Nilanjana S Roy
@nilanjanaroy.bsky.social
Otter of books
Black River: https://tinyurl.com/blackriver-india
https://tinyurl.com/blackriver-roy
Novelist, FT columnist, professional cat herder
Black River: https://tinyurl.com/blackriver-india
https://tinyurl.com/blackriver-roy
Novelist, FT columnist, professional cat herder
Pinned
Nilanjana S Roy
@nilanjanaroy.bsky.social
· Nov 23
For crime and noir fiction readers — a grazing board.
A small selection: from hard-hitting, dirty realist rural crime (Hurda, by Atharva Pandit) to Mughal-era detectives (Madhulika Liddle), gritty big city crime (Anita Nair, me) to light-hearted romps (Unmana, Samyukta Bhowmick).
#Indianwriting
A small selection: from hard-hitting, dirty realist rural crime (Hurda, by Atharva Pandit) to Mughal-era detectives (Madhulika Liddle), gritty big city crime (Anita Nair, me) to light-hearted romps (Unmana, Samyukta Bhowmick).
#Indianwriting
Reposted by Nilanjana S Roy
So excited to announce this! Available only in India for now.
I’m thrilled to be publishing a truly special new book by the brilliant, International Booker Prize-winning @shreedaisy.bsky.social
Alice Sees Ghosts is nothing short of a literary masterpiece dressed as a delicious ghost story unlike any you’ve read before.
Pre-order it here: amzn.in/d/hrQLWHZ
Alice Sees Ghosts is nothing short of a literary masterpiece dressed as a delicious ghost story unlike any you’ve read before.
Pre-order it here: amzn.in/d/hrQLWHZ
July 12, 2025 at 2:10 PM
So excited to announce this! Available only in India for now.
"But in a world which is full of categories, hatred and ideologies, there was this basic decency. There was something beautiful about the two people."
~ Basharat Peer on Homebound
www.rediff.com/movies/repor...
~ Basharat Peer on Homebound
www.rediff.com/movies/repor...
'There Was Something Beautiful About The Two People'
'In a world which is full of categories, hatred and ideologies, there was this basic decency.'
www.rediff.com
May 21, 2025 at 11:53 AM
"But in a world which is full of categories, hatred and ideologies, there was this basic decency. There was something beautiful about the two people."
~ Basharat Peer on Homebound
www.rediff.com/movies/repor...
~ Basharat Peer on Homebound
www.rediff.com/movies/repor...
"The aim of translation, especially in former colonies like ours where English is acquired along with a complicated baggage, should never be to write in “proper” English [but] to introduce the reader to new words that come loaded with the hum of another language."
scroll.in/article/1081...
scroll.in/article/1081...
‘With an accent’: How Deepa Bhasthi translated International Booker Prize-shortlisted ‘Heart Lamp’
An interview with Deepa Bhasthi, whose translation of Banu Mushtaq’s ‘Heart Lamp’ is the first Kannada – and second Indian – book to make the Prize shortlist.
scroll.in
May 21, 2025 at 11:47 AM
"The aim of translation, especially in former colonies like ours where English is acquired along with a complicated baggage, should never be to write in “proper” English [but] to introduce the reader to new words that come loaded with the hum of another language."
scroll.in/article/1081...
scroll.in/article/1081...
“This is not just my victory, but a chorus of voices often left unheard. A thousand fireflies lighting a single sky, brief, brilliant and utterly collective.”
~ Banu Mushtaq in her acceptance speech.
#InternationalBooker2025 #internationalbooker
~ Banu Mushtaq in her acceptance speech.
#InternationalBooker2025 #internationalbooker
May 21, 2025 at 11:44 AM
“This is not just my victory, but a chorus of voices often left unheard. A thousand fireflies lighting a single sky, brief, brilliant and utterly collective.”
~ Banu Mushtaq in her acceptance speech.
#InternationalBooker2025 #internationalbooker
~ Banu Mushtaq in her acceptance speech.
#InternationalBooker2025 #internationalbooker
The @financialtimes.com editorial board on the west's shameful silence on Gaza.
