Overview
Kumar has an extensive and wide-spanning body of literary work. His writing has appeared in Granta , The New Yorker , The New York Times , Harper’s Magazine, BRICK , Guernica , and The Nation . [8] Both his non-fiction books and novels have received critical acclaim. His novel Home Products (2007, as Nobody Does the Right Thing, 2010) was short-listed for India's premier literary prize, the Vodafone Crossword Book Award. [9] His later novel, Immigrant, Montana (2018) was named book of the year at The New Yorker andThe New York Times, and was on President Obama’s list of favorite books of 2018. [10] More recently, his book A Time Outside This Time (2021) was described by The New Yorker as “a shimmering assault on the Zeitgeist.” [11] Kumar’s latest novel My Beloved Life (2024) was praised by James Wood as “beautiful, truthful fiction.” [12]
As for his nonfiction work, his book A Foreigner Carrying in the Crook of His Arm a Tiny Bomb: A Writer’s Report on the Global War on Terror (2010, as Evidence of Suspicion, 2009) was the 2011 Winner for Nonfiction in the Asian American Literary Awards. [13] In a review by the New York Times, Dwight Garner called the book a "perceptive and soulful…meditation on the global war on terror and its cultural and human repercussions." [14] It was also the 2010 staff pick at Publisher’s Weekly. [15] Husband of a Fanatic (2005) was an "Editors' Choice" book at the New York Times; [16] Bombay-London-New York (2002) was on the list of "Books of the Year" in New Statesman (UK); [17] and Passport Photos (2000) won an "Outstanding Book of the Year" award from the Myers Program for the Study of Bigotry and Human Rights in North America. [18]
The content of Kumar's writing has been significantly affected by the death of his parents, with several of his works reflecting on them. He explores rituals of death, grief, and memory in his essay “Pyre,” which was selected by Jonathan Franzen for Best American Essays 2016. [19] In a 2024 article for Lit Hub, he discusses the death of his father and the ways in which writers contend with the loss of their parents in their work. [20]
His academic writing and literary criticism have appeared in several journals, including Critical Inquiry , Cultural Studies , Critical Quarterly , College Literature , Race and Class , American Quarterly , Rethinking Marxism , Minnesota Review , Journal of Advanced Composition , Amerasia Journal and Modern Fiction Studies . [21]
As a journalist, Kumar has regularly authored articles for newspapers and magazines across the world such as New Statesman , The Caravan , The Indian Express and The Hindu . In 2008, on Al Jazeera's Riz Khan Show, Kumar was interviewed on the use of terror threats by governments to advance their own political agendas; the interview aired on the Al Jazeera English Network. [22] In February 2011, Kumar interviewed Indian novelist Arundhati Roy for Guernica Magazine . [23]
Kumar was also the scriptwriter for two documentary films. He worked on Dirty Laundry (2005), [24] a film about the national-racial politics of Indian South Africans. He also narrated and wrote the script for the prize-winning documentary film Pure Chutney (1997) [24] about the descendants of indentured Indian laborers in Trinidad.
At Vassar College, “Professor Kumar teaches classes that mainly deal with: reportage; the essay-form, both in prose and film; cities; literatures describing the global movement of goods and people; war; memory-work.” [25] Many of Kumar’s former students have made important contributions to art, literature, and journalism. Poet and author Mikko Harvey was one of Kumar’s creative writing students during his time at Vassar. [26] Harvey’s book Unstable Neighborhood Rabbit was shortlisted for the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award. [27] Harvey has also gone on to receive the RBC/PEN Canada New Voices Award, the Philip Booth Poetry Prize, and has been awarded fellowships from MacDowell and Yaddo. [28] Another one of Kumar’s students is award-winning photographer Caleb Stein [29] , who contributed photographs to an article Kumar wrote for The New York Times. [30] Stein’s work has been displayed in many prominent collections such as the J. Paul Getty Museum, and publications such as Hyperallergic and The Guardian. [31] He also received the 2024 FOAM Talent Award and the 2024 Center for Photographic Art Artist Grant. [32] Kumar’s former student Lucas Mann [33] is a successful author and writer, with articles appearing in distinguished publications such as The Washington Post and The Atlantic . [34] He is currently an associate professor at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth where he teaches courses in creative writing, journalism, and professional writing. [35]
Awards and fellowships
Kumar was awarded the Cullman Center Fellowship at the New York Public Library for 2023-2024, and was the Mary Ellen von der Heyden Fellow. [50] In 2016, Kumar was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship for General Nonfiction, [51] as well as a Ford Fellowship in Literature from United States Artists. [52] He has been awarded writing residences by Yaddo, MacDowell Colony, the Rockefeller Foundation at Bellagio, the Norman Mailer Writing Center, Writers Omi at Ledig House, the Lannan Foundation, and the Hawthornden Foundation. [53] Additionally, he has received research fellowships from the NEH, Yale University, SUNY-Stony Brook, Dartmouth College, and University of California-Riverside [54] . Currently, he serves on the board of the Corporation of Yaddo and is a trustee at PEN America. [55]
