Siddharth Dube

   

No one else

An Indefinite Sentence

A New York Times Editors' Choice Book

Shortlisted for a 2020 Lambda Literary Award

 

No one else

No One Else

Shortlisted for the Crossword Jury Award and long-listed for the Tata Book of the Year Award



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The Caravan’s special report



Winner of two 2021 Laadli Media Awards for gender-sensitive investigative journalism

Reviews

"This searing memoir of a gay man from a country that criminalizes homosexuality is intertwined with a first-hand account of the struggle for basic human rights by gays as well as by women sex workers, two groups similarly outlawed in India. Dube unsparingly exposes a complex web of hypocrisy, corruption and brutality in this work of grave, vital importance."
KIRAN DESAI BOOKER PRIZE WINNER FOR THE INHERITANCE OF LOSS

"Heart-stopping...Although this is a personal memoir, it is also a memoir of work. Work helped Dube find himself. And work allowed him to live a life he could be proud of...Dube gives his readers the substantial gift of hope. The sentiment is, in fact, the spine of his memoir."
SONIA FALEIRO, THE NEW YORK TIMES

"An extraordinary book that triumphs on many levels, personal and social … Above all, it is a sensual and passionate story about the search for love, the 'endless flowing river in the cave of man', that animates all our lives.”
SUDHIR KAKAR, PSYCHOANALYST

A public health visionary gets personal with a powerful exploration of 'the beguiling possibilities of gender beyond the conventional bipolarity of male and female, and the mysterious, limitless permutations of sexual desire.'...A gripping memoir about a gay man with feet in India and the U.S. as well as a book about how to put together a life.
KIRKUS REVIEWS

“An unflinchingly honest account of private marginalization that opens up to a bigger world of public and communal discrimination against sexual minorities, Dube’s book is intransigent in its truth-telling, eye-opening in its revelations, and capacious in its compassion.”
NEEL MUKHERJEE, BOOKER PRIZE FINALIST FOR THE LIVES OF OTHERS

"A frank personal memoir of a sex life hedged round with stigma and legal constraint -- in both India and the U. S. -- Siddharth Dube's An Indefinite Sentence is also a much larger book: an outraged story of how law and culture interfere with, but can potentially support, human lives. A globally recognized activist for the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS, Dube has channeled his personal struggle into committed advocacy on behalf of others -- not only sexual minorities but also sex workers. Eloquent, fascinating, and profoundly moving."
MARTHA C. NUSSBAUM, PHILOSOPHER

“An Indefinite Sentence bears witness to the long struggle against homophobia; it is also a vital, up to date record of gay rights and AIDS relief activism worldwide. Its rich perspective makes clear that anyone who still thinks criminalising sex work is an effective strategy to uphold human dignity needs to read this moving, impressive and necessary book.”
PRETI TANEJA, DESMOND ELLIOT PRIZE WINNER FOR WE THAT ARE YOUNG

"Journalist-activist Siddharth Dube's memoir…is both a personal and political journey. In recounting his own painful realisation that he is different, he provides a scathing indictment of the education system, particularly the tony Doon School, of the country's policy on AIDS, the political establishment's attitude to homosexuality and the deep-seated hypocrisy surrounding prostitution not just in India but also in the West…His ability to relate to others who are oppressed is moving and memorable."
KAVEREE BAMZAI, INDIA TODAY

"The year's best books....journalist Siddharth Dube's brave, sensitively told coming-of-age account as an upper class gay man and the persecution he faced."
SUNIL SETHI, BUSINESS STANDARD


more reviews >>

Bookmark

Words Like Freedom
In the Land of Poverty

IN THE LAND OF POVERTY
The Memoirs of an Indian Family, 1947-1997

This acclaimed study records history from the perspective of India’s poor


Published as Words Like Freedom: The Memoirs of an Impoverished Indian Family, 1947-1997 by HarperCollins in India, 1998.

