Ever the wild soul, herpetologist Romulus Whittaker’s book reading session at the Blue & Green Climate LitFest was a laugh riot. And, he was in contrast with the reading by co-author and wife, Janaki Lenin. She was more proper and careful with the intonation while he went all “aoooo”, imitating the wolf call of a popular radio jockey from his younger days in the US.
The duo was in conversation with Isha Banerji, non-fiction commissioning editor at HarperCollins India. The book discussed was their latest—Snakes, Drugs and Rock 'n' Roll. If that title does not persuade you to buy a book, what would?
Banerji and Lenin discussed Whittaker’s note-keeping skills, which made writing the book easier. And, considering that Whittaker was always wild, did Lenin have to censor anything, THE WEEK asked. “Um, yeah, I had to censor a lot, especially in the first volume, otherwise we would be calling it ‘Sex, Drugs and Rock ‘n’ Roll’”, she said, evoking chuckles all around. “There was a lot of censorship, but I don't think the book lost anything for it. It stuck very close to the real heart of the story. With that, I mean there are indications that he has all these different girlfriends, but the rest is up to your imagination.”
When THE WEEK asked Whittaker to name his favourite nature authors, he pulled out a surprise. Well, two.
“First on the list? I’m not sure if you could call him strictly a nature writer, but definitely David Quammen,” Whittaker said. “He is just someone who impresses me so deeply. And, interestingly someone said that Janaki is like our homegrown David Quammen. And I love that, because I love his writing, and of course, I love her writing.”
Quammen, an American writer, is famous for presenting natural science to the normal reader in an understandable and accurate form. A line from his profile on the Weber State University website puts him in Whittaker’s bandwidth, when it comes to wildness: “In 1973 with a "fly rod and a Volkswagen bus" he headed west, landing in Montana where he currently resides.”
The second choice was Chennai-based Yuvan Aves, who was longlisted for the 2025 Wainwright Prize for Nature Writing. The nomination was for his book Intertidal: A Coast and Marsh Diary. He is the first Indian to be nominated for the award.
“His writing is brilliant,” said Whittaker. “Here we are, you know, the younger generation is coming up and writing stuff that we can (appreciate). And that is really impressive.”
Aves is the author of two books on ecology and three children’s books. His other awards include the Sanctuary Green Teacher of the Year 2021 and the M. Krishnan Memorial Nature Writing Award. He is the founder-managing trustee of Palluyir Trust for Nature Education and Research.
The Blue & Green Climate LitFest was hosted by the Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies, Kochi, from December 17 to 18.
