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Mother Mary Comes to Me
An Evening with Arundhati Roy
This was a BIC Elsewhere Event at St. Joseph’s Boys’ High School.
Speakers
Memory and identity. Personal and political. Mothers and daughters.
Mother Mary Comes to Me is Arundhati Roy’s most personal work yet. At its centre is Mary Roy, her mother: abusive, brilliant, impossible to understand, and impossible to forget. A woman who challenged the Travancore Christian Succession Act before the Supreme Court and won. A woman who was, as Roy writes, both shelter and storm.
In conversation with Arundhati Ghosh, Roy reflects on the writing of this memoir, her journey from a rocky childhood to literary stardom, and what it means to reckon with a person you have spent a lifetime trying to fathom.
A signing with the author will follow.
Disclaimer: Any depiction of smoking in this book is for representational purposes only. Penguin Random House India and Bangalore International Centre do not promote or endorse tobacco use.
About BIC Elsewhere:
While the majority of our events find a home at our premises in Domlur, BIC Elsewhere represents our commitment to bringing conversations, arts, and culture directly to diverse audiences. Through this initiative, we collaborate with various venues, extending the reach of our events beyond our own space. These partnerships not only breathe life into our gatherings but also play a crucial role in cultivating an environment for the flourishing of arts and culture in the city.
This event will be held at the St Joseph’s Boys’ High School Auditorium, Museum Road.
In collaboration with:
Speakers
Arundhati Roy
Arundhati Roy is the author of the novels The God of Small Things, which won the Booker Prize in 1997, and The Ministry of Utmost Happiness, which was longlisted for the Booker Prize in 2017. She is the author of various works of non-fiction including My Seditious Heart, Azadi and, most recently, The Architecture of Modern Empire.
Arundhati Ghosh
Arundhati Ghosh is a writer, cultural practitioner, social activist and traveller. With three decades of experience in the arts and culture, she served as the Executive Director of India Foundation for the Arts (IFA) between 2013 and 2023. Her awards include Chevening Clore Leadership (2015-2016), Chevening Gurukul Scholarship at London School of Economics (2005-2006), and Salzburg Global Seminar Fellowship. She contributed on advisory panels and board of the Seagull Foundation for the Arts, Blind with Camera, Sangama and Toto funds the Arts, and continues to do so for the Museum of Art and Photography (MAP), Shomokaleen Protibidhan, the Solidarity Foundation, and Maraa.
She writes for various publications such as Scroll, The Wire, The Deccan Herald and The Hindu. Her collection of poetry in Bangla Oshomoye phire esho nodi hoye was published in January 2023 by Lastrada Prakashan. Her book All Our Loves: Journeys with Polyamory in India was published in 2025 by Aleph Book Company and won the Non Fiction Book of the Year Award at the Rainbow Literature Festival 2025 and the Kala Shreshtha Award for Debut Author English at the Kala Literature Awards 2026. She has also co-edited a collection of essays in Bangla of daughters writing about their mothers titled Meyeder Mayera (Mothers of Daughters) published by Sonta Prokashona in 2026. She writes a monthly column on relationships titled Ties and Knots for the Deccan Herald. She consults and trains for the cultural and not-for-profit sector.
