readNew DelhiJun 6, 2026 04:21 AM IST
Joe Sacco, the acclaimed graphic novelist whose illustrated dispatches from Gaza, Palestine, and the Balkans have explored new facets in war journalism and comics reporting, turned his unflinching eye on India in his latest work, The Once and Future Riot. In 135 pages, it chronicles the 2013 Muzaffarnagar communal clashes that left over 60 dead and 40,000 displaced.
Readers in India hoping to find it at their local bookstore will be disappointed: Penguin Random House India has pulled the plug on distributing the title, The Indian Express has learnt.
The book, published last year, was expected to hit Indian shelves by August-September. But, Gaurav Shrinagesh, CEO of Penguin Random House (PRH) India, confirmed that the title was red-flagged during a pre-check and legal scrutiny process. “We had highlighted certain things on the Joe Sacco title but they (Penguin UK) did not get back to us,” he said. “One problem was a map in the book showing inaccurate boundaries of India. Besides that, we had raised some content questions and asked for citations which never came.”
The publisher added, “We are very clear about this: if we know there is an inaccurate map and no changes are forthcoming, we will not do it. We have decided there will be no distribution of the book due to these red flags not being attended to.”
How many content queries were raised beyond the map issue remains unclear.
The book is available in India on some online platforms which source copies from UK-based wholesalers — a parallel distribution channel that PRH India has no control over. Some South Delhi bookstores, tired of waiting, have imported copies directly from the UK.
Sacco, who dedicated the book to India’s “hardworking rural journalists” — several assisted him as translators and researchers and also feature in its pages — visited Muzaffarnagar a year after the riots. In a recent interview for Prism magazine, he reflected on what drew him to the story. “It’s a question of looking at the lies and presenting them as lies,” he said. “‘She said, he said’ is not journalism. That’s just quoting people. In this case, it was possible to make an effort to find out what actually happened.”
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In the book’s final chapter, “The Future Riot,” Sacco dwells on the politics behind the riots. The 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots occurred just months before the 2014 general elections. “Communal violence, planned or not, can confer some electoral advantage,” he writes, “and bloodshed, properly framed, is nothing but a political building block.”
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