An interview with the New York-based Indian-origin author of 'A Burning'—a searing portrait of religion, radical politics and social injustice in contemporary India—touted to be this year's major literary debut Publishing a novel in the middle of a pandemic, especially one that is touted to be the biggest literary debut of the year by a South Asian writer, isn’t ideal but Megha Majumdar doesn’t want to complain. “I never want to act like my book is the focus of everyone’s lives," she says in a video call from her home in New York, “there are much bigger things at stake at the moment." Yet, strangely enough, A Burning, which hits stores in India next week, feels uncannily prescient.