(Proud to be a small part of this paper.)
(Proud to be a small part of this paper.)
May 7, 2025 at 4:51 AM
The @financialtimes.com editorial board on the west's shameful silence on Gaza.
(Proud to be a small part of this paper.)
(Proud to be a small part of this paper.)
Reposted by Nilanjana S Roy
Breaking news: Tensions between the two countries have been rising since last month when New Delhi blamed Islamabad for an attack by militants in Indian-administered Kashmir that killed 26 people. www.ft.com/content/c03e...
May 6, 2025 at 9:32 PM
Breaking news: Tensions between the two countries have been rising since last month when New Delhi blamed Islamabad for an attack by militants in Indian-administered Kashmir that killed 26 people. www.ft.com/content/c03e...
Reposted by Nilanjana S Roy
Note the reference in the Pulitzer designation to her "fearlessness that led to her departure from the news organization after 17 years"
A Pulitzer prize to Ann Telnaes, whose cartoon showing a supplicating Bezos led to her departure from the Washington Post's Opinion section
May 5, 2025 at 8:04 PM
Note the reference in the Pulitzer designation to her "fearlessness that led to her departure from the news organization after 17 years"
Reposted by Nilanjana S Roy
Palestinian poet Mosab Abu Toha wins Pulitzer prize for commentary
Palestinian poet Mosab Abu Toha wins Pulitzer prize for commentary
Renowned poet and author wins prize for series of New Yorker essays on suffering of Palestinians in Gaza
The renowned Palestinian poet and author, Mosab Abu Toha, is among this year’s Pulitzer prize winners.
Abu Toha was awarded for a series of essays in the New Yorker documenting the lives and suffering of Palestinians in Gaza, where he has lived nearly all his life. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
May 5, 2025 at 9:39 PM
Palestinian poet Mosab Abu Toha wins Pulitzer prize for commentary
"I have just won a Pulitzer Prize for Commentary.
Let it bring hope
Let it be a tale."
~ Mosab Abu Toha, Palestinian poet and Pulitzer winner:
www.ndtv.com/world-news/l...
Let it bring hope
Let it be a tale."
~ Mosab Abu Toha, Palestinian poet and Pulitzer winner:
www.ndtv.com/world-news/l...
"Let It Be A Tale": Palestinian Poet Mosab Abu Toha Wins Pulitzer
Palestinian poet and author Mosab Abu Toha has won the Pulitzer Prize for his powerful essays, chronicling the physical and emotional toll of the ongoing war in Gaza.
www.ndtv.com
May 6, 2025 at 12:41 PM
"I have just won a Pulitzer Prize for Commentary.
Let it bring hope
Let it be a tale."
~ Mosab Abu Toha, Palestinian poet and Pulitzer winner:
www.ndtv.com/world-news/l...
Let it bring hope
Let it be a tale."
~ Mosab Abu Toha, Palestinian poet and Pulitzer winner:
www.ndtv.com/world-news/l...
Percival Everett:
"That is the first thing fascists do—go after books and art—because that is where we are most human. And it is not writing that I consider so wonderfully subversive. It is actually reading, the most subversive thing we can do. "
news.ucsc.edu/2025/04/a-de...
#writing
"That is the first thing fascists do—go after books and art—because that is where we are most human. And it is not writing that I consider so wonderfully subversive. It is actually reading, the most subversive thing we can do. "
news.ucsc.edu/2025/04/a-de...
#writing
A Deep Read interview. Percival Everett and the making of James
This spring, Percival Everett spoke with Dan White, Humanities Writer at UC Santa Cruz, about the creation of his 2024 National Book Award-winning novel James, a book that reoccupies and reimagines Ma...
news.ucsc.edu
May 6, 2025 at 12:39 PM
Percival Everett:
"That is the first thing fascists do—go after books and art—because that is where we are most human. And it is not writing that I consider so wonderfully subversive. It is actually reading, the most subversive thing we can do. "
news.ucsc.edu/2025/04/a-de...
