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Nilanjana Roy

Nilanjana Roy joined the Weekend FT as a columnist in July with a brief to write about life, literature, ideas and much more. She is the author of a fantasy duology, The Hundred Names of Darkness, and a collection of essays on reading, The Girl Who Ate Books. She has edited two anthologies, on Indian food writing and on Indian patriots, poets and prisoners, and has been a columnist for the Business Standard

@nilanjanaroy  on Twitter (link opens in a new browser window)
  • Wednesday, 28 May, 2025
    Books
    Are you reading in sync with the changing seasons?

    From summer hammock to winter fireside, books can chime with the seasonal rhythms lying dormant in our crowded lives

    A photo of a woman lying in a hammock reading and silhouetted against a sunset
  • Thursday, 15 May, 2025
    Books
    Gen Z are changing what it means to be a ‘reader’

    Panic about the demise of book reading is overblown — across genres, formats and devices, young people are finding and creating their own storytelling communities

    A young couple walk hand in hand past a stall where a young man looks at the books displayed on a table
  • Wednesday, 23 April, 2025
    Books
    Graphic novels are the ideal response to authoritarian regimes

    Why the intimate and flexible genre is favoured by dissidents and political exiles

    Black and white illustrations including a man in a hazmat suit walking through a fence and a forest; a reflection in a pair of sunglasses; and details of a small device
  • Wednesday, 9 April, 2025
    Books
    When reality enters the dream state

    Three books that bring real insight into how dreams create a window to our psyches and mirror the anxieties of our times

    Detail of a painting of a woman with long hair and her eyes closed, lying draped over the side of a bed with her arms overhead. She is wearing a long white dress
  • Wednesday, 26 March, 2025
    Fiction
    The return of Jay Gatsby and other literary second lives

    A century on, F Scott Fitzgerald’s lovelorn millionaire is reimagined as a female influencer — the latest beloved character to be reshaped for new readers

    A handsome couple lie on a couch in a marble-floored room. He is in a white singlet, she wears a white satin robe
  • Friday, 14 March, 2025
    Books
    Is it time to ditch the book blurb?

    Gushing praise often rewards connections over talent — but a good write-up can still help readers

    A bookshop with two floors and people browsing the shelves
  • Friday, 28 February, 2025
    Books
    In praise of the difficult book

    An easy read is like a nursery pudding — it brings comfort. But literature that is hard to digest should also be on every reader’s menu

  • Friday, 14 February, 2025
    Fiction
    A feast for readers: why a good anthology is a gateway to great writing

    The best of these literary collections are like an inviting home, filled with rooms you want to explore

    A crowded room where people look at shelves of books. One shelf is labelled ‘Indian Writing’
  • Tuesday, 4 February, 2025
    ReviewFiction
    We Do Not Part — Han Kang’s tale of a golden thread of friendship

    The Nobel laureate returns with a novel that again explores both human cruelty and our species’ capacity for tenderness

    An illustration of a woman, seen from behind, standing on a path between trees on a windy day. She carries a stick and has a bag slung over her shoulder
  • Wednesday, 29 January, 2025
    Non-Fiction
    The return of the (original) celebrity philosophers

    The TikTok generation is rediscovering thinkers both ancient and modern who can help them make sense of the world

    A statue of Socrates, who has a beard and is wearing Ancient Greek robes. He is resting his chin on his hand, as if deep in thought
  • Saturday, 18 January, 2025
    Books
    When poetry heralds a new presidential era

    Robert Frost improvised, Amanda Gorman became a breakout star — but there will be no inaugural poet for Trump’s victory rally

    A woman stood on a podium speaks into a microphone in front of hundreds of thousands of people
  • Tuesday, 31 December, 2024
    Books
    My New Year’s resolution: make reading fun again

    I’ve set up a screen-free reading corner, with a ‘comfort stack’ of books that offer nothing but indulgence

    In a sunny meadow, a young girl in a blue dress sits on a chair, reading a book in the shade of a tree
  • Monday, 9 December, 2024
    Fiction
    Will humanity get lost in translation?

    AI could instantly open up a huge range of books in different languages — but fiction really does require that human touch

    Photograph of a robotic hand flicking through a printed book
  • Thursday, 7 November, 2024
    Books
    Do audiobooks count as reading?

    We’re in the midst of a listening revolution — and a new debate over text versus voice

    Two female writers sit on a sofa during a panel session to promote a novel
  • Tuesday, 22 October, 2024
    Books
    To keep, or not to keep books . . . 

    That is the question that eventually faces all booklovers when the ever-growing stacks around the house threaten to fall

    A smiling bearded man sits on a step ladder in a room, holding an open book. Behind him are shelves stuffed with books, in front is a desk with multiple books on it.
  • Wednesday, 9 October, 2024
    Books
    Why illness in fiction is going viral

    A renewed focus on pandemics, sanatoriums and troubled minds reveals much about the state of our times

    A first-person view of a hospital patient looking down at his legs in a hospital bed wearing pajamas
  • Friday, 13 September, 2024
    Fiction
    Why Elsa Morante’s work still resonates today

    On the 50th anniversary of her bestselling novel La Storia, we remember a writer inextricably linked to Italian political history

    A woman stands by a framed drawing of a cat, with a shelf of books visible behind her
  • Monday, 26 August, 2024
    Poetry
    Give me Instapoetry — and something more substantial too

    Bite-sized verse has its place, but two new anthologies offer a chance for deeper engagement with poetic traditions

    A poet recites verse at a public poetry reading
  • Wednesday, 7 August, 2024
    Books
    In celebration of bookshops

    When authors pay tribute to booksellers, it’s not only a virtuous circle — it’s a double dose of joy for readers too

    A photograph of a terrace overlooking wooded hillsides, with small white tables shaded in the sun by white umbrellas and a glimpse of a bookshop at the far end of the terrace
  • Tuesday, 23 July, 2024
    Books
    The lasting legacy of writer James Baldwin

    As the author’s centenary approaches, his courageous, powerful and sometimes prescient work is finding new audiences around the world

  • Tuesday, 9 July, 2024
    Books
    Pirates or princesses, the adventures we read as children shape us for life

    It’s an essential part of growing up, yet the number of kids who read purely for pleasure is at an all-time low

  • Tuesday, 25 June, 2024
    Books
    Writers on writers: why literary friends make the best biographers

    From Joan Didion to Toni Morrison: writers emerge most clearly in the memoirs of fellow authors

    A woman in her eighties, with straight shoulder-length hair and wearing a mauve sweather sits in shadow in a theatre seat, her expression serious and thoughtful
  • Tuesday, 4 June, 2024
    Books
    What do novelists have to say about election fever?

    With more than 80 countries going to the polls this year, it’s time to revisit the best fictional accounts of political high drama

    Looking down on a line of people in an alleyway
  • Tuesday, 21 May, 2024
    Books
    Anne Brontë — the sister we forgot

    The novelist’s bold writing and merciless eye make her feel like a writer for today

  • Monday, 6 May, 2024
    Books
    Frighteningly good — in praise of horror fiction

    Modern writers are breathing new life — and fresh ghosts and monsters — into a genre that reflects on real-world nightmares

    A person with an alarmed expression sits at a candlelit dinner table, cutlery in their hands, reading a book propped up against a jug. A black cat is seated next to the person
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