In the Land of Poverty: An Epic Century in the Life of a Family and a Nation, a sequel, will be published in 2024 by Viking Penguin India.


Read an excerpt


Reviews

"A deeply illuminating study of poverty in India, seen in concrete detail and made vividly real by remarkable descriptive skill.”
AMARTYA SEN, Nobel laureate in economics

"An extraordinary study of the human dimensions of poverty and development.”
SHASHI THAROOR, AUTHOR OF INGLORIOUS EMPIRE: WHAT THE BRITISH DID TO INDIA

"Ram Dass' stories are heartrending, despite the fact that neither he nor his transliterator seek to manipulate their audience; it is their simplicity that is so devastatingly effective."
PANKAJ MISHRA, THE TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT


"A sensitive, ideology-free analysis of the poor and their history...stands out for its boldness and narrative accuracy."
OUTLOOK


"A fine biography...[that will] leave an indelible mark on a reader’s conscience."
INDIA TODAY


"Subaltern history at its best." SUNDAY


"Fully lives up to its promise of melding the voices of a single ‘Untouchable’ agricultural labourer family in a UP village with a broad analysis of India's political economy. This innovative approach [provides] insights into why acute and pervasive poverty has persisted in India despite decades of planning and moderately rapid economic growth on the one hand and a functioning parliamentary democracy and even a constitutional commitment to socialism on the other."
KRISHNA RAJ, Editor, The Economic and Political Weekly


"It is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the perpetuation of poverty and inequality in the world's second largest country."
BETSY HARTMANN, co-author 'A Quiet Violence', author 'Reproductive Rights and Wrongs' and Director of the Population and Development Program, Hampshire College


“Sharp, convincing and absolutely to the point…deserves the widest possible commendation."
SUSAN RAM in Frontline.



"An important book that serves as a powerful antidote to much of the euphoria generated these days about the benefits of economic liberalisation. It deserves to be very widely read."
DARRYL D'MONTE in Humanscape


more reviews >>

Bookmark

Sex, Lies and AIDS
Sex, Lies and AIDS


"A lucid, compelling and indefatigably researched attempt to stem the tide of denial, prejudice, ineptitude and bigotry that characterize Indian attitudes and policies on AIDS."
THE TELEGRAPH



"Impassioned and lucid analysis. This slim and clearly written volume should be mandatory reading for government officials, health workers and teachers throughout India."
FAR EASTERN ECONOMIC REVIEW



"The real story of AIDS in India and why you should care. In chillingly simple terms portrays the horrors that will befall us if we don’t act soon."
OUTLOOK



“A deeply disturbing book…(written) with language and passion that leave you wrung out.”
DILIP D'SOUZA in Frontline



"Combines a sense of personal outrage, individual insights, meticulous research and documentation, and case histories of real ordinary citizens. The reports of the sexual biographies of a variety of ordinary citizens…invest this book with greater value than any dozen treatises on AIDS."
ASHOK BANKER in REDIFF.COM


“Riveting.”
SUNEETHA KADIYALA and TONY BARNETT, Economic and Political Weekly


"A must-read for every Indian. Anyone worried about their own health or that of the nation simply cannot afford to give it a miss. It lays to rest too many myths for that."
THE STATESMAN


"Want to know about AIDS but didn't know whom to ask? The answer: Sex, Lies and AIDS."
THE WEEK



"Congratulations for writing this magnificent book. I thank you on behalf of INP+ and all people living with HIV in India for presenting the correct scenario on AIDS in India."
ASHOK PILLAI, Indian Network for People Living with HIV/AIDS (INP+)

The End of Polio
The End of Polio
A Global Effort to End a Disease

Photographs by Sebastião Salgado
Introduction by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan
Essay by Siddharth Dube

Read an excerpt

PixelPress Press release















Siddharth Dube is a non-fiction writer and specialist commentator on poverty, public health, and development. His books include An Indefinite Sentence; In the Land of Poverty; and Sex, Lies and AIDS.>>

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