Audiobooks by Arundhati Roy

"Brought to you by Penguin. The incredible first memoir from the Booker-winning radical icon Arundhati Roy, author of The God of Small Things Arundhati Roy’s first work of memoir, this is a soaring account, both intimate and inspiring, of how the author became the person and the writer she is, shaped by circumstance, but above all by her relationship to the extraordinary, singular mother Mary she describes as ‘my shelter and my storm’. Distraught and even a “little ashamed” at the intensity of her response to the death of the mother she ran from at age eighteen, Arundhati began to write Mother Mary Comes to Me. The result is this astonishing, disconcerting, surprisingly funny chronicle - unique and simultaneously universal, of the author’s life, from childhood to the present, from Kerala to Delhi. With the scale, sweep and depth of her novels and the passion, political clarity and warmth of her essays, Mother Mary Comes to Me is an ode to freedom, a tribute to thorny love and savage grace – a memoir like no other. © Arundhati Roy 2025 (P) Penguin Audio 2025"

Arundhati Roy (Author), Arundhati Roy (Narrator)

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The Architecture of Modern Empire

"Brought to you by Penguin. From the bestselling author of Azadi and My Seditious Heart, a piercing exploration of modern empire, nationalism and rising fascism that gives us the tools to resist and fight back ‘I try to create links, to join the dots, to tell politics like a story, to make it real…’ Over a lifetime spent at the frontline of solidarity and resistance, Arundhati Roy’s words have lit a clear way through the darkness that surrounds us. Combining the skills of the architect she trained to be and the writer she became, she illuminates the hidden structures of modern empire like no one else, revealing their workings so that we can resist. Her subjects: war, nationalism, fundamentalism and rising fascism, turbocharged by neoliberalism and now technology. But also: truth, justice, freedom, resistance, solidarity and above all imagination – in particular the imagination to see what is in front of us, to envision another way, and to fight for it. Arundhati Roy’s voice – as distinct and compelling in conversation as in her writing – explores these themes and more in this essential collection of interviews with David Barsamian, conducted over two decades, from 2001 to the present. WITH AN AFTERWORD FROM NAOMI KLEIN ©2024 Arundhati Roy (P)2024 Penguin Audio"

Arundhati Roy (Author), Jeed Saddy (Narrator)

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The God of Small Things: A BBC Radio Full-Cast Dramatisation

"A full-cast BBC Radio dramatisation of Arundhati Roy's Booker Prize-winning novel - plus bonus interview with the author Arundhati Roy's debut novel The God of Small Things took the literary world by storm, winning the Booker Prize in 1997. It went on to sell over six million copies in 40 languages, and was named as one of the BBC's 100 'Novels That Shaped Our World' in 2019. Set in Kerala in both the present and 1969, it tells the compelling tale of fraternal twins Rahel and Estha, whose lives are shattered by the 'Love Laws' that dictate 'who should be loved, and how. And how much'. As children, they are inseparable: so close, they think of themselves as one person. But when they are just seven, everything changes. A terrible tragedy occurs, and, drawn into its devastating repercussions, they are forced apart. Twenty-three years later, Rahel has moved to America and made a new life. But when she hears that Estha has been 're-returned', she travels to Ayemenem to be with her long-lost, broken brother. As painful memories come flooding back, the heartbreaking events of the twins' childhood gradually unfold, and through flashbacks and flash-forwards, the secrets of their desperately dysfunctional family are revealed... A powerful story of forbidden cross-caste love and what a community will do to protect the old ways, this enthralling, atmospheric drama stars Yasmin Wilde, Richard Sumitro and Shaheen Khan, and features a haunting soundtrack by internationally-renowned musician Nitin Sawhney. Also included is a bonus episode of Radio 4's Bookclub from 2011, in which Arundhati Roy talks to James Naughtie about what was then her only work of fiction. Taking questions from the audience, she discusses the novel's themes and symbolism, and reveals how her training as an architect helped her plan its complex, multi-layered structure. Production credits Written by Arundhati Roy Adapted by Tanika Gupta Original music by Nitin Sawhney Produced by Nadia Molinari Cast Rahel - Yasmin Wilde Estha - Richard Sumitro Young Rahel - Jatlnder Purewal Young Estha - Shakeel Ahmed Ammu - Thushani Weerasekera Velutha - Paul Bhattacharjee Sophie Mol - Poppy Rush Chacko - Vincent Ebrahim Baby Kochamma - Josephine Welcome Mammachi - Shaheen Khan Inspector - Matthew Raadrawl Vellya - Badi Uzzaman Kochu - Adlyn Ross Margaret - Slobhan Finneran First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 12-23 July 2004 Bookclub: Arundhati Roy - The God of Small Things With James Naughtie and Arundhati Roy Produced by Dymphna Flynn First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 2 October 2011 ©2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd"

