Amitava Kumar

Amitava Kumar on Books That Shaped Him—And Why Reading Should Hurt a Little Eminent Indian writer Amitava Kumar opens up about the books that raised him, the ones he gives away, and the ones that still haunt him.

“Reading is good when it disturbs you.” frontline.thehindu.com/columns/amit...

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From @brickliterary.bsky.social
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#WorldEnvironmentDay

On #worldenvironmentday, I’m sharing my @GrantaMag piece on the sinking Himalayan town granta.com/sinking-town/

"How's Richard? How's Tonto? How's John? How's Chrissy? How's Judy? How's Mickey?" My daughter is graduating from college

amitavakumar.substack.com/p/hows-richa...

Lynn Freed (1945-2025) "What is truth if not the life at the very heart of failure?"

amitavakumar.substack.com/p/lynn-freed...

Ask the Soldier Who is Leaving (Or, जाने वाले सिपाही से पूछो )

amitavakumar.substack.com/p/ask-the-so...

"Terrorist" Two short-short stories

amitavakumar.substack.com/p/terrorist

Why Am I Still Teaching Journalism? A brief report on PEN World Voices Festival

Why am I still teaching journalism? amitavakumar.substack.com/p/why-am-i-s...

Three Acts In which I tell you about my upcoming readings

Three upcoming readings
amitavakumar.substack.com/p/three-acts

The Jewel on the Left Side of Your Chest #FreeGulfisha

#FreeGulfisha
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Therapy Is Not a Cure for Climate Disaster - Electric Literature “Therapist” from ATAVISTS by Lydia Millet, recommended by Amitava Kumar

A new Lydia Millet story about a therapist questioning her line of work in an era of climate disaster, recommended by @amitava.bsky.social

India is the Vishwa Guru of Lying My interview in Frontline

amitavakumar.substack.com/p/india-is-t...

The Wild Garden of Space A report on what I read during my Spring break

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[Carel Willink, Bad Tidings, 1932 Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam] Tempera on linen. A man in suit and hat in right foreground, walking away; a woman in white blouse and brown skirt, running up the street to reach him. Stately pink mansion and tree-lined street form the picture, ominous dark clouds overhead.

I lived in the first century of world wars. Most mornings I would be more or less insane, The newspapers would arrive with their careless stories, The news would pour out of various devices Interrupted by attempts to sell products to the unseen. I would call my friends on other devices; They would be more or less mad for similar reasons. Slowly I would get to pen and paper, Make my poems for others unseen and unborn. In the day I would be reminded of those men and women, Brave, setting up signals across vast distances, Considering a nameless way of living, of almost unimagined values. As the lights darkened, as the lights of night brightened, We would try to imagine them, try to find each other, To construct peace, to make love, to reconcile Waking with sleeping, ourselves with each other, Ourselves with ourselves. We would try by any means To reach the limits of ourselves, to reach beyond ourselves, To let go the means, to wake. I lived in the first century of these wars. -Muriel Rukeyser, “I lived in the first century of world wars”

I lived in the first century of world wars.
Most mornings I would be more or less insane
The newspapers would arrive with their careless stories
–
Slowly I would get to pen and paper,
Make my poems for others unseen and unborn.

-Muriel Rukeyser
#everynightapoem

[Carel Willink, Bad Tidings, 1932]

Travelling Through India on the Himsagar Express This was not a luxury train, but even here, as in Indian society as a whole, the distinctions between the haves and the have-nots were clear.

Fantastic New Yorker essay by author and artist @amitava.bsky.social, Professor of English on the Helen D. Lockwood Chair.
bit.ly/4iyUUq8

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amitavakumar.substack.com/p/and-yet-an...

Paperback Row in the New York Times Book Review

Tomorrow at the Brooklyn Public Library www.bklynlibrary.org/calendar/ami...

What Was Your Happiest Day? Report from a school visit in Delhi

During a visit to a school in Delhi I asked “what was your happiest day?”

amitavakumar.substack.com/p/what-was-y...

Paperback launch of Amitava Kumar’s My Beloved Life on Feb 5 at 7 PM in Brooklyn. Central Library, Dweck Center. Discussion with Katie Kitamura.

My novel's paperback launch in Brooklyn with Katie Kitamura on Feb 5!

Postcards from the Ganges | Brick In the summer of 2023, Amitava Kumar undertook a journey through small towns and cities beside the Ganges, from Devprayag, in the Himalayan foothills, to the Sundarbans, where the river empties into…

brickmag.com/postcards-fr...

Episode 408: Amitava Kumar Finds His Gulmohar Tree | The Seen and the Unseen His earlier episodes on this show have been huge hits, and as he completes a trilogy of books, he returns to complete a trilogy of episodes. Amitava Kumar joins Amit Varma in episode 408 of The Seen…

seenunseen.in/episodes/202...

I is for India; I is for Hypocrisy Also, who made Sudha Murthy Author #1?

Let’s rage and rant
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Update on the book tour

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Amitava Kumar on Finding Solace in the Words of Others When my kids were little, I was always afraid that they would die, but that was mostly nervous ignorance on my part, knowing nothing about the resilience of little bodies. I used to worry how an in…

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LitHub names this among their favorite essays of 2024

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