Mainstream Weekly

Why I am returning my Award

Arundhati Roy — 2015-11-16T20:58:13Z

The Sahitya Akademi is India's premier institution of letters, with a stated commitment to “promoting Indian literature throughout the world”.
Although I do not believe that awards are a measure of the work we do, I would like to add the National Award for Best Screenplay that I won in 1989 to the growing pile of returned awards. Also, I want to make it clear that I am not returning this award because I am “shocked” by what is being called the “growing intole-rance” being fostered by the (…)

- 2015

We Are All Occupiers

Arundhati Roy — 2011-12-09T11:25:16Z

People the World Over Salute the Occupy Movement for Standing Up to Injustice and Fighting for Equality at the Heart of Empire
Tuesday morning (November 15), the police cleared Zuccotti Park, but today the people are back. The police should know that this protest is not a battle for territory. We're not fighting for the right to occupy a park here or there. We are fighting for justice. Justice, not just for the people of the United States, but for everybody.
What you have achieved since (…)

- 2011

‘Marching... to keep Hope Alive for Us All'

Arundhati Roy — 2010-05-21T09:34:46Z

[On Arundhati Roy's Essay on Maoists in Chhattisgarh
Noted author Arundhati Roy's 32-page essay on Maoists in Chhattisgarh—“Walking With The Comrades” (Outlook, March 29, 2010)—has caused ripples in different circles. Veteran journalist B.G. Verghese wrote a piece—“Daylight At The Thousand-Star Hotel” (Outlook, May 3, 2010)—criticising Arundhati's essay. Thereafter former Secretary, Union Ministry of Rural Development, and architect of ‘Operation Barga' in West Bengal, D. (…)

- 2010