Arundhati Roy (Author), Full Cast, Paul Bhattacharjee, Richard Sumitro, Siobhan Finneran, Yasmin Wilde (Narrator)

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[Malayalam] - Azadi

"അടിച്ചമർത്തലുകളുടെ ലോകത്തിൽ സ്വാതന്ത്ര്യത്തിന്റെ അർത്ഥതലങ്ങളെക്കുറിച്ച് പുതുക്കിച്ചിന്തിക്കാൻ പ്രേരിപ്പിക്കുന്ന സ്‌ഫോടനാത്മകമായ എഴുത്ത്. ലോകം കാതോർക്കുന്ന അനുഗൃഹീത സാഹിത്യകാരിയും സാമൂഹ്യപ്രവർത്തകയുമായ അരുന്ധതി റോയിയുടെ ഏറ്റവും പുതിയ പുസ്തകം The essays include meditations on language, public as well as private, and on the role of fiction and alternative imaginations in these disturbing times. The pandemic, Roy says, is a portal between one world and another. For all the illness and devastation it has left in its wake, it is an invitation to the human race, an opportunity, to imagine another world."

Arundhati Roy (Author), Rekha Lohithakshan (Narrator)

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[Tamil] - Chinna Vishayangalin Kadavul

"'அருந்ததி ராயின் நாவல் அவரது சொந்த வாழ்க்கையின் சாயலைக் கொண்டதாகச் சொல்லப்படுகிறது. அய்மனம் என்ற கேரள கிராமம்தான் அவருடைய சொந்த ஊர். நாவலின் கதை நடப்பதும் அய்மனத்தில்தான். இரட்டைக் குழந்தைகளான எஸ்தா என்ற எஸ்தப்பன், ராஹேல் இருவரும் ஒன்றாகப் பிறந்து பத்து வயதுவரை ஒன்றாக வளர்ந்து பெற்றோரின் மண விலக்குக் காரணமாகப் பிரிந்து விடுகிறார்கள். இருபத்தி மூன்று வருடங்களுக்குப் பிறகு மீண்டும் சந்திக்கிறார்கள். இந்த இடைவெளியில் நடக்கும் சம்பவங்கள்தாம் கதை. நாவலிலேயே குறிப்பிடப்படுவதுபோல மகத்தான கதைகள் என்பவை நீங்கள் கேட்ட, மீண்டும் கேட்க விழையும் கதைகளே. எந்த இடத்திலும் நீங்கள் உள்ளே நுழைந்து சௌகரியமாகப் பொருத்திக் கொள்ள இடமளிப்பவை. அவை உங்களை கிளர்ச்சியூட்டுவதாலும் தந்திரமான முடிவுகளாலும் ஏமாற்றுபவையல்ல. எதிர்பாராதவற்றால் உங்களை வியப்பில் ஆழ்த்துபவை அல்ல. அவை நீங்கள் வசிக்கும் வீட்டைப் போலப் பரிச்சயமானவை அல்லது உங்கள் காதலரின் வாசனையைப்போல. அவை எவ்வாறு முடியுமென்று தெரிந்திருந்தாலும் தெரியாததைரப் போலக் கேட்க வைப்பவை. தெரிந்த ஒரு கதையைத்தான் அருந்ததி ராய் இந்த நாவலில் சொல்கிறார். அதை இதுவரை தெரியாத முறையில் சொல்கிறார் என்பதுதான் இந்த நாவலின் சிறப்பம்சம். ஆங்கிலத்தில் எழுதப்படும் இந்தியக் கதைகளில் மொழி நடையாலும் சொல்லும் முறையாலும் திருப்புமுனையாகச் சொல்லப்படும் நாவல் சின்ன விஷயங்களின் கடவுள். இது மகத்தான இலக்கியப் படைப்பல்ல. ஆனால் முக்கியமான படைப்பு. இந்த நாவலின் வருகைக்குப் பிறகே உலக இலக்கியத்தில் இந்தியப் படைப்புகளுக்கு இலக்கிய மதிப்பும் சந்தை மதிப்பும் உயர்ந்திருக்கிறது."

