We're sunsetting PodQuest on 2025-07-28. Thank you for your support!
Export Podcast Subscriptions
cover of episode Amitav Ghosh turned to legends to write a story large enough for climate change

Amitav Ghosh turned to legends to write a story large enough for climate change

2021/11/11
logo of podcast NPR's Book of the Day

NPR's Book of the Day

Shownotes Transcript

Trying to decrease your carbon footprint can be complicated. You use metal straws, recycle your paper, and bring your own grocery bags to the store, but everything you buy is part of a supply chain that's simply way out of your control. That lack of control is central to Amitav Ghosh's retelling of an ancient Bengali myth of a nature goddess setting calamity after calamity on a merchant who's only concerned with money. In today's interview, Ghosh tells NPR's Ari Shapiro that writing his 2019 novel Gun Island based on old legends allowed for a full response to the scope of climate change.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices)NPR Privacy Policy)