Archives: Authors

Biography: Mehr Afshan Farooqi is currently Professor of Urdu and South Asian Literature at the University of Virginia. Her research publications address complex issues of Urdu literary culture particularly in the context of modernity. Farooqi is also a well-known translator, anthologist, and columnist. She has recently published, Ghalib: A Wilderness at my Door Step, A Critical Biography (Penguin/Allen Lane, 2021). She is currently working on a memoir, A Book of Hearts and writes a featured column on Urdu literature past and present in the Dawn.

General Manoj Mukund Naravane (retd) served as the twenty-eighth chief of the army staff of the Indian Army from 31 December 2019 to 30 April 2022. He is an alumnus of the National Defence Academy, Khadakwasla (Pune); the Indian Military Academy, Dehradun; the Defence Services Staff College, Wellington; and the Army War College, Mhow, where he was also on the faculty. In a distinguished military career spanning more than four decades, he also served as the vice chief of army staff and general officer commanding-in-chief of the Training and Eastern Commands. He has vast experience in foreign affairs, having been part of the Indian Peace Keeping Force in Sri Lanka as well as defence attaché at Yangon, Myanmar, and head of the Indian delegation to several countries. He also writes a bi-weekly column for ThePrint India on matters of national security.

Gautam Choubey teaches English at Delhi University. He has previously translated Pandey Kapil’s Bhojpuri novel Phoolsunghi, Andre Beitelle’s Democracy and Its Institutions and co-translated the Hindi novel Twelfth Fail. Chakka Jaam, his forthcoming novel, is set in the
turbulent 1970s. It is a riveting saga of family,
friendship and love, scattered across Bihar,
Bengal and Rangoon.

Laksh Maheshwari is a storyteller by profession, and is renowned for his ability to take audiences on beautiful journeys of emotions. He is known as ‘Single-handedly’ on Instagram and YouTube.

Ashish Kavi is a seasoned marketing professional with a passion for music and writing.
Ashish met Laksh in 2014 and their creative synergy led them to collaborate on multiple creative projects. In 2019, while working on a separate project, a conversation on the existence of descendants of mythological legends that shaped what we call ‘Bharat’ today, ignited the spark for The Descendants.

Haritha Savithri is a writer, freelance journalist, human rights activist and translator. She has translated Iskender Pala’s Tulip of Istanbul, Samar Yazbek’s The Crossing and Ahmet Umit’s The Cry of a Swallow into Malayalam. Her book Murivettavarute Pathakal received the 2022 Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for best travelogue. Zîn won the Udya Sahitya Puraskaram 2023. Haritha Savithri lives in Spain and is pursuing research in English philology at the University of Barcelona.

Firat Sunel (Author)
Firat Sunel is a Turkish diplomat, lawyer, scriptwriter, and author born in Ödemis in Western Anatolia to a family with immigrant roots. He studied law at Istanbul University and did his postgraduate at Bochum Ruhr University in Germany. As a diplomat, he served in Bangkok, Bonn, Essen, and Tbilisi before becoming Consul General in Dusseldorf.

Sunel’s published novels include The Lighthouse Family, 2023. His novels have been translated into several languages including Malayalam, Tamil and Kannada in India.
Sunel is married with two children, and currently serves as Turkish Ambassador to India, Nepal and Bhutan.

Saba Naqvi is a journalist and author of four books. She lives in New Delhi and has a ring-side view of landmark events in contemporary India.

उत्तराखण्ड के एक सुदूर गाँव में जन्मे युगल जोशी भारत सरकार में अधिकारी हैं। उन्होंने आईआईटी, दिल्ली विश्वविद्यालय और नेशनल यूनिवर्सिटी ऑफ सिंगापुर में पढ़ाई की है। पानी, इतिहास और मिथकों में गहरी रुचि रखने वाले युगल जोशी की अब तक कई पुस्तकें प्रकाशित हैं जिनमें सिंगापुर वाटर स्टोरी (पाँच भाषाओं में अनूदित) प्रमुख हैं। हिंदी में यह इनका पहला उपन्यास है।