#writing
"That is the first thing fascists do—go after books and art—because that is where we are most human. And it is not writing that I consider so wonderfully subversive. It is actually reading, the most subversive thing we can do. "
news.ucsc.edu/2025/04/a-de...
#writing
Ocean Vuong, in an interview that cracks open so much, so beautifully.
"The syllabus was Baldwin, Annie Dillard, Foucault. And I realized #writing was not writing a respectable email to get a job. It was a medium of understanding suffering. That’s when it changed."
www.nytimes.com/2025/05/03/m...
"The syllabus was Baldwin, Annie Dillard, Foucault. And I realized #writing was not writing a respectable email to get a job. It was a medium of understanding suffering. That’s when it changed."
www.nytimes.com/2025/05/03/m...
‘The Interview’: Ocean Vuong was Ready to Kill. A Moment of Grace Changed His Life.
The poet and novelist on the real reason he became a writer.
www.nytimes.com
May 4, 2025 at 3:22 PM
Ocean Vuong, in an interview that cracks open so much, so beautifully.
"The syllabus was Baldwin, Annie Dillard, Foucault. And I realized #writing was not writing a respectable email to get a job. It was a medium of understanding suffering. That’s when it changed."
www.nytimes.com/2025/05/03/m...
"The syllabus was Baldwin, Annie Dillard, Foucault. And I realized #writing was not writing a respectable email to get a job. It was a medium of understanding suffering. That’s when it changed."
www.nytimes.com/2025/05/03/m...
Small notes: Tim Berners-Lee in 1999:
"Inventing the WWW involved my growing realisation that there was a power in arranging ideas in an unconstrained, weblike way.The Web arose as the answer to an open challenge, through the swirling together of influences, ideas, & realisations from many sides."
"Inventing the WWW involved my growing realisation that there was a power in arranging ideas in an unconstrained, weblike way.The Web arose as the answer to an open challenge, through the swirling together of influences, ideas, & realisations from many sides."
April 28, 2025 at 2:42 PM
Small notes: Tim Berners-Lee in 1999:
"Inventing the WWW involved my growing realisation that there was a power in arranging ideas in an unconstrained, weblike way.The Web arose as the answer to an open challenge, through the swirling together of influences, ideas, & realisations from many sides."
"Inventing the WWW involved my growing realisation that there was a power in arranging ideas in an unconstrained, weblike way.The Web arose as the answer to an open challenge, through the swirling together of influences, ideas, & realisations from many sides."
Small notes: how easily AI Overview is fooled by fake proverbs ("the crow and the scarecrow are no friends", "the deepest well holds the sweetest water" and other nonsense).
It provides such plausible back-formations and stories. You wonder how long the Web as we know it will remain truthful.
It provides such plausible back-formations and stories. You wonder how long the Web as we know it will remain truthful.
April 28, 2025 at 2:37 PM
Small notes: how easily AI Overview is fooled by fake proverbs ("the crow and the scarecrow are no friends", "the deepest well holds the sweetest water" and other nonsense).
It provides such plausible back-formations and stories. You wonder how long the Web as we know it will remain truthful.
It provides such plausible back-formations and stories. You wonder how long the Web as we know it will remain truthful.
"We are facing a global crisis," says the artist and graphic novelist Badiucao. "The outcome is either autocratic empires dividing the world or World War III."
A generation of dissidents and exiles turn to the graphic novel/ memoir — my column for the @financialtimes.com.
archive.is/6fxlR
A generation of dissidents and exiles turn to the graphic novel/ memoir — my column for the @financialtimes.com.
archive.is/6fxlR
April 28, 2025 at 2:22 PM
"We are facing a global crisis," says the artist and graphic novelist Badiucao. "The outcome is either autocratic empires dividing the world or World War III."
A generation of dissidents and exiles turn to the graphic novel/ memoir — my column for the @financialtimes.com.
archive.is/6fxlR
A generation of dissidents and exiles turn to the graphic novel/ memoir — my column for the @financialtimes.com.
archive.is/6fxlR
Reposted by Nilanjana S Roy
If this ain't a goddamn perfect eulogy, I don't know what is.
