WINNER OF THE SUSHILA DEVI BOOK AWARD 2022
SHORTLISTED FOR THE TATA LITERATURE LIVE! BOOK OF THE YEAR
SHORTLISTED FOR THE RABINDRANATH TAGORE LITERARY PRIZE
NOMINATED FOR THE WILBUR SMITH ADVENTURE WRITING PRIZE
ONE OF MAY 2022's BEST PAPERBACKS IN THE GUARDIAN, UK
TOP TEN FICTION OF THE YEAR: THE HINDU
GQ'S 21 NOVELS THAT DEFINE THIS WILD YEAR
TOP NINE FICTION IN INDIA: THE TELEGRAPH
OUTLOOK'S TOP TEN NOVELS OF THE YEAR
25 BEST FEMALE FICTION WRITERS: SHETHEPEOPLE
STARRED REVIEWS IN PUBLISHER'S WEEKLY AND BOOKLIST
SELECTED INTERVIEWS
Conversation with John Freeman, hosted by Politics and Prose (Washington), Elliot Bay Bookstore (Seattle), and Literati (Michigan)
Watch | Roy speaks at length on communal hate, prejudice, art and love in a free-flowing chat that traverses topics with Mitali Mukherjee on The Wire
Georgina
Godwin meets publisher Christopher MacLehose and acclaimed Indian
author Anuradha Roy. MacLehose, a leader in translated literature in the
UK, is reported to have brought works into English from 34 languages.
He recently launched Mountain Leopard Press, which focuses on
translation as well as contemporary literature. One of its lead titles
is The Earthspinner, the fifth novel by Anuradha Roy. On Monocle Radio
FROM THE REVIEWS
"...this
was just the beginning of what would become a complicated journey with
the novel, leading me to a deep gratitude for this work...the novel
feels like waking from a long, unsettling, unshakable dream. Yes, we
understand it’s just a dream, but we also can’t help feeling the depth
of a dream’s persuasion, the way certain truths might later clamber from
the subconscious to the surface, changing us" Mira Jacob, New York Times
"It is Roy’s ability to create perfectly formed characters – human, animal or terracotta – that gives this novel its unique quality. The Earthspinner is a love story, a political statement and a reflection on solitude, its primary preoccupation with the role of creation in the life of an artist" Sonia Faleiro, Times Literary Supplement
“Le texte est grave, violent, et rempli de tact” Liberation
"It's a continuum of beauty."
Jérôme Garcin, La Masque et la Plume
"It's very beautiful and totally singular."
Olivia de Lamberterie, La Masque et la Plume
"A moving, magnificent, remarkable novel."
Arnaud Viviant, La Masque et la Plume
"A modern epic of ordinary people... We read her with infinite pleasure," Radio Belgium, RTBF.be
"The lovely way in which Roy uses the art and craft of pottery as a metaphor for change and possibility is enthralling" Centre for Fiction, New York
"Elango’s dog Chinna is the most remarkably realized character in the book....his love for Chinna bursts with poignancy and authenticity...." Elizabeth Lawrence, Asian Review of Books
"Roy’s multilayered novel evokes the craft of
pottery with a gentle touch while rendering a moving depiction of the
power of guilt" BOOKLIST (starred review)
"Tried-and-true storyteller Anuradha Roy delivers a poetic and ambitious
novel about the pursuit of art, love and beauty in the midst of
turbulent times in The Earthspinner...Like Roy's other novels, The Earthspinner uses dreamlike
lyricism alongside even-handed description, giving its gradual
accumulation of tension a mesmerizing cadence... Roy's interest in
the artist who demonstrates "such gentleness, such control" is mirrored
in her own writing, as she weaves together the pain, joy, triumphs and
disease of all those in her novel's world who teeter on either the edge
of collapse or transcendent transformation." Alice Martin, Shelf Awareness
"Roy
delivers profound insights on the power of art (“Work with whatever
earth you get,” Elango tells Sara. “A potter knows how to do that”), the
hideous nature of religious intolerance, and perhaps most sadly, the
consequences of pursuing a dream. This is Roy’s best to date." Publisher's Weekly (starred review)
"an emotionally intelligent, witty, and inventive novel: one that follows
passions fired into love and hatred, as well as moulding an intricate
coming-of-age novel in miniature" Sydney Morning Herald
"Poetic
and deeply profound... reading it is like being caught in an intense
storm that is exhilarating but also dark and violent. Roy's ability to
capture the fragility and tragedy of life will stay with you long after
