AMRUTA PATIL is a writer and painter with an MFA from School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. She is the author of graphic novels Kari (HarperCollins) and Adi Parva (HarperCollins). Adi Parva is the first part of a mytho-historical trilogy based on the Mahabharata. Live Mint has described hers as “the most original comic strip work...seen in India”. Amruta’s books have been translated into French and Italian, and her short works of graphic fiction have appeared in international magazines such as Art Review, TimeOut, Internazionale and Tehelka. View Amruta’s writing and artwork at amrutapatil.blogspot.com.
ANOSH IRANI was born and raised in Bombay and moved to Vancouver in 1998. He is the author of the novels Dahanu Road (HarperCollins India) which was longlisted for the 2010 Man Asian Literary Prize, and The Song of Kahunsha (Doubleday) which was a finalist for CBC Radio’s Canada Reads and the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize, was published in thirteen countries, and was a bestseller in Canada, China, and Italy. His play Bombay Black won six Dora Mavor Moore awards, including for Outstanding New Play. Irani was nominated for the Governor General’s Award for Drama for his anthology The Bombay Plays: The Matka King & Bombay Black (Playwrights Canada Press). His novel The Cripple and His Talismans has been published in India by HarperCollins in January 2013.
ANUPAMA RAJU is a writer, journalist, and corporate trainer. Her poetry has been featured in several anthologies, including the HarperCollins Book of English Poetry (HarperCollins), Yellow Nib Modern English Poetry by Indians (Seamus Heaney Centre for Poetry, Queen’s University, Belfast) and Ten - The New Indian Poets (Nirala Publications). Her writing has also appeared in The Hindu, Caravan, The Little Magazine, Indian Literature, Mint Lounge, Pratilipi, and so on. Anupama is the writer for a collaborative Indo-French Poetry and Photography Project (2011-2013). She is also a translator and has been translating Malayalam author Paul Zacharia’s stories into English. She is working on her first book of poems.
APPUPEN is a comics creator and artist who tells stories from his mythical world, Halahala. His first graphic novel, Moonward, published by Blaft in 2009, was selected for the 2011 Angouleme festival, France. His second silent graphic novel, Legends of Halahala (HarperCollins) will be out in January 2013. He hopes to sell it with the tag line 150 pages of art! No words! Appupen is now back at his desk, working on his next book, Aspyrus. His commissioned murals and art can be seen in many cities across India and at www.georgemathen.com.
ARVIND KRISHNA MEHROTRA is a poet, translator, editor and essayist. He has published four books of poetry, and is the editor of several anthologies including the influential Oxford India Anthology of Twelve Modern Indian Poets. He has also translated Prakrit love poems, The Absent Traveller: Prakrit Love Poetry (Penguin Classics) and selected poems of Kabir (Songs of Kabir, Hachette India - Black Kite). He has been a visiting writer at the University of Iowa’s International Writing Program and a Homi Bhabha Fellow. He lives in Allahabad and Dehradun.
ASHOK FERREY is a writer and illustrator. Two of his books, Colpetty People (Vintage Books/Random House) and The Good Little Ceylonese Girl (Vintage Books/Random House) were shortlisted for the Gratiaen Prize, Sri Lanka’s premier literary award. Colpetty People is currently the biggest selling book of adult English fiction ever published in Sri Lanka by a local author. His third book, Serendipity (Random House) was shortlisted for the State Literary Prize. Ashok is a guest lecturer at the Sri Lanka Institute of Architecture and the host of his own TV show “The Ashok Ferrey Show”, an arts programme on national television. In his spare time, he is a personal trainer to the rich and infamous.
BENYAMIN is a novelist and short story writer. His book, Aadujeevitham/Goat Days (Green Books/Penguin India) was an overnight sensation that won him the Abu Dhabi Sakthi Award in 2008 and the Kerala Sahitya Academy Award in 2009. The book is now a staple in the syllabus of schools and universities across India. The Indian Express named him as one of the ten Best Young Writers of 2011. Benyamin moved to Bahrain in 1992, and has been working there since. His work has frequently appeared in Malayalam publications in Kerala, and deals with the life of Malayalis in the Gulf.
