Namita Gokhale

Namita Gokhale has authored twenty five works and is co-founder and co-director of the Jaipur Literature Festival. Her debut novel, Paro: Dreams of Passion is an audacious satire of Delhi’s elite, and has been issued as a Penguin Modern Classic. Her eclectic body of work includes a collection of marvellous Himalayan folktales for young readers Whispering Mountains, the novella Never Never Land, collections Life on Mars and Mystics and Sceptics- Searching Himalayan Masters, and the anthology Treasures of Lakshmi. Gokhale’s work spans different genres, including novels, short fiction, Himalayan studies, mythology, travel, books for young readers, and a play. She is the recipient of various prizes and awards, including the prestigious Sahitya Akademi (National Academy of Literature) Award in 2021 for her novel Things to Leave Behind.

Her commitment to cross cultural dialoging seeps into her contributions as festival co-director of the Jaipur Literature Festival where she has helped create a global center for ideas and literary exchange, while showcasing the rich diversity of the multilingual Indian identity. Gokhale’s endeavors as cultural interlocutor and catalyst are varied and extensive. In the 2010s she created and hosted Kitaabnama, a multilingual television show on Doordarshan which brought writers, translators, scholars, and artists from across India and the world in conversations about books and culture.

Gokhale is deeply influenced by a love for the Himalayas, carrying the mountains in her voice and imagination. Her work revives myth and oral traditions, nurtures new voices, and brings literary dialogue into public discourse.