you've finished reading." Karen Williams, Good Reading Magazine, Australia
"A captivating, lyrical literary work exploring love, and the pull between East and West, and between the modern and the mythic" Love Reading, UK
"Syncretism and unconditional love form the pulsating heart of this thoughtful novel...comes like a breath of sweet, fresh air. The first thing about the novel is its gentleness of tone. Though it tells of violent and traumatic acts, it does so with such a calm, reflective and understanding tone that one is left thinking, with a touch of sadness, of so much that could have been otherwise....At the warm, throbbing heart of the story is a little dog...It is the little dog who can cross the boundaries that seem impassable to humans" Uma Mahadevan-Dasgupta THE HINDU
"The Earthspinner captures the mood of sectarian strife and futile fanaticism in contemporary India. And yet it is a quiet, gentle work, never gratuitous; Roy does not care to make grand political statements, nor is she interested in presenting a “novel of ideas”. ... Intricate yet intimate, the novel allows imagination to fill the rest – as all good fiction should" Sana Goyal, Guardian
‘Tön für die Götter’ is a novel that, once started, you can’t put down."
Simone Hamm, Westdeutscher Rundfunk /WDR (West German Radio and Television)
"Anuradha Roy returns with another beautifully perceptive novel...a quiet but powerful novel...it becomes a clarion call for the importance of creativity and art amid a world that all too often finds destruction an easier option." Ben East, THE NATIONAL
"Anuradha Roy’s new novel, The Earthspinner, is shot through with her trademark subtlety, elegance and lyricism" Nawaid Anjum, MINT LOUNGE
"Set in the ’80s, communal strife is found to be dominating class structures and seeping through the chambers of art spaces in this grittily paced novel...." Shreshtha Saha, The Telegraph
"Anuradha Roy’s new novel fluidly tells unconnected stories and overwhelms you.
What describes the expanse of themes in this novel is both change and the resistance to it...brilliantly captures the joy and struggle of creative release. Sometimes the entire experience of reading the novel seemed to fittingly replicate the rhythm of the artist – the flowing and halting beats of creating something ... The manner in which the book envelops seemingly contrasting themes seems to mirror Kabir’s proclamation. Even in the forms it assumes, the book is devoted to multiplicity. It is rich in myth and allegory, generous in fleshing out its characters.” Gayathri Sankar, SCROLL
" a tale of hope shaped from the mud of a potter’s village. It’s an exquisite portrayal of empty-nest, loneliness, broken relationships; the quest of an artist that’s as ancient as the art itself, his love and defiance of social divisions and how he nearly paid for this audacity with his life." L. Subramani, DECCAN HERALD
"...
quietly and adeptly juxtaposes the tale of a lovelorn potter in an Indian village with the experiences of his apprentice, now studying at a prestigious English university....Roy celebrates art, creativity and inclusion while simultaneously portraying a world on the brink of destructive fanaticism" Guardian
“If anyone is wondering how to embed a jewel from Kabir or Emily Dickinson in a story so that it looks as if it belongs just there, learn from Roy. The events of the novel are set in the time of aerogrammes and typewriters, and Roy’s writing itself has the weight and clarity of prose from a more thoughtful age. Most masterful of all is the way she leaves loose ends trailing after the last page….In less skilled hands these unanswered questions may have annoyed a reader, but here they magnify the illusion of an ever-expanding reality that all good fiction creates” Latha Anantharaman, India Today
“A lucid and enjoyable novel,” Nick Major, The Herald
"Anuradha Roy's new novel employs a fable-like narrative to lay bare the morally suspect skeletons of contemporary India... a stirring meditation of loving a world whose moral conscience seems to be on the brink of irreversible change" Arman Khan in Grazia
loss and the need for creative impulse to rise above it all. Finally, The Earthspinner is about the fragility of the freedoms to live and love the way we want" Reader's Digest