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Editor, Himal Southasian · Kathmandu-born · Based across the Subcontinent
Roman Gautam is the Editor of Himal Southasian, Southasia's oldest and only pan-regional independent magazine of politics and culture, to which he was appointed by the Board of Directors in late 2022. He has more than fifteen years of experience in South Asian independent journalism, with the bulk of that time — approximately nine years — spent as Senior Editor at The Caravan, the New Delhi-based magazine of narrative and investigative journalism that is among the most respected long-form publications on the Subcontinent. A native of Kathmandu, he brings to Himal a dual fluency in the Nepal and India contexts that is well-suited to a publication whose founding premise is that the Subcontinent can only be understood across its national borders, not within any one of them.
At Himal, Gautam oversees a small remote editorial team distributed across the Subcontinent, managing the magazine's weekly publication schedule, its two podcasts ("State of Southasia" and "Southasia Review of Books"), its newsletters, and its Himal Fiction Fest programme of South Asian fiction in translation. He writes the monthly "Letter from the Editor" — a members-only dispatch that functions as both editorial notes and a personal essay on the state of Southasian journalism and politics — and is a regular speaker at journalism conferences on topics of regional independent media, press freedom, and South Asian political and cultural coverage. He was named a Senior Fellow of Humanity in Action, a democracy and human rights fellowship network.
Gautam took over the editorship from Aunohita Mojumdar, who led the magazine's 2018 relaunch from Colombo after the Nepal government's 2016 campaign of bureaucratic harassment forced its closure in Kathmandu. Under his editorship, Himal has maintained its reputation for coverage that major South Asian national outlets, throttled by government pressure or corporate control, cannot or will not produce — including its investigation of the Vantara wildlife project (associated with the Ambani family), which was selected as a finalist for a major global investigative journalism prize, and which Himal defended successfully in court when challenged.
Gautam's formation as a journalist at The Caravan — one of the most demanding editorial environments in Indian journalism, known for its long-form features, rigorous fact-checking, and willingness to challenge both political and corporate power — gave him a specific set of editorial instincts that align naturally with Himal's institutional character. Both publications operate on the premise that journalism requires time and depth that daily news cycles cannot provide; that the most important stories are often the ones that require months of reporting rather than hours; and that independence from advertising pressure and government favor is the precondition for publishing work that matters.
His appointment was announced with a statement that reflected both his editorial philosophy and Himal's particular moment: "This region of nearly a fourth of the world's population is undergoing such unsettling socio-political change and facing so many challenges to free expression. Himal must continue the work of keeping independent journalism alive."
Roman Gautam · Editor, Himal Southasian
Affiliation: himalmag.com
Previous: Senior Editor, The Caravan, New Delhi (~9 years)
Fellowship: Humanity in Action Senior Fellow