Arundhati Roy (Author), Chithra Balasubramanian (Narrator)

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AZADI: Freedom. Fascism. Fiction.

"Brought to you by Penguin. FROM THE BEST-SELLING AUTHOR OF MY SEDITIOUS HEART AND THE MINISTRY OF UTMOST HAPPINESS, A NEW AND PRESSING DISPATCH FROM THE HEART OF THE CROWD AND THE SOLITUDE OF A WRITER'S DESK The chant of 'Azadi!' - Urdu for 'Freedom!' - is the slogan of the freedom struggle in Kashmir against what Kashmiris see as the Indian Occupation. Ironically, it also became the chant of millions on the streets of India against the project of Hindu Nationalism. Even as Arundhati Roy began to ask what lay between these two calls for Freedom - a chasm or a bridge? - the streets fell silent. Not only in India, but all over the world. The Coronavirus brought with it another, more terrible understanding of Azadi, making a nonsense of international borders, incarcerating whole populations, and bringing the modern world to a halt like nothing else ever could. In this series of electrifying essays, Arundhati Roy challenges us to reflect on the meaning of freedom in a world of growing authoritarianism. The essays include meditations on language, public as well as private, and on the role of fiction and alternative imaginations in these disturbing times. The pandemic, she says, is a portal between one world and another. For all the illness and devastation it has left in its wake, it is an invitation to the human race, an opportunity, to imagine another world. © Arundhati Roy 2020 (P) Penguin Audio 2020"

Arundhati Roy (Author), Shaheen Khan (Narrator)

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[Malayalam] - Kunju Karyangalude Odeythampuran

"ദേശിയതയുടെയും ജാതി - മതങ്ങളുടെയും ആവരണങ്ങളെ ഇത്ര ഫലപ്രദമായി ഭേദിച്ചുകൊണ്ട്‌ മാനവികതയുടെ നഗ്നമേനിയെ വെളിച്ചത്തുകൊണ്ടുവരുന്ന ഒരു പുസ്‌തകം വളരെ അപൂർവ്വമായി മാത്രമേ കാണുകയുള്ളു. Booker Prize winner 'God of Small Things' is a story about Esthappen and Rahel, where she throws light on the subtle and not so subtle tentacles of caste system in the Malayali Syrian Christian community, their lifestyle and communism. Esthappen and Rahel at a very young age learn horrifying truths of life, as they are tortured and blamed for every misfortune in their lives."

Arundhati Roy (Author), Sreelakshmi Jayachandran (Narrator)

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[German] - Der Gott der kleinen Dinge (Ungekürzte Lesung)

"Die kleinen Dinge, das sind der Streifen auf einem Wespenflügel, roter Nagellack auf den Fingern eines Schreiners, die geballte Faust auf einer Motorhaube. Die großen Dinge dagegen lauern unausgesprochen im Innern. Das wissen die siebenjährigen Zwillinge Rahel und Estha, und sie wissen auch, dass sich alles an einem einzigen Tag verändern kann. Und sie werden recht behalten. Als Rahel nach vielen Jahren zurückkehrt in ihr Heimatdorf im südindischen Kerala, ist nichts mehr, wie es einst war. Die Konservenfabrik der Familie verfallen, die geliebte Mutter tot, der Zwillingsbruder verstummt. Zurückgeblieben sind nur die Erinnerungen an eine Kindheit am Fluss, an die bewundernde Liebe zu Velutha, dem dunklen Angestellten ihrer Großmutter, und an einen tragischen Tag im Jahr 1969, der alles veränderte. Eine magische Geschichte vor dem Hintergrund der politischen Umbrüche Indiens."

