Sumana Roy

An author and academic, Sumana Roy is building an archive of literature on plant life in the Indian subcontinent spanning the last two millennia. Her book How I Became a Tree is recognized internationally as a seminal work in “philosophical botany.” She also focuses on another overlooked stressor in the global polycrisis—the weakening and disappearance of languages.

At the Indian Plant Humanities project, Sumana collaborates with designers, data engineers, librarians, and artists to develop ways of making storytelling around plants accessible and wondrous for diverse audiences, especially students and young people. She publishes in some of the world’s most respected literary platforms as well as in little magazines and blogs. Across her work in teaching, writing, and archiving, she is dedicated to creating a vocabulary of safety, delight, and calm to replace the language of violence and apocalypse in everyday life.