Archives: Authors

Divya Khanna is an alumna of the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB). Having worked with two of India’s largest advertising agencies-Lowe Lintas (now Mullen Lowe) and J. Walter Thompson (now Wunderman Thompson)-she has over 16 years of experience in advertising. She specializes in observing and analysing human lives and behaviour to develop insights and ideas that help build brands

Manoj Chenthamarakshan is an educator, author and the founder of The Positive Store, an e-commerce platform formed in 2018 to help
people lead a positive and productive life. At the age of twenty-two, he got a well-paying job and successfully became a graphic designer. He earned his dream bike and lived the lifestyle that he dreamt of. But then came a day when he was invited to a party. He was asked to introduce himself. He was not happy with the title of graphic designer. This incident made him think about his identity. Later, he decided to figure out his passion and purpose. He knew that he couldn’t find it by staying on the job. So he decided to quit his job and go on a solo trip to north India. After two years of research and self-exploration, he realized that he was surrounded by great books, such as The Secret, Think and Grow Rich and The Power of Your Subconscious Mind. Everything started connecting when he looked backwards. This awareness helped him to discover NLP (neuro-linguistic programming). He completed the course in Bangalore and worked as a trainer for a year. Knowledge was in abundance, but the results were poor. It took him a few years to realize that knowledge is of no use if it is not practised. He later decided to structure his life and started creating planners, bringing in his accumulated knowledge throughout the years. Thus formed The Positive Store. They have currently sold more than 50,000 products worldwide. During this journey as an entrepreneur, he also found his passion in expressing his ideas through words, which made him write books such as Twenty-Five Small Habits, Fifty-Five Questions to Ask
Yourself and Know Thyself, which are available on Amazon.

Anand Ranganathan obtained his BSc (Hons) degree in Chemistry from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi, after which he went on a scholarship to Cambridge, UK, where he obtained his BA (Tripos) in Natural Sciences, his MA, and his PhD. After a post-doctoral stint at Cambridge, Anand returned to India to join International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, Delhi, where he ran his lab for 16 years as a Staff Research Scientist. In 2015 he joined the Special Centre for Molecular Medicine, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi and became a full Professor in 2019. His laboratory works in the area of Directed Evolution and Pathogenesis, with special emphasis on Tuberculosis and Malaria. Scientific contributions from Anand’s lab have been published in peer-reviewed journals like The Journal of Biological Chemistry, Chemistry & Biology, The Journal of Infectious Diseases, Journal of Clinical Investigation, and Nature Communications. Anand writes and appears frequently on television debates, on Politics, Media, and Science. His columns have appeared in Swarajya, DNA, NL, Firstpost, and Quartz. He is also the Consulting Editor of Swarajya. Anand has authored five books: The Land of the Wilted Rose (Rupa, 2012); For Love and Honour (Bloomsbury, 2015); The Rat Eater (Bloomsbury, 2019; co-authored); Soufflé (Penguin, 2023); and Hindus in Hindu Rashtra (BlueOne Ink, 2023).

Ponneelan is a much-admired Tamil writer renowned for his novels, short story collections, biographies, critical essays, and translations. His novel Pudhiya Dharisanangal won the 1994 Sahitya Akademi Award for Tamil. In 2016 it was translated as New Dharshans by S. Nagarajan and published by Sahitya Akademi. His other major novel was Marupakkam considered as his lifetime achievement which delves into the complexities of the Mandaikkadu riot of his region. Karisal was his debut novel, published in 1976. Forty-five years later, it continues to remain in print in Tamil.

J. Priyadarshini, granddaughter of Ponneelan, grew up in an atmosphere of literature and litterateur. Her grandfather’s library of books and the writers and political leaders who visited him shaped her childhood and growing up in many ways. Priyadarshini is also passionate about penning poems and painting.

Born and raised in Chennai, Nandini Vijayaraghavan is a director and head of research at the Singapore office of Korea Development Bank. She holds master’s degrees in economics and finance from Tufts University and London Business School, respectively, and is a CFA charter holder. Unfinished Business is Nandini’s first India-centric business book. Her columns on finance and economy have appeared in BusinessLine, The Hindu, Economic & Political Weekly and Financial Express. Nandini’s blog address is www.litintrans.com.

Jennifer Moore-Mallinos was born and raised in Toronto, Canada, and is currently residing in the Cleveland area with her husband and three children. Jennifer graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Social Work from Ryerson University.

Jennifer’s work experience includes being a Child Welfare Social Worker, an Early Childhood Mental Health Consultant and Trainer, and a Guardian Ad Litem. Jennifer began her writing career in 2001. She writes non-fiction children’s books that focus on family situations, life skills, developmental disorders and everyday situations. Jennifer’s books are published in several countries and languages, and are available all around the world!

Jennifer enjoys sports, reading and spending time with her family.

Gustavo Mazali was born in 1961. He was drawing even as a little boy. But he dreamed of becoming a pilot, then a veterinarian, then a doctor … looking for something he would love. He worked as a cadet, office worker, salesman and travelling sales rep … until finally realizing that drawing was what he really loved to do.
He taught comic strip drawing workshops with Alberto Salinas and with Oswal. He started creating comic strips with scripts written by Carlos Albiac, Carlos Trillo and Guillermo Saccomanno.

He drew the comic strips for the characters Cybersix and Irsh Coffe, created by Carlos Trillo and Carlos Meglia. In 1998, he embarked on illustrating school textbooks and children’s literature. After so much drawing, sketching and painting, he realized his dream … had come true.

Abhijit Bhaduri is a Talent Management practitioner with global experience across various sectors. As Chief Learning Officer for Wipro, a role he worked in for seven years, Abhijit oversaw global initiatives across several countries. As an alumnus of PepsiCo, Colgate and Tata Steel, he has been exposed to globally acknowledged best practices in leadership, talent management and culture building. He heads Learning and Development for Microsoft globally. He has close to a million followers on social media who follow his articles and sketchnotes. His newsletter on LinkedIn has more than 280,000 subscribers.

Follow him on LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram and Twitter @abhijitbhaduri Email: abhijitbhaduri@live.com

Pranay Kotasthane is deputy director at the Takshashila Institution, where he is a researcher and teacher of public policy, foreign policy and public finance. Pranay is the co-author of the public policy best-seller Missing in Action: Why You Should Care about Public Policy (2023) and When the Chips are Down: A Deep Dive into a Global Crisis (2023). He co-writes Anticipating the Unintended, a newsletter on public policy ideas and frameworks and co-hosts Puliyabaazi, a popular Hindi-Urdu podcast on politics, policy and technology.