I have written a piece for Granta on bookshelves. When I moved into the house I bought a few years ago across the road from Vassar College library, the first thing I unpacked was my own little library. On one small shelf I put books by John Berger, putting in the center an anthology of… Read more »
Posts By: Amitava Kumar
New Interview
Jeffrey Williams (JW): Your new novel, Immigrant, Montana, has been widely reviewed and most of the reviews have touted it as autofiction, although it strikes me that it is not really autobiographical. Having known you for a long time, I’d say you conducted a skillful ruse, giving it the air of autobiography. Amitava Kumar… Read more »
In Support of Ilhan Omar
At the request of PEN America, I contributed a few lines to the Guardian in support of Rep. Ilhan Omar. Others writers did too. Go here.
I’m Writing a Novel, but There Is the News
In which I ask: What can you write that will make anyone reading you give a dying man a drink of water? More
MacDowell Residency, June-July 2019
Drawing in a Time of Fear & Lies
I’m so very excited to have published this piece—particularly my drawing—in the art magazine Hyperallergic.
Writing Badly is Easy
A fine review of this new book has appeared in Mint: The intended readership of Writing Badly Is Easy may seem to be academics, students and those working towards joining the ranks of scholars, but Kumar’s approach, a combination of donnish table-talk and friendly advice over a drink, should appeal to anyone who has ever sat before… Read more »
The Summer That Changed You
An Indian newspaper asked me to contribute a hundred words about a summer that was transformative. I wrote about the summer when I wrote the first draft of Immigrant, Montana. (The novel was published in India as The Lovers.) I was also asked to supply a photo from the time I was writing about. My… Read more »
The World Is Made Up Of Lines
My friend Vasundhara at Aleph Book Company in Delhi asked me to share my writing advice. It was pub day for my book Writing Badly Is Easy. When I got her note on my phone, I was at Mass MOCA in North Adams. My daughter took this picture. I have now written a few lines… Read more »
“Intimacy is overrated; newness is everything.”
I was interviewed for National Geographic Traveller India. What do you love and hate most about travel, today? I like that travel gives you new eyes. When I arrive in a town, and am taking pictures, I realise that most often my best pictures are the ones taken on the first day. Intimacy is overrated;… Read more »