The Hungryalists: The Poets Who Sparked a Revolution

• The book brings together literary history, biography, interviews, letters and accounts of the movement's turbulent journey. It examines how the Hungryalists questioned caste, class, gender and cultural authority while creating a new, experimental literary voice. Their influence extended beyond India, including their connection with American poet Allen Ginsberg.

• Maitreyee Bhattacharjee Chowdhury is a Bangalore-based poet and writer. She is also the author of Benaras: Where Even the Present is Ancient and Uttam Kumar and Suchitra Sen: Bengali Cinema's First Couple. Her writing combines literary research, cultural history and engaging narrative.

The Hungryalists tells the story of a group of young Bengali poets, writers and artists who rejected the conventions of mainstream literature in the 1960s. Known as the Hungry Generation, they embraced an uncompromising and experimental approach to writing and openly confronted social and cultural norms.

The movement's members faced severe opposition, including social boycott, ridicule and arrests. The book also explores their relationship with Allen Ginsberg and their influence on the wider literary world. Through research, interviews, translated poems and correspondence, Chowdhury reconstructs the passion, controversy and lasting significance of a movement that transformed Bengal's literary landscape.