Rajat Mitra is a clinical psychologist who has worked with Islamic militants and radicalized youth on one hand and survivors of mass violence and genocide on the other. He holds a PhD in psychology, is a social entrepreneur and was given the Ashoka fellowship for working on criminal justice reforms in India.

The many narratives he heard over a thirty-year career of providing support for human rights violations and abuses, gave him psychological insights into two of the most disturbing issues of our times as to how do radicalized youth cope with religious indoctrination and how does psychological trauma of survivors gets passed on as narratives from generation to generation.

While studying for a course by Harvard, Rajat became aware of the deep link between trans-generational trauma, collective memory and the effort to preserve them through poems and literature. 

An avid reader of literature, he didn’t realize how and when these different feelings began to take shape and form characters in his mind who began to live and breathe through him telling him a story that he felt was the voice of a people that had become silent and gone unheard. 

‘The Infidel Next Door’ is a moving story that he believes will speak directly to all people whose conscience has ever been shaken by religious persecution in our times.

Rajat is currently working on a de-radicalization program for youth. He lives in New Delhi, India, with his wife and daughter. The Infidel Next Door is his first book.