Reviews, research, awards, academic papers, citations, mentions, excerpts, interviews, news, events and ratings of Rajat Chaudhuri's novel `Spellcasters' below this book blurb.

SPELLCASTERS 

Chanchal Mitra wakes up in a far-off desert town, sharing a dingy hotel room with the flamboyant Mr. Kapoor, who is planning to abduct a billionaire. Kapoor insists that the billionaire tycoon is an impostor. Chanchal is unwittingly drawn into the plot. Soon they are joined by the mystery woman Sujata, her eyes dark like murder; and then a crutch-clutching ex-sailor, who is quick with a gun. In the smog-swathed capital city of Aukatabad, an organic chemist engaged by the tycoon to design a mind-altering drug, is found dead from an overdose. Elsewhere, the billionaire industrialist’s chocolate factory is contaminated by salmonella while Sujata fights a fiery death at the hands of hired killers. As weird weather overtakes the land and Kapoor sets out with his accomplices to kidnap the businessman, the flimsy lines between friend, foe and lover begin to quickly disappear.
ISBN: 978-9391125882

Published by: Olive Turtle (Niyogi), 2023. Available from bookstores and online.

Amazon

Reviews, research, awards, prizes, events, mentions, endorsements, author interviews  

`A phantasmagoric journey through an alternative reality of collapsed time, hallucinatory visions and spectral visitations: an unexpected and unsettling rollercoaster ride.' ~ Amitav Ghosh about Spellcasters

Spellcasters won the runner-up position for the Gaurang River Literary Prize for Fiction including translations (2nd prize - runner up) 2024 (Press release below)

Excerpt at Writers Rebel (Extinction Rebellion) 

Mini-review (notice) in The Telegraph (clip below)

Mini-review (notice) in Hindustan Times. (clip below)

Review in Outlook magazine by A.J. Thomas.

Review in Scroll.

Review in Muse India by Aparna Singh.

Review in Borderless Journal.

News and review in The Print. 

Book Release and Q&A with Dr. Subhadeep Paul at Centre for Foreign Languages, Bankura University on the occasion of  an international workshop on Climate Fiction. (Dec, 2023) (Images below)

Excerpt from Spellcasters in Scroll

Rajat Chaudhuri interviewed by Mitali Chakraborty for Borderless journal.

Rajat Chaudhuri interviewed by Scroll  (Suvasree Karanjai for Scroll)

Interview and Q&A on Instagram

Rajat Chaudhuri interview about Spellcasters by Kunzum bookstore blog.

Book talk (with Kolkata Bookworms and Read with us Book Club) and reading at Storyteller Bookstore. (Poster below) 

Rajat Chaudhuri discusses Spellcasters, Climate-Fiction and his writing life with Tapasi Mittal on Mentza. (poster below)

Rajat Chaudhuri interviewed about Spellcasters by Kitaab.

Listed in Dragonfly Eco-Mystery archive

Spellcasters mentioned in this article in Daily Star newspaper (Bangladesh)

Notice at Dragonfly Eco




Rajat Chaudhuri with members of Kolkata Bookworms at Storyteller Bookstore 




Rajat Chaudhuri at a Spellcasters, book signing and interview at Bahrisons bookstore, Delhi


Rajat Chaudhuri with Siddhant Agarwal (Sidreviews) at a Spellcasters, book signing and interview at Kunzum bookstore, Delhi


Spellcasters, Rajat Chaudhuri's novel in Hindustan Times

Press release - Gaurang River Prize

Press release - Gaurang River Prize



The Telegraph 







Reviews of Spellcasters

Chaudhuri's prose is lucid; unexpected twists inform this part psycho-logical thriller and part climate fiction.' The Telegraph


Reviews of Multispecies Cities

Listed in `The Definitive Climate Fiction Reading List’' Grist (US)

`Joyously ambitious solarpunk ... excels when entwining relational nuance with keenly handled futurist ideas ... number of gems for fans of climate fiction' Publishers Weekly

`Filled with a polyphony of voices ... Engaging introduction' Leanne Ogasawara, Books on Asia (Japan)


