Arundhati Roy (b.1961,) fully Suzanna Arundhati Roy, is an Indian novelist, scriptwriter, actress, and political activist. She is best known for the award-winning novel The God of Small Things (1997) and for her involvement in environmental and human rights causes.
Born in Shillong, Meghalaya State, and brought up in southern India, Roy trained at the Delhi School of Architecture. She wrote two screenplays, In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones (1988) and Electric Moon (1992,) and several television dramas.
Roy’s first novel, The God of Small Things (1997,) won the Booker Prize. Set in Kerala, this semi-autobiographical novel was influenced by Salman Rushdie. One of the most remarkable and talked-about fiction débuts of the 1990s, The God of Small Things was translated into more than forty languages; it has sold millions of copies internationally.
Roy’s ensuing literary output consisted of politically-oriented nonfiction, notably Power Politics (2001,) The Algebra of Infinite Justice (2002,) War Talk (2003,) Public Power in the Age of Empire (2004,) Field Notes on Democracy: Listening to Grasshoppers (2009,) Broken Republic: Three Essays (2011,) and Capitalism: A Ghost Story (2014.) The Ministry of Utmost Happiness (2017) was Roy’s first novel in 20 years.
A controversial political figure, Roy has written widely on environmental and nuclear issues and has spoken out in defense of the weak and disadvantaged in India.
R. K. Dhawan wrote the biography Arundhati Roy: The Novelist Extraordinary (1999.)
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Arundhati Roy
There’s no voiceless, there’s only the deliberately silenced or the purposely unheard.
—Arundhati Roy
At a time when opportunism is everything, when hope seems lost, when everything boils down to a cynical business deal, we must find the courage to dream. To reclaim romance. The romance of believing in justice, in freedom, and in dignity. For everybody.
—Arundhati Roy
Topics: Justice, Dreams
To love. To be loved. To never forget your own insignificance. To never get used to the unspeakable violence and the vulgar disparity of life around you. To seek joy in the saddest places. To pursue beauty to its lair. To never simplify what is complicated or complicate what is simple. To respect strength, never power. Above all, to watch. To try and understand. To never look away. And never, never, to forget.
—Arundhati Roy
Topics: How to Live
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