BIBEK DEBROY is an economist and professor at the Centre for Policy Research and a columnist with The Economic Times. Aside from several publications on economics, he has translated the Vedas (Books For All), Puranas (BR Publishing), Upanishads (BR Publishing) and Bhagvad Gita (Penguin India) into English. His book Sarama and her Children: The Dog in Indian Myth (Penguin India) splices his interest in Hinduism with his love for dogs. He is currently working on the translation of the Mahabharata (Penguin India), of which six volumes have already been released.
BRINDA KARAT is a member of the Rajya Sabha and a senior leader in the Communist Party of India (Marxist). She was the first woman member of the CPI(M) Politburo. From 1993-2004, she was the general secretary of the All India Democratic Women’s Association, the largest women’s organisation in India, and has also served as the Association’s vice president. Her book, Survival and Emancipation: Notes from Indian Women’s Struggles (Three Essays Collective) examines women’s movements in India from a left perspective.
DEEPA BALSAVAR is a writer and illustrator of children’s books. She also works on developing material for educational programmes for organisations such as the Avehi-Abacus Project (that produces teaching-learning kits for municipal schools) and UNICEF’s empowerment series for children. Her picture book, The Seed (Tulika), was selected as an Outstanding International Book for children in the White Ravens Catalogue in 2007. Deepa frequently conducts workshops on developing visual material. She currently lives in Mumbai.
DEVDUTT PATTANAIK writes on mythology, which he defines as cultural truths revealed through stories, symbols and rituals. He lectures on the relevance of both Indian and Western myths in modern life. In the last 25 years, he has authored and illustrated over 50 books, including Book of Ram and Dharmic Leadership. Known for his TED talk and TV shows such as Devlok and Business Sutra, he is a regular columnist for reputed newspapers like Times of India and Dainik Bhaskar. A medical doctor by training, Devdutt spent 15years working in the pharma and healthcare industry but, over the past decade, he has been fully immersed in exploring mythology and sharing its wisdom with the world.
DHARMEN MAKAWANA is the Executive Chef at The Leela Palace in Chennai. He brings with him close to 32 years of hospitality experience in Australia, Bali, Indonesia, Egypt, Cairo and India. Previously, he worked as Executive Chef of Dusit Thani. He started his career with the Goodwood Park Hotel in Singapore and went on to work for top luxury hotels in Australia, Asia and Middle East including The Landmark Park Royal, Nikko in Bali, The Four Seasons in Sharm El Sheik and Cairo and lately the award Winning Oberoi Amarvilas in Agra. He has won several awards including the Food Excellence Award from EOI in Australia and Chef of The Year in 1994 and in 1995.
DINESH KHANNA is a photographer and co-founder of the Delhi Photo Festival. He has worked variously as a calculator salesman, garments quality checker, a busboy in an Upper East Side Bar in New York and as a Client Servicing Executive in advertising, before finally turning to photography in 1990. His areas of interest include food, still-life, people and interiors. He has held solo exhibitions in venues that include Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, New York and San Francisco. He has produced two pictorial books - Bazaar (Penguin India) and Living Faith (Penguin India) - which were a result of over a decade of travelling through the traditional markets and religious centres of India. For the past seven years, he has been working on his next pictorial book, Benaras: Everyday in Eternity, to be published by Aleph Book Company in 2014. He also runs the non-profit organisation Nazar Foundation, with Prashant Panjiar, with the aim of mentoring young photographers and promoting the art of photography.
FARAH GHUZNAVI is a columnist, short story writer, development worker and professional translator. She is a regular contributor to the Star Weekend Magazine, Bangladesh’s most widely-read English language publication, where she writes on a range of topics including politics, development issuessocial commentary and humour. Her development career has included working with the Grameen Bank, United Nations and Christian Aid UK, and these experiences have also influenced her writing. Farah has been published extensively in anthologies from the UK, the U.S., Canada, Singapore, India and her native Bangladesh. Her short story, Judgement Day was highly commended in the Commonwealth Competition in 2010, and Getting There placed second in the Oxford GEF Competition. Most recently, she has edited and contributed to Lifelines: New Writing from Bangladesh (Zubaan, India) and is currently working to finalise her own short story manuscript.
