Context, an imprint of Westland Books, today announced the Indian release of I Am on the Hitlist: Murder and Myth-Making in South India by Rollo Romig. This gripping investigative work delves into the tragic assassination of journalist Gauri Lankesh and its profound implications for democracy, free speech, and journalism in contemporary India.
In I Am on the Hitlist, Romig meticulously reconstructs the events leading up to the shocking murder of Gauri Lankesh, an outspoken journalist who became a symbol of resistance against fascism. The book not only chronicles the chilling details of her assassination but also examines the sociopolitical currents that enabled such a crime and its impact on India’s democracy and press freedom.
The book has been praised internationally for its bold storytelling and incisive commentary, making it a must-read for those invested in issues of press freedom, justice, and the fight against authoritarianism.
Ajitha G.S., Publisher, Context, and Rollo’s editor said, “Rollo achieves so much with this extraordinary book: it’s a murder investigation that’s also an enquiry into the state of India; it’s a book about the life and death of Gauri Lankesh but equally about her murderers and the system that created and enabled them; in its enquiry of two other unconnected murders—surprisingly relevant detours—it is also a meditation on death and culpability; and in all this it doesn’t lose sight of Gauri and of other human rights defenders that are on the frontlines in the fight to save India’s democracy. It’s such an important book and an absolute page-turner.”
Speaking about his book, author Rollo Romig, said, “This book is a tribute to the India I love, and to those Indians who are defending it from the forces that want to narrow it into something rigid and homogenous and cruel. It's also a celebration of one extraordinary and delightfully complicated Indian, Gauri Lankesh.
To me the book's central mystery is not who murdered Gauri but the question of how she managed to live so fully and touch so many different kinds of people. It's a book about how to live a life, and writing it forever changed the way I live mine."
Released today on 13th January 2025, I Am on the Hitlist: Murder and Myth-Making in South India is available in major bookstores and online platforms across India.
About the Book
A Gripping Investigation Into Gauri Lankesh’s Mysterious Assassination, Revealing Both The Murky Forces Operating In The Shadows As Well As The Courage And Vulnerability Of Democracy’s Defenders
On 5 September 2017, the fierce journalist and activist Gauri Lankesh was assassinated outside her home in Bangalore, leaving the city’s close-knit community of writers and activists stunned and grieving. A shocked nation reacted with spontaneous mass protests. Her murder and its aftermath continue to make headlines even years later, and her killers are yet to be brought to book.
As journalist Rollo Romig follows the trail of Gauri’s life and death, and the investigation that followed, he unravels a world of political extremists, fearless writers, organised crime and shadowy religious groups. I Am on the Hit List is an epic narrative that moves between the many bookshops of Church Street and brand-new high rises funded by IT wealth, to a secretive ashram in Goa and the kitchens of an international vegetarian restaurant chain, even stopping to consider the story of St Thomas's martyrdom in India two thousand years ago.
As much an interrogation of the cycle of polarisation and bloodshed that inspires political murder as it is an ode to the courage and vulnerability of those who are fighting the decline of democracy in India and around the world, this is a stunning, unsettling narrative.
About the Author
Born and raised in Detroit, Rollo Romig is a journalist, essayist, and critic. He has been reporting on South India since 2013, most often for The New York Times Magazine.
About Westland Books
Westland Books is an award-winning Indian publisher with a diverse and exciting range of books from popular and literary fiction to business, politics, biography, spirituality, popular science, health and self-help. Its key publishing imprints include Context, which publishes award-winning literary fiction and non-fiction; Eka, which publishes the best of contemporary writing in Indian languages and in translation; Tranquebar, home to the best new fiction from the Indian subcontinent; the eponymous Westland Sport, Westland Business and Westland Non-Fiction, and Red Panda, which publishes a range of books for children of different ages.