We meet American writer Barbara Kingsolver under a sheltering tree at Alipore Museum (formerly a jail built by the British where many of India’s political prisoners, including Jawaharlal Nehru, were incarcerated) in Kolkata. A biologist by training and writer by profession, she has always had her ear to the ground and her books reflect that. She sensitively recast Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield into Demon Copperhead (2022), in which an Appalachian boy narrates his life amid a raging opioid crisis. She immediately began writing in her notebook on Dickens’ desk, taking David Copperfield as a first draft, with its “great plot and fabulous characters”. I have these bad things happen to my characters, so that I can make them come back.”Besides being a writer, Kingsolver is also a pianist.

Source: The Hindu February 06, 2026 00:46 UTC