Arati Kumar-Rao

Arati Kumar-Rao is an Indian author and photographer. In 2023, she released her book Marginlands: Indian landscapes on the Brink and was added to the BBC's 100 Women list.

Career
Arati Kumar-Rao was born in Bengaluru. She studied for an MBA at the Thunderbird School of Global Management, a Master of Education at Arizona State University and an MSc in Physics at the University of Pune, then worked at Intel. She decided in 2013 to leave her job and write about landscapes. On her Tumblr blog, River Diaries: Brahmaputra, she profiled the Brahmaputra River. She walked with writer Paul Salopek through the Indian states of Punjab and Rajasthan. In 2023, she released her book Marginlands: Indian landscapes on the Brink and was added to the BBC's 100 Women list.

Marginlands - Indian Landscapes on the Brink
Rao's debut novel, Marginlands, was published June 2, 2023 by Picador India. The book is about her journeys to marginlands, listening intently to their inhabitants, paying close attention to each fissure, fold and ripple. She documents the misguided decisions, wilfully ignored warnings and disregarded evidence that have brought humans to a point of no return. But the land is still rich in ancient wisdom, and its cracks hold lessons that may yet aid us in undoing centuries of slow violence – so long as one is willing to attune their senses.