How to frame your dragon: A Wknd interview with fantasy writer Indrapramit Das

His new novella is about a teen who seems to come from a long line of dragoners. Set in Kolkata, Das also uses the tale to ask: What makes someone a migrant?

Like all the best dreams, his felt more like a memory. He was in a misty garden; in his grandmother’s hands, a small bud turned into a baby dragon.

Das at his home in Kolkata. (HT Photo: Samir Jana)

“It was a dream I woke up to about three years ago,” says author Indrapramit Das.

The scenes, which haunted him until he wrote them down, make up the opening pages of Das’s fantasy novella, The Last Dragoners of Bowbazar (2023). The book follows a teenager in 1990s Kolkata as he