Amitava Kumar

Sometimes the book you write finds the right reader. Here is James Wood on my novel in the New Yorker magazine. newyorker.com/magazine/2024/…

Ben Lerner has a new book coming out. amitavakumar.substack.com/p/ben-lerner-i… #Transcription #BenLernerIsCalling

“The Vanishing of Imran Khan” — a must-read essay in the long form by journalist Osman Samiuddin for the Pulitzer Center: pulitzercenter.org/stories/commen… “What happens when a state erases its most famous public figure?  “This is what Pakistan has been trying to do with the cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan over the last two years. He has been confined in a small jail cell, on trial for a slew of charges. Only one photo of him has emerged from that time. “The Pakistan Cricket Board, run by political appointees, issued a video celebrating Pakistan's 1992 World Cup win, under Imran's leadership—after having edited him out of the footage. News anchors were banned from mentioning his name. “So much of Imran Khan’s appeal has been built on his physically arresting presence, and to try to erase that—to erase the most famous Pakistani ever—is a striking experiment in repression. “In some ways, his situation is similar to that of Myanmar politician Aung San Suu Kyi when she was in prison—and Imran has compared himself to figures such as Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela. There are also parallels with older Pakistani leaders with cult-like support. “But Imran's situation is unique, not least because of the nature of his public profile, his route to political power, and his erasure in this digital age. “Journalist Osman Samiuddin reports from Lahore, Karachi, and Islamabad, to understand the stakes at play, the government’s various methods to vanish Imran from public life, and the hacks that his supporters have used to bend the rules.”

Thank you.

Homebound Oscarbound What Neeraj Ghaywan's film, based on Basharat Peer's journalism, is really successful in doing is using its poetic eye and a lyrical language to give its subjects a beautiful dignity. Amitava Kumar✍️ m.thewire.in/article/film/h…

'Great Nicobar could not be understood from Great Nicobar. It had to be understood from far-off places like Mumbai and Delhi.’ Amitava Kumar on the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. granta.com/childrens-tale…

NEW | BOOK REVIEW From Amitava Kumar’s latest book 'The Social Life of Indian Trains: A Journey' you may learn why a labourer earning 10 rupees for transferring chickpea sacks voted for the ruling dispensation. @DigvijayNikam3 writes. frontline.thehindu.com/books/amitava-…

I'll be leading a nonfiction workshop in August. Application deadline: March 27.

Thanks to @thewire_in for carrying my note on the excellent film “Homebound.”

We are delighted to announce that My Beloved Life: A Novel by Amitava Kumar and Carnival: A Novel by Sayam Bandyopadhyay, translated by Arunava Sinha, have been shortlisted for the 11th edition of Oxford Bookstore Book Cover Prize. #BookCoverPrize2026 #ShortlistAnnouncement #BookCoverPrize #OxfordBookstore #AlephBookCompany #AmitavaKumar #SayamBandyopadhyay @amitavakumar @arunava

.@amitavakumar, the author of ‘The Social Life of Indian Trains’, undertakes two train journeys to understand how trains have seeped into the national psyche and shaped the nation’s social and political journey. @chandersuta reviews in #SpectrumTheTribune @AlephBookCo tribuneindia.com/news/book-revi…

My first-ever full comedy special, too political to go on any streaming service, is out on youtube now. Full 80-minutes of NOTHING MAKES SENSE. youtube.com/watch?v=O-sdoc… Watch and share.

Amitava Kumar (@amitavakumar ) is a remarkable writer, artist and teacher. He is also one of them most inspiring consumers of culture which makes him one of our dream guests. In this episode, books, films and art collide and coalesce in unexpected ways and the absolute joy and pleasure of reading and listening and watching is for all to partake in. Just make sure you have a pen and paper handy for the the recommendations that come along the way. Listen on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. open.spotify.com/episode/5Uwmxg… @RajaSen

#OutlookAnniversaryIssue | I am concerned with the landscape of memory. Do you remember how the night-sky glowed with funeral fires? I read reports that the metal in the crematoriums was melting. You were walking among the dead. A thuggish chief minister warned that anyone who said there were no oxygen tanks available would be arrested. There were so many bodies floating in the Ganga and dogs were sticking their snouts into corpses buried in shallow graves on the river’s banks. But you know how it is. In one season, you have seen the branches of the trees heavy with fruit, and you cannot recall that distant season when the branches were bare. When the next elections came around, how many remembered what it had been like during those times? The same man who had lied about oxygen tanks went around proclaiming the victory of his party. Why do we let this happen? It is perhaps because we surrender to spectacle. And we are seduced by sentiment. We choose to uphold the constitutionality of the irrational. The guy on the throne, the toast-master of all tamashas, decided to shower rose petals from helicopters to honour the medical staff. All that while, there were millions on the highways trying to get home, to Ballia and Bettiah, and Sitamarhi and Siwan. This is the landscape of the nation-state: hills and valleys. One group, blissful in its comfortable ignorance, sits on the mountain-top while the masses trudge along the snaking paths in the valley below. Amitava Kumar (@amitavakumar) writes. He is a writer and artist who is Professor of English at Vassar College in upstate New York. Artwork by: Amitava Kumar Second Cover: Artwork by Sudarshan Shetty Cover: Sudarshan Shetty (@Sudarshan1967) #OutlookMagazine #OutlookAt30 #Elsewheres #ImaginedSpaces Read the full story here: buff.ly/SWMAzHZ

Watch the full video on YouTube: youtu.be/Uqzcv-oTIZc Writer and Journalist Amitava Kumar joins Outlook Editor Chinki Sinha for an in-depth conversation on writing, memory, identity, and Indian trains. In this episode of Outlook’s podcast series, 'Our Lovely Friends', Amitava Kumar discusses his latest book, 'The Social Life of Indian Trains', and how trains shape India’s social, political, and emotional life. Speaking about his writing process, Amitava Kumar reveals why he carries five different notebooks for five different purposes, how observation feeds literature, and what nostalgia means to him as a writer rooted in Bihar but living across in-between places. The conversation also touches on Indian literature, journalism, migration, belonging, and how everyday travel becomes an archive of stories. @amitavakumar @chinkis #OutlookMagazine #OutlookAt30 #Elsewheres #ImaginedSpaces

From Aravalli Hills to the Desert Dunes amitavakumar.substack.com/p/from-aravall…

#Features | The Social Life of Indian Trains forces you to reconsider what you thought you knew about arguably the country’s most important public-sector organisation, writes @aditya_mani_jha. Read more: thefederal.com/category/featu… #IndianRailways #BookReview #IndianRailways #Trains #Journalism

The history of Indian trains is older than India itself. For over 150 years, the train has been part of the lives of most Indians. In The Social Life of Indian Trains, acclaimed writer Amitava Kumar journeys aboard some of the country’s celebrated trains, from the Himsagar express to the legendary Darjeeling mountain railway, to explore the gigantic enterprise that is Indian Railways. Out now! @amitavakumar #AmitavaKumar #IndianTrains #TheSocialLifeofIndianTrains #AlephBookCompany

@NeelamM70886740 granta.com/childrens-tale…

@amitavakumar Link please 🙏

My Andamans diary has been published by Granta granta.com/childrens-tale…

"Trains in India are public sites... but what the smartphone has introduced is... a flagrant abuse of the public sphere by making it totally private!" - @amitavakumar, author, The Social Life of Indian Trains on the Books & Authors podcast: open.spotify.com/episode/6gPdLu…