FARZANA CONTRACTOR is the editor and publisher of UpperCrust magazine, that showcases food, wine and the good life. She is the organiser of UpperCrust Show, a food and wine trade fair held at multiple venues across India. Farzana is also an accomplished photographer, and her interests range from subjects such as food and travel, to farming and dogs. Yes, she also publishes a pet magazine called Dogs & More.
GOPALKRISHNA GANDHI is Distinguished Professor of History at Ashoka University, Sonepat, Haryana. His working career has been in public administration, diplomacy, and the exercise of constitutional responsibility. His published works include Refuge, a novel; Dara Shukoh, a play in English verse; The Oxford India Gandhi (ed.); The Tirukkural, a rendering in contemporary English verse of G.U. Pope’s translation of the Tamil classic; Abolishing the Death Penalty; Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi: Restless as Mercury (ed.); I am an Ordinary Man: Gandhi (1914-1948) (ed.). He has also translated Vikram Seth’s novel A Suitable Boy into Hindustani.
JAYANTHI NATARAJAN is Union Minister of State for Environment and Forests, and a Member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha, where she is a representative of Tamil Nadu. She started her career as a lawyer in Chennai. In keeping with her interests in social issues and women’s rights, she has done pro bono work for a number of social organisations such as the All India Women’s Conference. Her entry into politics came in the early 1980s as a member of the Indian National Congress, for which she has, in the past, also been a party spokesperson.
JEET THAYIL is a poet, novelist and musician. His four collections of poetry include These Errors Are Correct (Tranquebar), which was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award for English in 2012. He has edited several anthologies, including The Bloodaxe Book of Contemporary Indian Poets. His first novel, Narcopolis (Faber & Faber), was shortlisted for the 2012 Man Booker Prize. He is one half of the contemporary music duo Sridhar/Thayil, whose debut album STD was released last year. He is also the author of the libretto Babur in London.
JERRY PINTO is a man of many faces. As an editor, he worked with Man’s World magazine and Paprika Media. As freelance journalist, he has written for The Hindustan Times and Mint. Jerry’s poetry has been published in several anthologies, and as a collection in Asylum (Allied Publishers). His works of fiction and non-fiction have gone into several reprints, and include Helen: The Life and Times of an H Bomb (Penguin India), which won the National Award for Best on Cinema. His latest offering, Em and the Big Hoom (Aleph Book Co.), has been described as “insanely good” by The Indian Express and “bright, sweet and heart-breaking” by India Today. He is now associated with MelJol, an NGO that works in the sphere of child rights, and is also a guest lecturer at the Social Communications Media department of the Sophia Polytechnic.
JUGAL MODY writes fiction. In the past, he has handled web and social media for Filmfare and Tehelka. His first book, Toke (HarperCollins India), about a motley group of stoners out to save the world, was described by IBNLive as having “all the elements of a blockbuster novel”.
KALPANA KANNABIRAN a sociologist and legal researcher, is currently Director, Council for Social Development, Hyderabad, an autonomous research institute supported by the Indian Council for Social Science Research. She was awarded the VKRV Rao Prize for Social Science Research in the field of Social Aspects of Law by the ICSSR in 2003. She was part of the founding faculty of NALSAR University of Law where she taught sociology and law for a decade, 1999-2009, and is a founder member of Asmita Resource Centre for Women set up in 1991. Her work has focussed on understanding the social foundations of non-discrimination, violence against women, questions of constitutionalism and social justice in India. Her most recent book is Tools of Justice: Non Discrimination and the Indian Constitution (Routledge). She was a Member of the Expert Group on the Equal Opportunity Commission, Government of India, 2007-2008 and the General Secretary of the Indian Association for Women’s Studies, 1998-2000.
