November 11, 2025
nonfiction | pb | 516 pgs.
5.5" x 8.5"
978-1-960385-47-5
From the author of Ganbare! Workshops on Dying
In southern India lies Auroville, an experimental city founded in 1968 with a radical vision: to create a utopia free from religion, politics, and nationality, where humanity could live in harmony. But what happens when ideals meet reality?
In
Auroville, award-winning journalist Katarzyna Boni journeys deep into this unique community, uncovering stories of hope, disillusionment, and resilience. From spiritual seekers and lifelong residents to skeptics questioning the city's future, Boni paints a vivid portrait of a place where dreams of a better world persist--despite the challenges of human nature.
A thought-provoking exploration of utopia and its complexities, Auroville is a powerful meditation on the search for meaning and belonging in an ever-changing world.
Translated from the Polish by Mark Ordon
•
About the Author:
Katarzyna Boni is an award-winning Polish journalist, writer, and documentarian who specializes in long-form journalism, Polish reportage, and nonfiction, often focusing on themes of community, spirituality, and resilience. Boni has reported from across the globe, with a particular interest in Asia, where she has spent extensive time researching and writing. Her acclaimed debut, Ganbare! Workshops on Dying, delved into post-tsunami Japan and the cultural narratives surrounding grief and recovery. In Auroville, she turns her lens to the utopian experiment in southern India, capturing its complexities with her signature blend of curiosity and insight.
About the Translator:
Mark Ordon is a writer and translator based in Poznań, Poland. His work has appeared in the English edition of Przekrój magazine and The Thornfield Review, as well as academic publications commissioned by the Polish Academy of Sciences. His focus to date has been on short fiction and non-fiction, as well as translations of academic papers and lectures, such as "On the Importance of Sadness," a lecture given by philosopher Tomasz Stawiszyński at A Night of Philosophy and Ideas in Brooklyn, New York in February 2020.
•
Praise for Ganbare! Workshops in Dying:
"Boni is writing a different history of Japan. A country that, despite Hiroshima (a great scene in which the author tastes sake with the victims of an atomic bomb), has convinced itself that nuclear energy is the safest in the world, and has now become a victim of its own pride. A nation that made the recipes for natural disasters into the heart of its own culture, and then, in the race for modernity, forgot what helped it survive on constantly trembling islands. But Ganbare! ("we can do it!") is not just a book about Japan. It is also a fascinating journey deep into the experience of death."―Books. Magazine for Reading
"Katarzyna Boni is a master at using form. Thanks to this Ganbare! is a strong and extremely interesting report, in which the content is as important as the form. . . . One of the most interesting books of the year."― PrzechamRecenzuje.pl
