Marginlands

Celebrated National Geographic Explorer Arati Kumar-Rao blends enthralling nature writing, journalism, immersive art, and photography to create a vivid and urgent portrait of India’s diverse ecological wonders, teetering on the edge.

In Marginlands, Arati Kumar-Rao invites readers on an immersive and revealing journey through her homeland’s diverse regions, ecosystems, and communities—both human and wild—that have defined India and are now threated by industry and urbanization.

From the shifting sand of the Thar desert to the floodplains of Assam, from the Goa coast to dense forests of Arunachal Pradesh, to the shores of Kerala, the artificial glaciers of Ladakh in the Himalayas, and the sandbar islands in the river Ganga, Kumar-Rao reveals both natural wonder and our reckless blunders. There are wolves, dolphins, tigers, bees, black-necked cranes, crocodiles, and countless fish and fauna that reside in these varied ecosystems, and Rao shares their stories along with those of the human inhabitants—shepherds, fishermen, and farmers—whose lives and livelihood are dependent on the health of these sacred and life-sustaining landscapes. But as mining, commercial fishing, industry, the damming of rivers, and commerce expand at a breakneck pace, will the health and beauty that have defined these places survive? Can nature—with human ingenuity, compassion, and commitment—heal and ultimately persevere?

With deep empathy, sweeping lyricism, and unmatched attentiveness, Kumar-Rao celebrates the overlooked, the unseen, and the anything-but-ordinary of the natural world and the need to advocate for its preservation. Urgent and inspiring, Marginlands encourages readers to honor interconnectedness everywhere.