Rajat Chaudhuri (রজত চৌধুরী) is a bilingual author and climate communicator. He has published a dozen books including five full-length works of fiction in English -- The Butterfly Effect, Wonder Tales for a Warming Planet, Hotel Calcutta, Amber Dusk and Spellcasters (second prize, Gaurang River Prize for Fiction) and a book of stories - Calculus (ক্যালকুলাস) - written originally in Bengali. His themes and interests are at the interface of literature, science and the environment. The fiction `genres' he has worked in include climate fiction, ecofiction, biopunk, postmodern fiction, science fiction, realist fiction, urban fiction, detective fiction among others. Chaudhuri's non-fiction work on climate and literature is forthcoming from Bloomsbury in 2026.

Chaudhuri is the Editor of The Best Asian Speculative Fiction, a book he also introduced. His next published work  Calcutta Nights was a translated memoir  (Raater Kolkata) about Calcutta written a hundred years ago by acclaimed Bengali author Hemendrakumar Roy. He also translated and introduced ten poets from India and Bangladesh in his anthology The Great Bengali Poetry Underground published in 2021. (See NEWS page for latest events)

Chaudhuri has co-edited an Asia-Pacific anthology of short stories (co-edited and co-introduced, April 2021) titled Multispecies Cities -- Solarpunk Urban Futures published in the US and another anthology Solarpunk Creatures (co-edited and co-introduced, 2024) also published in the US. His short fiction is featured (YouTube trailer) in the internationally acclaimed cli-fi video game Survive the Century (April 2021) about climate change futures developed by Three Kids in a Trenchcoat and supported by Climate Interactive, USA and SESYNC, University of Maryland with National Science Foundation (USA) support and published as a game by Electric Book Works, South Africa. Survive the Century has also been published as a book. Chaudhuri is a speaker and trainer on climate change futures, teaching climate change, climate fiction and environment in schools and other venues.

His books are part of syllabus and teaching workshops in a number of universities and colleges in India and abroad. The Butterfly Effect is on the official syllabus of Delhi University, Aligarh Muslim University, Bennett University (Times group), Uttar Pradesh government among others. It is also included in workshops and syllabi of Milan University (Italy), University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (USA) among other places. The co-edited volume Multispecies Cities - Solarpunk Urban Futures is also included in a number of syllabi. For details about syllabus inclusion see individual book pages from the top menu)

Chaudhuri is a Hawthornden Fellow (2015), Scotland (UK) and a Charles Wallace Creative Writing Fellow (administered by British Council, 2014) at the University of Chichester United Kingdom. He was writer-in-residence (2013) at the Toji Cultural Foundation (South Korea) on a fellowship from the Arts Council Korea (ARKO), Government of South Korea and InKo (India-Korea) Centre. He was a 2010 Resident Writer at the Sangam House International Writer's Residency Programme, Bangalore, India. Chaudhuri was also invited to the Villa Sarkia Residency (2020) of Nuoren Voiman Liitto, Finland. He is a recipient of the Khoj prize 2025 (Rafikul Island Smriti Khoj Purashkar) for his work in English and Bengali and a first runner-up for the Gaurang River prize.

Chaudhuri's short story - The Longest Night, won the first prize at the Wordweavers Contest, 2011. Earlier his short story - Watersmoke, about the effects of genetically modified marijuana on the intellect, won a prize in the Scian Short Story Competition 2006.

He has participated in several readings and litfests organised by Sahitya Akademi (India's National Academy of Letters) including on the occasion of the 150th birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore. 

Chaudhuri had been elected climate advocate and civil society representative for developing country NGOs (Southern coordinator of UN CSD NGO Caucus on Energy and Climate Change) at the United Nations (New York) and has been the founder of a civil society group. He had conceived and edited the Southern Initiatives Journal of Sustainable Development. As a recognition of his creative, activist and pedagogic involvement with climate, environment and sustainability issues, Chaudhuri has been interviewed by major international organisations like Extinction Rebellion (Writers Rebel, UK) and The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI). He has also participated in panel discussions of Fridays for Future, Apeejay Kolkata Literary Festival and other organisations and venues. 

Chaudhuri is a climate change and sustainability activist and he engages with literature, environment, climate change, sustainability and climate change literature through his column (Eleventh Hour) in New Indian Express (a major national daily) and also in Scroll, The Telegraph and elsewhere. 

Chaudhuri is a past contributor to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP, New York), Human Development Report and has published activist works on Climate Change, Water, Environment, sustainability and allied issues (See Bibliography below and Writing section of this website).

He has given book readings, keynotes, lectures, and spoken about writing, ecofiction, climate change fiction, post-humanities, storytelling and craft, and has received travel and speaking grants or invitations from various national and international organisations/venues like Sahitya Akademi (National Academy of Letters), National Library of India, Indian Institute of Management (IIM - joint prgramme with Jadavpur University), National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA, India), University of Oxford, UK (2021), Open University, UK (2021), Osmania University (India), Bankura University (India), Dongguk university (South Korea), Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Hong Kong), Chichester University (UK), Indiana University (USA), George Washington University (USA), Museum of  Science Fiction (USA), schools, colleges, bookshops and elsewhere. He has judged the short story segment of Asian English Olympics organised by the English Club, BINUS University, Indonesia for three years (2017-2019).