KALPANA SHARMA is a columnist and former deputy editor of The Hindu. In her four decades as a full-time journalist, she has also held senior positions in Himmat Weekly, Indian Express and Times of India. She is the author of Rediscovering Dharavi: Stories from Asia’s Largest Slum (Penguin India) and has edited Missing: Half the Story, Journalism as if Gender Matters (Zubaan Books). Currently, she is a columnist for The Sunday Magazine of The Hindu and an editorial consultant with The Economic and Political Weekly. Her areas of interest include environmental, developmental and gender issues.
LALITA IYER is a journalist and blogger based in Mumbai. Formerly Deputy Editor at the Hindustan Times, she currently is a columnist for Indian Express where she writes on parenting. Her first book, I’m Pregnant, Not Terminally III, You Idiot (Amaryllis), takes a raw look at pregnancy and motherhood. She blogs at mommygolightly.wordpress.com.
MAYANK AUSTEN SOOFI is a writer and photojournalist. His blog, The Delhi Walla, an alternative guide to the city, has been praised as being “the most compelling guide to India’s capital” (The Independent) and “a one-man encyclopaedia of the city” (Time Out Delhi). The blog is now available in the form of four books: The Delhi Walla - Portraits, Delhi Food, Delhi Hangouts and Delhi Monuments (HarperCollins). His latest book, Nobody Can Love You More (Penguin India), is the result of three years spent documenting the lives of people in Delhi’s red-light district.
MAYUR SHARMA lived, worked, played and backpacked his way across over 65 countries in the past decade, before returning home to the best food in the world. Along with fellow itinerant Rocky Singh, Mayur is the co-anchor of “Jai Hind” and the Indian Telly Award winning cult show “Highway On My Plate” on NDTV Good Times. His first book, co-authored with Rocky, Highway On My Plate - The Guide to Indian Roadside Eating (Random House) was a runaway best- seller that beat off competition from 173 countries to win the “Best Celebrity Cookbook” at the 2012 Gourmand World Cookbook Awards in Paris. Mayur enjoys writing about food, travel and current affairs, and his work has appeared in the New York Times (India Ink), FHM, and Food & Nightlife. He is a brand ambassador for India’s leading food portal Zomato.com and reviews restaurants across India for them.
MEENA KANDASAMY is a poet, writer, activist and translator. Her work maintains a focus on caste annihilation, linguistic identity, and feminism. Meena is the youngest person ever to represent India as a writer-in-residence at the University of Iowa’s International Writing Program in 2009. In 2011, she was a Charles Wallace India Trust Fellow at the University of Kent. She has published two collections of poetry, Touch (Peacock Books) and Ms Militancy (Navayana). Her work has also been featured in Outlook, The New Indian Express and Tehelka. She is currently working on her first non-fiction book, Caste and the City of Nine Gates.
MEENAL BAGHEL is the Editor-in-Chief of the Mumbai Mirror, and oversees the Bangalore, Pune and Ahmedabad editions of the Mirror. She is the author of the critically acclaimed Death in Mumbai (Random House), a non-fiction account of the killing of a famous television executive and its repercussions on the hyper-ambitious world of Mumbai’s film and television world.
MICHAEL FERREIRA is a four-time World Billiards Champion and seven-time National champion. In 1978, he became the first player to surpass the 1,000 points barrier in the National Billiards Championship, a record that remains unbeaten even today. Aside from this, he has broken 13 other records in the sport. He has won numerous awards, including the Padma Bhushan, the Arjuna Award, the Dronacharya Award, the Indian Sports Legend from CNN-IBN, and most recently, the Lifetime Achievement Award by Sony International in 2011. He is currently a member of the National Committee for Social & Economic Welfare.
MRIDULA KOSHY is a former trade union organiser-turned-short story writer. Her first anthology, If It Is Sweet (Tranquebar Press), won the 2009 Shakti Bhatt First Book Prize and was shortlisted for the 2009 Vodafone Crossword Book Award. Her stories have appeared in many literary journals, including Wasafiri, Prairie Fire, The Dalhousie Review and Existere. Her latest release is the novel, Not Only the Things That Have Happened (HarperCollins India).
