Over the many years I've known Anand Teltumbde, I've always admired and carried with me his remarkable friendship, warmth, courage, and kindness. It gives me so much joy to announce his newest book - likely his most vulnerable and tender yet - his prison memoir, ‘The Cell and the Soul’ I will be eternally grateful to the incredible Arundhati Roy for making time to read advance proofs of Anand’s book and send her endorsement in the lead-up weeks to her own memoir on her mother. Also to @tmkrishna, @Ram_Guha and Shanta Tai, all of whom generously agreed to endorse this heartbreaking and powerful book. As most of us know, Anand Teltumbde entered the Taloja Central Prison as accused number 10 in the Bhima Koregaon case and spent 31 months as an undertrial until he was released on bail. As an intellectual who was stripped of his freedom, he lays bares the chilling realities of India’s prisons in his gut-wrenching prison memoir. Part memoir, part diary, The Cell and the Soul is a descent into the heart of India’s carceral state, ripping open the belly of the beast-the prison industrial complex-and exposing the brutal, pulsating injustice within. From the echoing silence of his cell, Teltumbde writes of a heartless state that criminalises dissent with political imprisonment, of the relentless grind of injustice, and the profound cost of speaking truth to power. His prison writing is but a synecdoche for thousands of nameless, faceless undertrials who languish in India’s jails. This is a raw, unvarnished testament of a man incarcerated for his convictions, a powerful indictment of a democracy devouring its own. Rare is writing so tender and searing it dares us to confront the darkness within each of us and seek our own freedoms. It has been a real privilege to collaborate with @siddheshgautam on this stunning cover. The book is out of pre-order now and you can get a copy here: amzn.in/d/8Zy3Wbx

When I asked @poonamjourno to consider doing a book on the beast that is the Indian general election and #electoralbonds, little did I know that we'd manage to do it in such a record time. Poonam's relentless investigative work on electoral bonds and the lack of transparency around it would go on to make history in helping enable one of the most landmark judgements of the #SupremeCourt that struck down the electoral bond scheme as unconstitutional. I'm so proud to announce that Poonam's account of how elections are fought, lost and won in India has gone on pre-order today - a year after the pathbreaking SC judgement was delivered. Endorsed by a former Supreme Court Judge, two former Election Commissioners; Members of Parliament; leaders in opposition; deep democracy and accountability advocates; and the most fierce and free-thinking journalists in contemporary India, 'India Inked' is the most definitive account of how money and muscle power are in bed together in India's political ecology. This is a career highlight for me and I'd urge anyone who cares about the health of our democracy to read it. Pre-order it here: amzn.in/d/j5mLYh9 @sardesairajdeep @suchetadalal @AshokLavasa @JagdeepChhokar @nramind @DrSYQuraishi @_YogendraYadav @sampitroda @BloomsburyIndia

I write for @scroll_in on the labour it takes for us to reclaim our attention economies and the need to engage with our biospheres in response to Thukral & Tagra’s new art show ‘Arboretum.’ @NatureMorte @tajmahalfoxtrot @Thukralandtagra scroll.in/article/1073058/st…