His books are in the collection of several libraries around the world including National Library (India), Library of Congress (USA), Barton Library (India) Heidelberg University Library (Germany), British Library (UK), Bodleian Library, University of Oxford (UK), London Metropolitan University (UK), Stanford University Libraries (USA), Zentralbibliothek Zurich (Switzerland), University of London, SOAS (UK), University of Iowa (USA), Cornell University Library, Columbia University in the City of New York (USA), New York Public Library (USA), Penn Libraries-University of Pennsylvania (USA), University of Pennsylvania-Van Pelt Library (USA), Parliament Library, New Delhi, Glowinski  Library, Poland (Poland), Niedersächsische Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Göttingen (Germany), University of California, Berkley (USA), University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (USA) , Big Sky Library (Thailand), Singapore National Library (Singapore), National Library of Australia (Australia), Leiden University Library (Netherlands), Internet Speculative Fiction Database, Doon School (Kilachand Library) among others.

Chaudhuri studied Economics at university. He has written fiction, book reviews, op-eds, travel, academic and activist pieces in major Indian dailies and other global publications like  The Telegraph, Times of India, New Indian Express, The Statesman, Outlook, IBNLive, Scroll, The Asian Review of Books, American Book Review (Univ of Houston-Victoria), Nature-Sustainability (co-author), Thresholds (Univ of Chichester), Indo-Asian News Service,MSNNews, Tales of Asia, Anandabazar Patrika (Bengali), Daak Bangla (Bengali) and Indian Literature journal (Sahitya Akademi). He also has certifications from Google and Microsoft with top percentile scores in Python, Cybersecurity, Ethics and Artificial Intelligence.

His short stories have appeared in international venues like Eclectica (US), Galaxies SF (France), Asia Writes, L'Allure des Mots, The Legendary (US), Underground Voices Magazine (US), Notes from the Underground (UK), Weirdyear (US) and Indian web venues and literary magazines like Scian (Scientific Indian), Bhashabandhan (in Bengali) and Arambha (Bengali). An excerpt from a novel has been published by Eclectica (US) and another by Caesurae.

As an activist and researcher for Consumer Unity & Trust Society he has published, presented, advocated and organised meetings and workshops to create awareness about the ozone hole and has been involved in a responsible role in a Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) supported project to control ozone-depletion by creating general awareness and popularising ozone and climate friendly refrigeration across India. Chaudhuri founded the civil society group Southern Initiatives and he has collaborative associations with the work of different NGOs including Integrative Strategies Forum (USA).

Chaudhuri has made presentations on environment sustainability, climate change, responsible advertising and rights at United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development (UNCSD, UNHQ, New York), Northern Alliance for Sustainability (ANPED, Netherlands), Rio+8 Group (Copenhagen, Denmark), National Library of India and elsewhere. For sometime he had worked on a research project on North-South consumption patterns at Svenska Naturskyddsforeningen (Swedish Society for Nature Conservation), Stockholm, Sweden.

Earlier, he has worked for an international consumer rights group (CUTS), a Japanese Consular Mission and a sustainable agriculture project of the Indian Planning Commission (Government of India). He ran a popular online creative writing course for the students of an Indonesian university, BINUS University, Indonesia (2017-2018).

Chaudhuri harbours a deep interest in the precautionary principle and the risks and benefits of application of new technologies. He has a Google certification in Cybersecurity (including frameworks, Python, Linux, SQL, SIEM, and other tools) and a Microsoft certification in Generative AI and Ethics and Artificial Intelligence.

He lives and writes in Calcutta (Kolkata), India.

Bibliography

1. Amber Dusk (2007) ISBN 978-8184430080
2. Hotel Calcutta (2013) ISBN 9789381523735
3. Calculus (2014) ISBN 9789384002039
4. Water – What are our Rights to it? ISBN 8187222158
5. Green Advertisements – Are they Telling the Truth (co-author) ISBN 8187222425
6. The Butterfly Effect (2018) ISBN 9789386906526
7. The Best Asian Speculative Fiction (Edited and Introduced, 2018) ISBN 9789811185281
8. Calcutta Nights (Translation, 2021) ISBN: 978-9389136456 
9. The Great Bengali Poetry Underground (Translation, Collection and Introduction 2021) ISBN 9789811494963
10. Multispecies Cities -- Solarpunk Urban Futures (Co-edited and Co-introduced, 2021) ISBN 9781734054521
11. Spellcasters (2023) ISBN 978-9391125882
12. Solarpunk Creatures (January 2024, Co-edited and introduced) ISBN 978-1-7340545-7-6
13. Wonder Tales for a Warming Planet (2025) ISBN: ‎ 978-8119626588
14. The Climate Crossroads (Forthcoming, April 2026) ISBN 9789369520305

Rajat Chaudhuri at Wikipedia.

Rajat Chaudhuri page at the Internet Speculative Fiction (ISFDB) database.

Rajat Chaudhuri's prizes, awards and fellowships page.

Rajat Chaudhuri page at Amazon

Rajat Chaudhuri's page at ResearchGate (not updated regularly)

Rajat Chaudhuri's page at Google Scholar (not updated regularly)

Memberships and Associations: English Language Teachers' Association of India.

Rajat Chaudhuri's teaching, workshops and school/college events page.

Rajat Chaudhuri's climate talks and panels.

Rajat Chaudhuri's books with a climate and environment focus.

Rajat Chaudhuri's environmental and other writing in newspaper columns and magazines. (English and Bengali)

For more information about published books and a complete list of other publications, including articles, reviews, essays, please visit the WRITING page and individual BOOK pages from the top menu (or click on the book links within the text of this bio).

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