Arundhati Roy (Author), Gabriele Blum (Narrator)

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My Seditious Heart

"Penguin presents the audiobook edition of My Seditious Heart by Arundhati Roy, read by Tania Rodrigues. My Seditious Heart collects the work of a two-decade period when Arundhati Roy devoted herself to the political essay as a way of opening up space for justice, rights and freedoms in an increasingly hostile environment. Taken together, the essays speak in a uniquely spirited voice, marked by compassion, clarity and courage. Radical and superbly readable, they speak always in defence of the collective, of the individual and of the land, in the face of the destructive logic of financial, social, religious, military and governmental elites. In constant conversation with the themes and settings of her novels, the essays form a near-unbroken memoir of Arundhati Roy's journey as both a writer and a citizen, of both India and the world, from 'The End of Imagination', which begins this book, to 'My Seditious Heart', with which it ends."

Arundhati Roy (Author), Tania Rodrigues (Narrator)

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[German] - Das Ministerium des äußersten Glücks (Ungekürzte Lesung)

"Auf einem Friedhof in der Altstadt von Delhi wird ein handgeknüpfter Teppich ausgerollt. Auf einem Bürgersteig taucht plötzlich ein Baby auf. In einem verschneiten Tal schreibt ein Vater einen Brief an seine fünfjährige Tochter über die vielen Menschen, die zu ihrer Beerdigung kamen. Im Jannat Guest House umarmen sich im Schlaf zwei Menschen, als ob sie sich eben erst getroffen hätten - aber sie kennen sich schon ein Leben lang. Erzählt mit einem Flüstern, einem Schrei, mit Freudentränen und manchmal mit einem bitteren Lachen, ist dieser Roman Liebeserklärung und Provokation zugleich."

Arundhati Roy (Author), Gabriele Blum (Narrator)

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The Ministry of Utmost Happiness: Longlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2017

"Penguin presents the audiobook edition of The Ministry of Utmost Happiness, written and read by Arundhati Roy. FROM THE BOOKER PRIZE WINNING AUTHOR OF THE GOD OF SMALL THINGS LONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2018 LONGLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE 2017 NOMINATED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD FOR FICTION LONGLISTED FOR THE CARNEGIE 2018 THE SUNDAY TIMES NUMBER ONE and THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER 'A sprawling kaleidoscopic fable' Guardian, Books of the Year 'Roy's second novel proves as remarkable as her first' Financial Times 'A great tempest of a novel... which will leave you awed by the heat of its anger and the depth of its compassion' Washington Post 'A dazzling return to form' Independent 'Intricately layered and passionate, a work of extraordinary intricacy and grace' Prospect 'A masterpiece. Roy joins Dickens, Naipaul, García Márquez, and Rushdie in her abiding compassion, storytelling magic, and piquant wit. An entrancing, imaginative, and wrenching epic' Booklist starred review 'At magic hour; when the sun has gone but the light has not, armies of flying foxes unhinge themselves from the Banyan trees in the old graveyard and drift across the city like smoke...' So begins The Ministry of Utmost Happiness, Arundhati Roy's incredible follow-up to The God of Small Things. We meet Anjum, who used to be Aftab, who runs a guest-house in an Old Delhi graveyard and gathers around her the lost, the broken and the cast out. We meet Tilo, an architect, who although she is loved by three men, lives in a 'country of her own skin' . When Tilo claims an abandoned baby as her own, her destiny and that of Anjum become entangled as a tale that sweeps across the years and a teeming continent takes flight..."

Arundhati Roy (Author), Arundhati Roy (Narrator)

Audiobook

The God of Small Things

"Winner of the 1997 Booker Prize. The richly exotic story of the childhood the twins Esthappen and Rahel craft for themselves amongst India’s vats of banana jam and mountains of peppercorns. Here, perhaps, is the greatest Indian novel by a woman. Arundhati Roy’s ‘The God of Small Things’ is an astonishingly rich, fertile novel, teeming with life, colour, heart-stopping language, wry comedy and a hint of magical realism. Set against a background of political turbulence in Kerala, Southern India, ‘The God of Small Things’ tells the story of twins Esthappen and Rahel. Amongst the vats of banana jam and heaps of peppercorns in their grandmother’s factory, they try to craft a childhood for themselves amidst what constitutes their family – their lonely, lovely mother, their beloved Uncle Chacko (pickle baron, radical Marxist and bottom-pincher) and their avowed enemy Baby Kochamma (ex-nun and incumbent grand-aunt)."

Arundhati Roy (Author), Aysha Kala (Narrator)

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