NILANJANA ROY is a journalist and writer of fiction. She is a regular contributor on gender issues to the International Herald Tribune, and her column on literary criticism has run in The Business Standard for the past fifteen years. Her work has also appeared frequently in Caravan, Civil Lines 6, the New York Times’ India blog, The Hindu and Biblio. She is the Editor of A Matter of Taste: The Penguin Book of Indian Food Writing (Penguin India). Her first novel, The Wildings (Aleph Book Co.), about a band of cats in Delhi’s Nizamuddin neighbourhood, has been called a “remarkable debut” (DNA), certain to “charm you at the turn of every page” (IBNLive).
PASCAL DUPUIS is the General Manager of The Leela Palace, Chennai. He brings with him close to 24 years of hospitality experience in France, United Kingdom, Mauritius and India. Pascal started his career with the Negresco Hotel in Nice, one of the leading hotels of the world in the south of France. He went on to work with top luxury hotels in Europe over the next decade including Le Meridien, Sheraton and lan Schragger. When Asia called, Pascal eagerly accepted a position in Mauritius where he joined the one & only Le Touessrok as Resident Manager. Before taking on the opportunity to open and manage The Leela Palace Chennai, he spearheaded as the General Manager at The Leela Goa.
RAHUL BOSE was named the ‘superstar of arthouse cinema’ by TIME magazine. In 2002, at Palm Springs, he was awarded Runner-up Best Debut Director for ‘Everybody Says I’m Fine!’. Founded in 2006, his NGO, ‘The Foundation’, is dedicated to the removal of all kinds of discrimination. Oxfam’s only South Asian Global Ambassador, he was awarded the Green Globe award in 2009 and was voted the Indian Youth Icon of the Year (Social Justice) in 2010. In 2011 he was the first Indian from a non-financial background to be invited as the keynote speaker at the World Bank headquarters in Washington, D.C. for a seminar on Education through Entertainment. In 2012 he was awarded the prestigious Hakim Khan Sur Award for National Integration. On India’s Independence Day in 2012, he was conferred the Lt. Governor’s Commendation Award for his services to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Rahul represented India playing rugby from 1998-2009.
RANVIR SHAH is a businessman, philanthropist, and cultural activist. He is the founder of The Prakriti Foundation. For over a decade, the Foundation has provided a sturdy platform for scholars, researchers, artists, critics, poets and filmmakers to exchange ideas and to promote a serious discussion of their work and of our cultural heritage. Ranvir’s interest in the arts also led him to direct several plays, with his debut being a dramatisation of classical Tamil poems. He has been part of the Chennai Citizens’ Run since its inception, and assists in promoting awareness about small non-governmental organisations that deserve recognition.
RAVINDER SINGH is the bestselling author of I Too Had A Love Story and Can Love Happen Twice? (Penguin India). His work has been praised in several print and electronic media. A graduate of the Indian School of Business, he hails from Chandigarh and currently works in Hyderabad for a multinational company.
ROCKY SINGH has, in the past, run a restaurant, owned a gas distributorship, worked with British Airways and KLM, been the GM of a corporate training company in Dubai and headed a multinational as the CEO in Miami, USA before finally retiring in 2004. Along with fellow adventurer Mayur Sharma, Rocky is the co-anchor of “Highway On My Plate” and “Jai Hind” on NDTV Good Times. His first book, co-authored with Mayur, Highway On My Plate - The Indian Guide to Roadside Eating (Random House), was a runaway bestseller that won ‘Best Celebrity Cookbook’ at the 2012 Gourmand World Cookbook Awards in Paris. Rocky is an internationally certified consultant in HR and business process fields and runs ‘Mindseye’, a corporate training consultancy.
