Azadi

From the bestselling author of "My Seditious Heart" and "The Ministry of Utmost Happiness" comes a new and urgent report from the heart of the crowd and the solitude of a desk.

The cry for 'Azadi!' - Urdu for 'freedom!' - is the motto of the freedom struggle in Kashmir against what Kashmiris see as Indian occupation. Ironically, it has also become the rallying cry of millions on the streets of India against the project of Hindu nationalism.

As Arundhati Roy began to ask what lies between these two calls for freedom - a chasm or a bridge? - the streets fell silent. Not just in India, but around the world. The coronavirus brought with it another, more terrible understanding of Azadi, rendering international borders meaningless, imprisoning entire populations, and bringing the modern world to a standstill like never before.

In this series of electrifying essays, Arundhati Roy urges us to reflect on the meaning of freedom in a world of growing authoritarianism.

The essays include meditations on language, both public and private, as well as on the role of fiction and alternative imaginings in these troubling times. The pandemic, she says, is a portal between one world and another. Despite all the illnesses and devastations it has left behind, it is an invitation to humanity, an opportunity to envision a different world.