At the airport in Delhi, I recorded a two-minute podcast on my idea of home.
Posts By: Amitava Kumar
Thank you, President Obama
Barack Obama shared his list of favorite books for 2018 and I was delighted to find Immigrant, Montana on that list, right between David Blight and the late great Denis Johnson!
Yale
I have just returned from a lovely visit to Yale University where I visiting Professor Leah Mirakhor’s writing class and then did a reading and talk at Ezra Stiles College. (At Ezra Stiles, I read from Immigrant, Montana and collected some valuable merch. An Ezra Stiles woolen scarf and thermos. Thank you for the opportunity,… Read more »
Immigrant, Montana in the New York Times
Immigrant, Montana reviewed in the New York Times Book Review. Jabari Asim calls it “consistently entertaining.” More here. (Also cool to have the wonderful Kate Walbert reviewed on the same page.)
Speaking Of
It was an honor to deliver the 2018 Vassar College Convocation Address on September 12. A preview was offered here. I love in particular the beautiful and historic chapel on campus. Photos by Karl Rabe. In other news, the audio reading I did of Immigrant, Montana has received a wonderful review here: IMMIGRANT, MONTANA… Read more »
Prized Possession
For Canada’s Sharp Magazine, I wrote a little piece about my most prized possession: my mother’s prayer beads. My father opened my mother’s closet and laid out all its contents on the bed: beautiful silk saris, a couple of woollen coats, sweaters, small pieces of jewellery, a few gold coins. This was just hours after… Read more »
Consider the Monkey
I wrote an original essay for Powells.com about Ota Benga and the ways in which monkeys became a part of my novel, Immigrant Montana. Click here.
Notebooks
Granta has carried an essay of mine on the notebooks I used during the writing of my novel, Immigrant, Montana. And also an excerpt.
“This is the Author” Interview for the Audio Version
<Writer’s voice> I did the audio version of my novel. Here’s a brief, four-minute interview for Penguin Random House Audio about the experience. Who would be my dream narrator? (I chose writers, not actors.) Which word from my novel was I unable to pronounce? (It was an adjective, describing a woman’s smile.) What did the… Read more »
He’s Gotta Have It
In the pages of the latest New Yorker, Joanna Biggs has a lovely, absorbing review of Immigrant, Montana. The new book falls between genres. Its aim is not to tell a story, exactly, but to create a portrait of a mind moving uneasily between a new, chosen culture and the one left behind. Kailash’s journey… Read more »