SAMBIT BAL is the Editor-in-Chief of ESPNcricinfo, the world’s most widely read cricket website. After a varied career in mainstream journalism that included reporting, writing, and editing, he joined Wisden in 2001 as Asia Editor and was the Founder Editor of Wisden Asia Cricket and Cricinfo Magazine. Previously, he was the Editor of Gentleman. He also edited Sealed With A Six: The Story of the 2011 World Cup (Hachette) and Rahul Dravid: Timeless Steel (Disney).
SAMIT BASU is a writer of books, films, and comics. His first novel, The Simoqin Prophecies (Penguin India), the first book in the bestselling Gameworld Trilogy, was published when Samit was 23, and marked the beginning of Indian English fantasy writing. The other books in the trilogy are The Manticore’s Secret and The Unwaba Revelations. Samit’s other novels include a superhero novel, Turbulence (Hachette India) and a YA novel, Terror on the Titanic (Scholastic). His work in comics ranges from historical romance to zombie comedy, and includes diverse collaborators, from X-Men/Felix Castor writer Mike Carey to Terry Gilliam and Duran Duran. Samit was born in Kolkata, educated in Kolkata and London, and currently divides his time between Delhi and Mumbai. He can be found on Twitter, @samitbasu, and at samitbasu.com.
SARAH ABOOBACKER is a popular Kannada novelist, essayist and translator. Some of her noted works include Chandragiriya Teeradalli (Chandragiri Prakashana and the English translation by Vanamala Vishwanath, Breaking Ties) and her autobiography, Hottu Kanthuva Munna (Chandragiri Prakashana). She has also translated six major works from Malayalam to Kannada. Her novels deal with the trials and tribulations in the lives of Muslims living in Karnataka, and she is known for boldly writing about the difficulties and injustices faced by women in these situations. Sara has won several awards, including the Karnataka Sahitya Akademi award of honour, the Karnataka Rajyotsava award, and the Daana Chintamani Attimabbe award from the Karnataka Government. Most recently, she was the recipient of the prestigious 2012 Nriphathunga Sahitya Prasasthi by the BMTC, Bangalore, under the auspices of the Government of Karnataka. Since 1994, she has been publishing her work under her own banner, Chandragiri Prakashana.
SHANKKAR AIYAR is the author of Accidental India: A History of the Nation’s Passage through Crisis and Change (Aleph Book Co.). As an analyst, Shankkar Aiyar specialises in economics and politics with emphasis on the interface between the two. As a public intellectual, he provides insights on news channels and, as a columnist, writes on how politics impacts governance, the economy and financial markets. As a journalist for nearly three decades, he has won awards and been at the helm of a national newspaper and newsweekly. Shankkar Aiyar, 50, has also authored a study on India’s socio-economic fault lines. He has been a Wolfson Chevening Fellow at Cambridge University.,
SHARAN APPARAO is one of the most well-known curators and promoters of art in India. Since her first presentation of art in 1983, she has made Chennai an established destination for the discerning collector, through Apparao Galleries and its sister concern Art Route (an export firm). In 2007, she was honoured by FICCI as one of the top women achievers in the country for her contribution towards promoting contemporary Indian art. In 2012 she was awarded the Ritz-Audi award for her contribution to art. With a background education in fine arts, Sharan has previously worked at the Smithsonian and Christie’s contemporary art. She now conducts shows in cities across India. It is her curatorial eye that has discovered and been associated with emerging talents in the field of art in India.
SHARMILA TAGORE began her career in films in 1957, with Satyajit Ray’s “Apur Sansar”, and has, until now, acted in over 100 Bengali and Hindi films. Her most notable films include “Nirjan Saikate” (Bengali, 1963), “Mausam” (1976), and “Abar Aranye” (Bengali, 2003) for all of which she won the National Award, and “Devi” (1959), “Anupama” (1965), “Satyakaam” (1966), “Aradhana” (1968), “Amar Prem” (1972), “New Delhi Times” (1986), “Mississippi Masala” (1988), “Viruddh” (2005) and “Antaheen” (Bengali, 2009). The Ministry of Culture and Communications of the Government of France honoured her, in 1999, by making her an Officier de L’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters). Apart from acting, she has been, and remains, actively involved in social work both in India and abroad. She is a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador for HIV/AIDS, works for the corneally challenged at the Venu Eye Institute, and is a Board member of the PSB trust.
