Arundhati Roy (born 24 November 1961)

Arundhati Roy is an acclaimed Indian novelist, essayist, and human rights advocate whose work exemplifies a deep commitment to humanist values. Born in Shillong in 1961 and raised primarily in Kerala, Roy’s worldview was shaped by her mother’s independent, reform-minded outlook and by her own experience navigating India’s social, religious, and political divides. Although she does not formally identify with organized humanist or rationalist movements, her writing and activism consistently express the core moral concerns of humanism: dignity, justice, compassion, truth-seeking, and resistance to authoritarian power.

Roy first came to global prominence with her Booker Prize–winning novel The God of Small Things, a narrative that exposes caste violence, gender bias, and the fragile humanity of those crushed by social hierarchies. Her later work—especially her political essays—demonstrates an ethical orientation grounded not in religion or ideology but in empathy for marginalized people: Adivasis displaced by mining, Dalits subjected to systemic oppression, Kashmiris denied self-determination, and political prisoners held without trial.

Her humanism is visible in her uncompromising critique of religious nationalism, majoritarianism, and the misuse of faith for political ends. Roy’s writing insists that no government, corporation, or religious authority has the right to diminish a human life. She argues for moral accountability rooted in reason, evidence, and universal principles of justice.

Today, Arundhati Roy stands as one of India’s most influential moral voices—an artist-activist whose humanism is expressed not through doctrinal labels, but through a sustained dedication to truth, solidarity, and the equal worth of every person.