April 3, 2025 at 10:51 PM
If this ain't a goddamn perfect eulogy, I don't know what is.
Reposted by Nilanjana S Roy
I have tariffed
the penguins
that are on
Heard Island
and which
you were probably
assuming
did not export goods
forgive me
they were taking advantage of us
so cunning
and so cold
the penguins
that are on
Heard Island
and which
you were probably
assuming
did not export goods
forgive me
they were taking advantage of us
so cunning
and so cold
April 3, 2025 at 7:45 PM
I have tariffed
the penguins
that are on
Heard Island
and which
you were probably
assuming
did not export goods
forgive me
they were taking advantage of us
so cunning
and so cold
the penguins
that are on
Heard Island
and which
you were probably
assuming
did not export goods
forgive me
they were taking advantage of us
so cunning
and so cold
Reposted by Nilanjana S Roy
And some people
Write poems every day of their lives
But not on the page, not on the screen…
Lost and Found by @nilanjanaroy.bsky.social
(read by @zigzackly.bsky.social )
youtu.be/s3kTfnNDADM?...
Write poems every day of their lives
But not on the page, not on the screen…
Lost and Found by @nilanjanaroy.bsky.social
(read by @zigzackly.bsky.social )
youtu.be/s3kTfnNDADM?...
Lost and Found, by Nilanjana Roy
YouTube video by Poetry in Parks
youtu.be
March 29, 2025 at 1:49 PM
And some people
Write poems every day of their lives
But not on the page, not on the screen…
Lost and Found by @nilanjanaroy.bsky.social
(read by @zigzackly.bsky.social )
youtu.be/s3kTfnNDADM?...
Write poems every day of their lives
But not on the page, not on the screen…
Lost and Found by @nilanjanaroy.bsky.social
(read by @zigzackly.bsky.social )
youtu.be/s3kTfnNDADM?...
Watching One Hundred Years of Solitude, spooling the episodes out slowly so as to let the memory of the book return.
Many years ago, GGM set conditions for film-makers: the entire book must be filmed, but only one chapter, two minutes long, was to be released each year, for one hundred years.
Many years ago, GGM set conditions for film-makers: the entire book must be filmed, but only one chapter, two minutes long, was to be released each year, for one hundred years.
December 15, 2024 at 2:10 PM
Watching One Hundred Years of Solitude, spooling the episodes out slowly so as to let the memory of the book return.
Many years ago, GGM set conditions for film-makers: the entire book must be filmed, but only one chapter, two minutes long, was to be released each year, for one hundred years.
Many years ago, GGM set conditions for film-makers: the entire book must be filmed, but only one chapter, two minutes long, was to be released each year, for one hundred years.
Persons of the Year — two whose courage and integrity under extreme loss and horror stood out to me:
Gisèle Pélicot, who spoke for so many when she said that "shame must change sides".
And Wael al-Dahdouh: "They took revenge on us through our children."
www.theguardian.com/world/2024/o...
Gisèle Pélicot, who spoke for so many when she said that "shame must change sides".
And Wael al-Dahdouh: "They took revenge on us through our children."
www.theguardian.com/world/2024/o...
‘I couldn’t cry over my children like everyone else’: the tragedy of Palestinian journalist Wael al-Dahdouh
The long read: After his wife and two of his children were killed in Gaza, Al Jazeera journalist Wael al-Dahdouh became famous around the world for his decision to keep reporting. But this was just th...
www.theguardian.com
December 13, 2024 at 2:39 PM
Persons of the Year — two whose courage and integrity under extreme loss and horror stood out to me:
Gisèle Pélicot, who spoke for so many when she said that "shame must change sides".
And Wael al-Dahdouh: "They took revenge on us through our children."
www.theguardian.com/world/2024/o...
Gisèle Pélicot, who spoke for so many when she said that "shame must change sides".
And Wael al-Dahdouh: "They took revenge on us through our children."
www.theguardian.com/world/2024/o...
