“I think the biggest challenge was to constantly change my “voice” to suit a writer’s style and idiom.”Arundhati Nath (Author, Translator, Editor)

Team Kitaab is in conversation with Arundhati Nath, author and translator of The Phantom’s Howl (Speaking Tiger, 2025) where we talk about the idea behind this book and her inspiration.

Arundhati Nath has almost three decades of experience in content writing, editing, event curation, and marketing. Having begun her career as an editor in leading publishing houses including Pearson Education and Roli Books, she is currently Director of Content at Teamwork Arts, producer of the iconic Jaipur Literature Festival and other well-known art, music, and literary festivals across the world and India. She also curates and produces Teamwork Arts’ series on science, tech, and innovation—Be Inspired—held in partnership with the Principal Scientific Advisor to the Government of India.

About the Book

Stories of bhoots are omnipresent in Bengali literature. Written for adults and children by some of the best writers in the language, these stories have entertained generations of readers since they first appeared.

Intrigue and horror abound in the pages of this collection where masters of Bengali literature present a series of spine-chilling—and often bizarre— encounters with the other-worldly. A half-burnt shadow dances on the walls; a vain-glorious skeleton reminisces about her past beauty; the lonely spirit of a young girl forever rows its boat in the marshes; and a proud English ghost creates trouble on a train from Kolkata to Kashi. There is the cursed bed of a Chinese man; the possessed pair of boots of a hunter; a Mughal-era house that wants to suck the soul of its inhabitants; and an innocuous black cloth that spells danger for all who wave it.