The Center for Fiction Presents Amitav Ghosh on Ghost-Eye with Ravi Agrawal

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Thursday, 7:00 pm EDT June 11, 2026

The Center for Fiction
& Livestreamed

Join us for an evening with Amitav Ghosh, author of the Man Booker Prize-shortlisted Sea of Poppies, in conversation with Ravi Agrawal, editor-in-chief of Foreign Policy magazine, about Ghosh’s new novel, Ghost-Eye.

Urgent and expansive, Ghost-Eye weaves together two plotlines to tell a story about reincarnation, family, and our fragile planet. Varsha Gupta, a young girl living in 1960s Calcutta, is struck by memories of a past life. Half a century later, her psychologist’s nephew Dinu, becomes immersed in Varsha’s tale through his involvement with a group of environmental activists—and buried memories of his own begin to resurface.

Don’t miss this expansive discussion of memory, our planet, and the connections that pursue us across time and place. A book signing will follow the event.

We offer two in-person ticket options: the $10 Standard Ticket and the $40+ Supporter Ticket. Both provide the same access, but if you’re able, we kindly suggest registering for the Supporter Ticket to help sustain our programs. Please note that tickets do not include books; we encourage you to order in advance online or purchase copies at the event.

Featuring

Amitav Ghosh

Amitav Ghosh

Amitav Ghosh is the author of the bestselling Ibis Trilogy, composed of Sea of Poppies (shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize), River of Smoke, and Flood of Fire. His other novels include The Circle of Reason, which won the Prix Médicis étranger, and The Glass Palace. He is the author of many works of nonfiction, including The Great Derangement, The Nutmeg’s Curse, and Smoke and Ashes. In 2018, Ghosh became the first English-language writer to win the Jnanpith Award, India’s highest literary honor. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Photo Credit: Mathieu Génon
Ravi Agrawal

Ravi Agrawal

Ravi Agrawal is the editor in chief of Foreign Policy. He is also the host of FP Live, the magazine’s video channel and podcast, on which he regularly interviews world leaders and policymakers. Before joining FP in 2018, Agrawal worked at CNN for more than a decade in full-time roles spanning three continents, including as the network’s New Delhi bureau chief and correspondent. He has shared a Peabody Award and three Emmy nominations for his work as a TV producer, and his writing for FP was part of a series nominated for a 2020 National Magazine Award for columns and commentary. Agrawal is the author of India Connected: How the Smartphone Is Transforming the World’s Largest Democracy. He is a graduate of Harvard University.

Featured Book

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Ghost-Eye

By Amitav Ghosh

Published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux

PURCHASE

Varsha Gupta wants fish for lunch. Her family is shocked; the three-year-old has never tasted fish in her life. The Guptas are strict vegetarians and don’t allow it inside their Calcutta mansion. But Varsha claims she can remember another life, in a mud house by a river where she caught and cooked fish with a different mother.

Perplexed, the Guptas turn to Dr. Shoma Bose, a psychologist who has been investigating what are known as “cases of the reincarnation type” for years. But her understanding of the world is changed forever by Varsha’s revelations.

Half a century later, Varsha’s case file catches the attention of a group of environmental activists, and Shoma’s nephew Dinu is drawn inexorably into their plans. As Dinu finds himself caught up in the search for Varsha, buried memories of his own past begin to surface.

Traveling between late 1960s Calcutta and present-day Brooklyn, Amitav Ghosh’s Ghost-Eye is an urgent and expansive novel from one of our greatest living storytellers, about family, fate, and our fragile planet.