In 1997, Arundhati Roy's first novel The God of Small Things made her the first Indian woman to win the prestigious Booker Prize. More than six million copies of the book were sold worldwide.

Since then, she has turned her pen to politics. During the Bush years, she was a fierce critic, calling the invasion of Afghanistan "an act of terror on the people of the world".

In India, she has campaigned against mega dams projects, denounced the rise of Hindu nationalism, and has been imprisoned by the Supreme Court of India for "corrupting public morality".

Her latest essay describes her trip into the heart of India's Maoist insurgency, the movement, India's government has launched a major military campaign to crush.

Fault Lines caught up with Arundhati Roy during a rare US appearance.

She talks to Avi Lewis about fighting on the ground, battles over corporate control of Indian land, India and the US after the Cold War, 'Islamophobia' and terrorism, tribal resistance in India and Afghanistan, and the issues behind the so-called Maoist insurgency.

This episode of Fault Lines can be seen from Thursday, May 6, 2010 at the following times GMT: Thursday: 0600; Friday: 0030, 0830; Saturday: 2330; Sunday: 0630, 2130; Tuesday: 0530, 1230; Wednesday: 0300.