From my new piece in the Columbia Journalism Review: A specter is haunting the writing of fiction—the specter of fake news. I fear that my abilities as a novelist are being challenged by those who manufacture lies on social media. There is fiction and then there is fiction—falsities that lead to lynchings and riots. Both… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Media
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.
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 »
“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 »
City of Asylum, Pittsburgh
Home
At the airport in Delhi, I recorded a two-minute podcast on my idea of home.
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!