SHRIYA SARAN is one of the leading actors in the Indian film industry today. She has appeared in movies in six languages, notably “Sivaji: The Boss” (Tamil, Hindi & Telugu, 2007 and it’s 3D release, 2012), “Santhosham” (Telugu, 2002), “Awarapan” (Hindi, 2007), “The Other End of the Line” (English, 2008), “Cooking With Stella” (English, 2009), “Pokkiri Raja” (Malayalam, 2010), “Chandra” (Kannada, 2013) and “Midnight’s Children” (English, 2013). Shriya has been nominated for and received numerous awards, including the Stardust Exciting New Face Award in 2009, and the ITFA Best Actress Award in 2011. She is a firm believer in giving back to society, and opened Shree Spa in Mumbai, which provides employment to visually challenged individuals. She has also been involved in fundraisers for various causes, such as Save A Child’s Heart (SACH), AIDS prevention programmes, the Blue Cross of India and the Joy of Giving Week. She is currently working on the films “Pavitra” (Telugu) and “Valmiki ki Bandook” (Hindi).
Siddharth Varadarajan is the Editor of The Hindu. He is a member of the International Founding Committee of The Real News, a board member of the inter-governmental B.P. Koirala India-Nepal Foundation, member of the Indian Council of World Affairs and a member of the editorial board of India Quarterly: A Journal of International Affairs. Gujarat: The Making of a Tragedy edited by Varadarajan, contains accounts of violence against the Muslims of that state in India. He has been awarded the Elizabeth Neuffer Memorial Prize Silver Medal for Print Journalism, the Bernard O’Higgins Order for contribution to journalism and promotion of India’s relations with Latin America and Chile, and the Ramnath Goenka award for Journalist of the Year.
SIDIN VADUKUT is the Editor of Mint Indulge and a columnist for Mint Lounge. His areas of interest include technology and office culture. He made his debut as a writer with the bestselling Dork trilogy (Penguin India), chronicling the adventures of “a maestro management consultant and strategy guru”; it’s protagonist, Robin ‘Einstein’ Varghese, has come to be regarded as “India’s Dilbert” (DNA). Aside from having his own blog on www.whatay.com, Sidin is also a regular contributor to the Khaleej Times, Motherland Magazine and The New York Times’ India blog. He is currently working on a non-fiction series on Indian History for Rupa & Co.
STEVE MCCURRY has been one of the most iconic figures in contemporary photography for over 30 years. Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, McCurry studied cinematography at Pennsylvania State University. He travelled with his camera to India and eventually Pakistan where he met Afghan refugees who smuggled him into Afghanistan during the Soviet invasion. His images taken there became some of the first to exhibit the brutality of the invasion. McCurry has since gone on to create unforgettable images over six continents that span conflicts, ancient traditions and cultures while retaining the human element that made his celebrated image of the Afghan Girl so powerful. He has been recognised with some of the most prestigious awards including but not limited to the Robert Capa Gold Medal, National Press Photographers Award, and an unprecedented four first prize awards from the World Press Photo contest.
SURESH MENON became the youngest Sports Editor and then one of the youngest editors in the country with Indian Express. Today, he is one of India’s best known columnists on cricket, and his writings on politics, literature and sport have a global audience. As an author, his works include Champions! How the World Cup was Won (Harper Sport) and Bishan: Portrait of a Cricketer (Penguin India). He also edited the anthologies Sachin: Genius Unplugged (Krabmedia And Westland), and Pataudi: Nawab of Cricket (Harper Sport). Suresh is currently the Editor of Wisden India Almanack, the first edition of which was released in December 2012.