Reposted by Nilanjana S Roy
🧽 Squeaky Clean by @callummcsorley.bsky.social and ⚫️ Black River by @nilanjanaroy.bsky.social BOTH @thetimes.com Best Paperbacks of 2024! www.thetimes.com/culture/book...
The 50 best paperbacks of 2024
Can’t bear to carry around yet another hardback? Or do you balk at the horror of a £40 book? Paperbacks are the answer: here are some of this year’s finest
www.thetimes.com
December 9, 2024 at 10:16 AM
🧽 Squeaky Clean by @callummcsorley.bsky.social and ⚫️ Black River by @nilanjanaroy.bsky.social BOTH @thetimes.com Best Paperbacks of 2024! www.thetimes.com/culture/book...
Reposted by Nilanjana S Roy
lovely piece on the threat AI poses to book translation, which doubles as an ode to translators: www.ft.com/content/3dff...
December 10, 2024 at 1:29 PM
lovely piece on the threat AI poses to book translation, which doubles as an ode to translators: www.ft.com/content/3dff...
Reposted by Nilanjana S Roy
The good news keeps rolling in! BLACK RIVER by @nilanjanaroy.bsky.social is one of Crime Reads Best Crime Novels of 2024! crimereads.com/the-best-cri...
The Best Crime Novels of 2024
Another terrible year for the world and another great year for books! While we have plenty of spinoff lists to come before the end of the year, it’s time to share the CrimeReads editors’…
crimereads.com
December 11, 2024 at 2:29 PM
The good news keeps rolling in! BLACK RIVER by @nilanjanaroy.bsky.social is one of Crime Reads Best Crime Novels of 2024! crimereads.com/the-best-cri...
When @parodevi.bsky.social writes about chilli cheese toast, best of hot gooey messes.
"The sharp chilli bites your tongue, the plump salty cheese caresses it, and so it can go on infinitely, a sweet lick of tomato sauce keeping the excitement fresh."
www.mid-day.com/news/opinion...
"The sharp chilli bites your tongue, the plump salty cheese caresses it, and so it can go on infinitely, a sweet lick of tomato sauce keeping the excitement fresh."
www.mid-day.com/news/opinion...
Cheesy chilly toast in Latur
That day arrived in Latur. Scanning the menu, I spied it. Chilli Cheese Toast. Only the world’s bestest snack.
www.mid-day.com
December 8, 2024 at 10:46 AM
When @parodevi.bsky.social writes about chilli cheese toast, best of hot gooey messes.
"The sharp chilli bites your tongue, the plump salty cheese caresses it, and so it can go on infinitely, a sweet lick of tomato sauce keeping the excitement fresh."
www.mid-day.com/news/opinion...
"The sharp chilli bites your tongue, the plump salty cheese caresses it, and so it can go on infinitely, a sweet lick of tomato sauce keeping the excitement fresh."
www.mid-day.com/news/opinion...
Erik Pedersen and I chat about books, reading and crime fiction. For the OC Register and other papers:
www.dailynews.com/2024/12/06/b...
www.dailynews.com/2024/12/06/b...
‘Black River’ author Nilanjana S. Roy reveals the mysteries of her reading life
In the Book Pages, the writer discusses her excellent novel and the great book advice her father gave her.
www.dailynews.com
December 8, 2024 at 10:41 AM
Erik Pedersen and I chat about books, reading and crime fiction. For the OC Register and other papers:
www.dailynews.com/2024/12/06/b...
www.dailynews.com/2024/12/06/b...
Non-fiction by Indian women writers: Urvashi Butalia, Ghazala Wahab, Neha Dixit and I have a few suggestions.
In Namita Bhandare's column:
www.hindustantimes.com/opinion/abso...
In Namita Bhandare's column:
www.hindustantimes.com/opinion/abso...
www.hindustantimes.com
December 8, 2024 at 10:38 AM
Non-fiction by Indian women writers: Urvashi Butalia, Ghazala Wahab, Neha Dixit and I have a few suggestions.
In Namita Bhandare's column:
www.hindustantimes.com/opinion/abso...
In Namita Bhandare's column:
www.hindustantimes.com/opinion/abso...