‘To be an artist or a writer, you have to be in the business of serious noticing’: Amitava Kumar

Amitava Kumar writes (and paints and draws) every day. It is an “important” part of his identity, says the writer.

The author of several works of nonfiction and four novels, Kumar creates work that is a testament to the value of consistency and the symbiotic relationship between all forms of the creative arts. His latest novel, My Beloved Life, is a moving portrait of the hardships that the common Indian overcame – and succumbed to – during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Kumar also pondered the devastating effects of the pandemic in The Yellow Book. The second in a series of three books, in which Kumar responds to the world around him through drawings, writings, and memories. In The Blue Book, Kumar tries to see beauty in a world where fake news reigns supreme and everything appears to be on the verge of collapse. In the final book in the series, The Green Book, Kumar gives us an insight into the mind of a writer who observes closely and attempts to capture in images and words what is happening to the world around us.

In a conversation with Scroll, the writer talked about how the series came to be, why he doesn’t want to have “the cosmopolitan ease of someone at ease everywhere”, and how you can put your iPad...

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