Books that cross borders, challenge histories, and refuse to leave our bookshelves.
Books are travellers. They move from mind to mind, home to home, country to country and they stay on shelves long after the creators have vanished.
Here, I take a look at books that have travelled from mind to heart to action. They come from all parts of the world. They explore conflict and culture, memory and migration, nations and identity. They revisit difficult histories, question the present and imagine futures still taking shape.
Explore the collection
Power & Politics
Rohingya Genocide: Eradication by Mayyu Ali & Emilie Lopes
A book confronting one of the gravest humanitarian crises of our time. Read more
Power & Politics
Israel: What Went Wrong? by Omer Bartov
History, conflict and the burdens of the present. Read more
Power & Politics
The Company of Violent Men by Siddharthya Roy
An exploration of power, violence and real journalism in a brutal world. Read more
Power & Politics
Smoke and Ashes by Amitav Ghosh
A journey through opium, empire and the human worlds transformed by colonial greed. Read more
Borders & Futures
Nepal 2043: The Road to Prosperity by Sujeev Shakya
Imagining a nation’s future. Read more
Borders & Futures
Silent Journeys by Benyamin
A poignant exploration of journeys, displacement and the search for belonging across unfamiliar landscapes. Read more
Borders & Futures
Missions, Mantras, Migrants & Microchips by Leonard A. Gordon
A substantial and expansive exploration of the centuries-long relationship between India and the United States. Read more
margins & identity
The Sherpa Trail: Stories from Darjeeling and Beyond by Nandini Purandare and Deepa Balsavar
From Tibet to Nepal, and then Darjeeling, this book is a real life adventure, tracing the lives of 150 Sherpas who made Darjeeling their home. Read more
displacement & identity
Waiting in the Wings (Volume 1) Enter Stage Left (Volume 2) by Salima Hashmi
The daughter of celebrated Urdu poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Salima Hashmi’s memoirs are rich with stories of art, activism, and resilience amid Pakistan’s political and social milieu. Read more
displacement & identity
A Long Season of Ashes by Siddhartha Gigoo
A poignant tale of persecution, exile, by a Kashmiri Pandit will compel you to think deeply about social structures, nativelands and human ideologies. Read more
Ambica Gulati wears many hats: independent journalist, editor, multimedia storyteller, author and fiction writer. Her work moves between global affairs, conscious travel, the environment, culture and the intuitive arts, while her fiction explores the territories where nature, memory, mystery and imagination converge.
She is available for reported features, interviews, analysis, profiles and multimedia stories on international affairs, India and beyond.
Beyond the laptop, she nourishes her creative practice through meditation, birding, reading, journaling, oracle cards, and yoga.
From the Archives
If this story stayed with you, there’s more to explore in the archives.
