Pure petrofiction: why writers will keep drilling for stories about oil
From tales of ‘hissing’ oilmen to ‘crying’ trees, novels about petroleum and its devastating effect on communities and the environment are powerful fiction for our times – with the potential for prophecy
August 2022
Stories draw us to the hero’s journey, but individual empathy doesn’t help us see the bigger picture
Bri Lee
Traditional western storytelling conventions aren’t up to the task of understanding the enormity of the climate crisis or the pandemic
January 2022
Amitav Ghosh: European colonialism helped create a planet in crisis
Indian author says pillaging of lands and killing of indigenous people laid foundation for climate emergency
November 2021
Top 10s
Top 10 books about Calcutta
From Jhumpa Lahiri to Amit Chaudhuri, these novels and histories portray a teeming, paradoxical city – and its diaspora – that is a world unto itself
November 2020
The age of extinction
Lost species day: celebrities to champion threatened wildlife
Amitav Ghosh, Margaret Atwood and Emma Thompson are among 20 activists and cultural figures to speak at Writers Rebel event
October 2019
Further reading
Life stories: books about a planet in peril
From disappearing mushrooms to the secret life of trees, Amitav Ghosh explores the almost incomprehensible realities of our changing world
June 2019
Book of the day
Gun Island by Amitav Ghosh review – climate and culture in crisis
The Guardian Books podcast
Hay festival special with Pat Barker, John Lanchester, Max Porter and more – books podcast
August 2017
Reading group
Reading group: which book should we read to understand India's partition?
To mark the 70th anniversary since India and Pakistan were divided, let’s explore the legacy of the bloody and tumultuous partition through a rich body of fiction
November 2016
The Guardian Books podcast
Climate change with Amitav Ghosh and Aaron Thier – books podcast
Book of the day
Easternisation by Gideon Rachman and The Great Derangement by Amitav Ghosh – review
October 2016
Amitav Ghosh: where is the fiction about climate change?
The climate crisis casts a much smaller shadow on literary fiction than it does on the world. We are living through a crisis of culture – and of the imagination
September 2016
Amitav Ghosh: 'climate change is like death, no one wants to talk about it'
The author’s new book on climate change questions why the arts have been largely silent on the issue and says India must do more reduce its emissions
July 2015
The Guardian Books podcast
Serial winners with Amitav Ghosh and Nicci French – books podcast
We explore why writers cast off the shackles of the standalone novel with Amitav Ghosh and the crime writing duo Nicci Gerrard and Sean French
June 2015
Book of the day
Flood of Fire by Amitav Ghosh review – the final instalment of an extraordinary trilogy
High seriousness and low humour drive Ghosh’s fictional account of events in the years before the opium wars
May 2015
Amitav Ghosh: ‘There is now a vibrant literary world in India – it all began with Naipaul’
The books interview: The writer discusses boiling in his Delhi garret, climate change in the Bay of Bengal and finishing his opium wars trilogy
The Guardian Books podcast
Extract: Flood of Fire by Amitav Ghosh – podcast
Raj Ghatak reads the first chapter of Amitav Ghosh's latest novel, Flood of Fire
Man Booker International prize 2015: the finalists speak
From cultivating spices in India to talking to owls in South Africa, the 10 contenders tell us about the diverse lives and ambitions which have brought them to global attention
March 2015
Man Booker international: the shortlist - in pictures
Man Booker International prize 2015 shortlist announced