Reviews of The Great Bengali Poetry Underground

`Excellent translation ... Hard to find flavour of a culture in ferment' Scroll

`Translator seems to have masterfully reproduced in English the sting and beat of the original Bengali versions' Indian Literature journal (Sahitya Akademi)

`What comes across in the translations, from the very beginning, are the poems' distinctive Bengali origin' Daily Star (Bangladesh)

`Social-existential cares are interwoven with allusions to local or national issues ... will subtly shift our perception as to the currents of Bengali underground poetry' New Indian Express


Reviews of Calcutta Nights

`Masterfully translated' The Telegraph

`Important from the point of view of culture studies' Indian Literature journal

`Fascinating as a document of the 20th century city'  Trisha Gupta, India Today

`Flawless translation ... retains racy flavour' Sajni Mukherji, Outlook magazine

`Translator craftily balances archaic words with new ones, never upsetting the tonal authenticity of a period piece.' Scroll

`A unique cosmopolitan setting' Business Standard

`Excellent translation ... a crisp read' Ganesh Saili, New Indian Express

`A tale of beauty and decadence' South China Morning Post

`Interesting ... for readers interested in history and the Asian experience of transition to modernity.' Asian Review of Books, Hong Kong

`A guidebook to the dark dens of eeriness' Press Trust of India (PTI)

`What a punch this little volume packs' India Abroad News Service of India (IANS)


Reviews of The Butterfly Effect

`Propels the accumulated anxieties of a city into a shape-shifting future vortex' Anjana Basu, Outlook magazine 

`Explores a Ballardian near-future' Amy Brady, Words Without Borders

`Genre-bending' Amy Brady, Houston Chronicle, USA

`Projects the tropes of a new politics of imagination ... a new eco-sophy is created'Krishnan Unni. P, Indian Literature, Sahitya Akademi 

`Indian novel's story parallels the deadly coronavirus outbreak' Times of India (news)

`Compelling' UNI

`A magic box ... brings Allan Poe to mind' Scroll

`Ten Works of Environmental Literature from Around the World' Book Riot, USA(listing)

`A wild ride, with brilliant and Ballardian descriptions' Eco-fiction

`Vivid storytelling dovetails with a playful structure' Bengaluru Review

`Fifty Must-Read Novels about Eco-Disaster' Book Riot, USA (listing)

`Around the World in 80 Books' Dragonfly Ecofiction (listing)


Reviews of The Best Asian Speculative Fiction

`A necessary and successful conglomerate' The Telegraph

`An important contribution to an ever-expanding and dynamic literary form' Southeast Asian Review of English (SARE), Malaysia

`More than just fantasy' Pune Mirror-Times of India (listing) 

`South Asian Studies Summer Reading List', Prof Mou Banerjee, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA (listing) 


Reviews of Hotel Calcutta

`Sheer power of storytelling' The Telegraph

`A persuasive artist...Hotel Calcutta invites a hungry, urgent reading' Asian Review of Books

`A very innovative frame story' Journal of Commonwealth Literature

`An astounding work that interrogates the myriad surfaces of reality' Indian Literature, Sahitya Akademi

`A dazzling "wall of stories" in Calcutta' The Sunday Guardian

`Very urban and 21st century' Sanjukta Dasgupta

`Chaudhuri tells us something also of the 'art' of the story.' Anu Kumar, The Thumb Print Magazine

`A web both classical and new.' Spark Magazine

`A writer to watch out for' Sushma Joshi, Kitaab

`His themes reveal a deep fascination with human response to the extraordinary’ Helter Skelter

Goodreads


Reviews of Calculus

`Might set a new trend in fiction writing' (in Bengali) Ekak Matra

Reviews of Amber Dusk

`A heady mix of experiences' The Telegraph  

`A memorable novel of East-West encounter' Amitava Roy 

`Another type of writing emerging within Indian English writing' Indian Literature, Sahitya Akademi (JSTOR)

`Praised for its evocation of Calcutta and Paris' Journal of Commonwealth Literature 

`Surrealism explored ... A gifted writer of fiction' Deccan Herald  

`A delicately crafted story about love, loathing and the quest for peace in a time of intolerance' The Statesman  





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