TIMERI N. MURARI was for many years a journalist writing for The Guardian, The Sunday Times, and Observer in London before he moved to New York, where he made documentary films for British television. He has written 18 books of fiction and non-fiction. His bestselling Taj: A Story of Mughal India (Aleph Book Co.) has been translated into 25 languages. The Taliban Cricket Club (HarperCollins) was published in the U.S., Canada, UK, Australia and translated into French, Norwegian, Dutch, Spanish, Romanian. He is also the writer and producer of the award-winning film, “The Square Circle”, which was voted as one of the “ten best films of the year” by TIME Magazine in 1997. He adapted it for the stage and directed it as the Leicester Harmarket theatre with Parminder Nagra in the lead role. In 2002, he was presented with the R.K. Narayan Award for his contributions to writing, cinema and theatre.
VAIDEHI is a well-known Kannada writer and poet. Her work spans over 35 publications of short stories, poems, novels, translations, biographies, and children’s dramas, the last of which have been staged at numerous events. Vaidehi is known for writing about women’s issues from a balanced perspective. Some of her works have been translated into English and published by Penguin India and Oxford University Press. Her short story, Akku, is now a major telefilm on DD Bangalore and, Gulabi Talkies (Penguin India) was made into a critically-acclaimed film by Girish Kasaravalli. She has won numerous awards, including two Karnataka State Academy awards and the Dana Chintamani Attimabbe Prashasthi from the Karnataka Government, the highest award conferred on a woman writer, for her extensive contribution to Kannada literature. She is also the recipient of the Central Sahitya Academy award for her collection of short stories, Krouncha Pakshigalu (Akshara Prakashana).
VARUN AGARWAL is a filmmaker, entrepreneur, and a bestselling author. He is 25 years old and has three companies to his credit - Alma Mater, Reticular and Last Minute Films. Alma Mater is India’s largest provider of merchandise and memorabilia to schools and colleges. As a filmmaker, he has directed the likes of Preity Zinta and A.R. Rahman in music videos, and his videos have over a million views on YouTube. His debut novel How I Braved Anu Aunty And Co-Founded A Million Dollar Company (Rupa & Co.) became a national bestseller within a month of its release and is already in its third print. He has been featured on the covers of India Today, The New York Times and numerous other periodicals as well as on the CNBC-TV18 “Young Turks” show. Varun has given lectures at various colleges, including IIM-Bangalore. He was recently awarded the Young Achiever award in Bangalore.
VEENA VENUGOPAL has been a journalist for the past decade, and is based in Delhi. She is the author of Would You Like Some Bread With that Book? (Yoda Press), a collection of essays on books and the pleasure of reading, described as a “joyride” for the voracious reader by The Times of India. She writes for Quartz, Atlantic Media’s new online magazine and is working on her next book, which will be published by Penguin in 2014.
WENDELL RODRICKS s a pioneer fashion designer who specialised in resort wear, minimalism and eco-friendly fashion before the words were coined. He is a frequent participant in some of the world’s biggest fashion fairs, including IGEDO, the Salon Pret-a-Porter Paris and BIOFACH Nuremburg. The Wendell Rodricks style is recognised for its unique fluid emotion and lack of embroidery. Wendell has done three grand finales for Lakme Fashion Week and his work has earned respect in the corporate world as well. He has written two books - Moda Goa: History and Style (HarperCollins) that chronicles the evolution of Goan costumes, and The Green Room (Rain Tree) is an autobiographical account of his rise in the fashion industry. Apart from writing, he has done various design projects ranging from designing for the Goa Police to designing the packaging for the Blenders Pride carton for the festive season in 2012.
YOG JAPEE is the founder of Chennai-based theatre company Theatre Y, and is an actor, writer and trainer. Yog has worked with international clients such as the British Council, the United Nations and various colleges and schools in India. His work focusses on theatre training with children and he is passionate about mainstreaming theatre into education, as a tool for social awareness and development. Theatre Y constantly strives towards a larger intervention of arts and culture in the education curriculum. Yog is passionate about history, folk traditions and the myths and actively works to keep stories alive through theatre and other medium, especially for children. Yog is the recipient of the prestigious international Fellowship on the Chevening-Clore Leadership Programme for Cultural Leaders for 2012-13, one among four scholars selected worldwide for this scholarship.
