Archives: Authors

Lekhnath Chhetri is a journalist from Darjeeling, as well as a poet and social activist. His interests lie in fiction, history and the archiving and documenting of violence, both by and against the state. Phoolange was shortlisted for the Madan Puraskar, Nepal’s topmost literary award. He is also a translator, and his last published work was the Nepali translation of The Free Voice by Ravish Kumar.

Anurag Basnet is an editor and translator based in Gangtok, Sikkim. He has been associated with the publishing industry for fifteen years with stints at Penguin Books India (now Penguin Random House India), Rupa Publications and Speaking Tiger. His published works include translations of a travelogue by Anil Yadav, Is That Even a Country, Sir!, and a book of essays by Ravish Kumar, The Free Voice: On Democracy, Culture and the Nation.

Saundarya Rajesh is an award-winning social entrepreneur, a sought-after DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) strategist and a torchbearer for women in the workplace. As the founder–president of Avtar, India’s top DEI consulting firm, she is a trusted advisor for hundreds of organizations and has facilitated the creation of inclusive workplaces for nearly 10 lakh women.
One of the earliest proponents of gender diversity in the workplace at a time when women’s careers were viewed as unnecessary, Saundarya firmly believes that women’s workforce participation can promote national economic prosperity. A pioneer of the idea of second career paths for women and the concept of career intentionality, an innovative success tool for women, she has made it possible for thousands of women to re-enter and flourish in the workplace.
Saundarya has demystified DEI for a remarkable range of audiences including women, policymakers, CEOs, HR leaders and DEI enthusiasts, through her training sessions and speeches across various platforms. Her stellar contribution in the space of women’s workforce participation has won her several awards including the Ministry of Women and Child Development’s #100 Women Achiever Award (2016), NITI-Aayog’s Women Transforming India Award (2016) and the Chevening Global Changemaker Award (2019).
Her first book, The 99 Day Diversity Challenge (2018), is a unique and practical DEI guide for business leaders that continues to be a bestseller.

Nishi is a poetess, spoken-word artist and a content creator on a mission to help people find their inner voice. She believes that we’re all hidden goddesses and angels who’ve forgotten our self-worth. To help people discover their true self, Nishi started voicing her realizations on Instagram under the pen name goddesswrites. You can visit her on Instagram @goddesswrites.

Born in Baramulla, Kashmir, Manav Kaul has been an integral part of the film world, acting, directing and writing for the past twenty years. With each of his new plays, Manav has made people sit up and take notice, and he has created an equally valuable body of work as a writer. His books Theek Tumhare Peeche (Right Behind You) and Prem Kabootar (Love Pigeon) have been dominating the Neilson bestseller list.

Innovation practitioner Hersh Haladker is the founder of InstillMotion, an innovation lab and consulting firm that has worked with several Fortune 500 companies, across a variety of industries, to enable the exprovement of unique business challenges.

With a career spanning over sixteen years, and a background in Innovation Design from the Royal College of Art, Innovation Engineering from Imperial College and Innovation Entrepreneurship from Imperial College Business School, his unique solutions stem from the three-pronged perspective of creativity, feasibility and good business sense.

He is a Fellow of Design London, and through InstillMotion Labs, has developed several novel innovations that have been granted patents.

Nirmal Pulickal is a well-known creative leader based in Delhi. He co-founded the design firm February, which was acquired by M&C Saatchi global network in 2016. Since then, he has been the Head of Creative for both Amazon and Facebook in India. Grabber started as a drawing of a monster by his ten-year-old son, Jehan Zachary, an artistic middle schooler fascinated by gothic tales and mythology. They created the character together and decided that Grabber deserved an origin story. With langoors and lanterns, scoundrels and
djinns, the story is a white-knuckle ride through Mughal and British-ruled India.

Sajjan Yadav is a researcher and bureaucrat. He is an officer of the Indian Administrative Service and is currently additional secretary in the Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance, Government of India. He has a rich and diverse experience of twenty-seven years in policy formulation and implementation, as well as in senior leadership positions in the Government of India and state governments. In the federal government, besides the Ministry of Finance, he has worked in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Ministry of Women and Child Development, Ministry of Heavy Industry and Public Enterprises and Ministry of Corporate Affairs. He has served the government in sectors including finance, health, nutrition, water, sanitation, food, public distribution, urban development, municipal administration, information and publicity, art, culture, tourism and commercial taxes. Important assignments handled by him in the past include tenures as mission director of the National Nutrition Mission (POSHAN Abhiyan), director of the National Rural Health Mission, commissioner of Food and Supplies in Delhi, CEO, Delhi Jal Board, commissioner, VAT, and commissioner of the East Delhi Municipal Corporation. He earned his doctorate in public health from the prestigious London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM). His research was published in leading medical peer-reviewed journals, magazines and newspapers. These include BMC Public Health, Indian Journal of Medical Research, Indian Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, International Journal of Medicine and Public Health, Journal of Critical Reviews, LSHTM
Research Online, Global Health Action, Yojana, Economic Times, DNA, Millennium Post and Pioneer. He has been conferred many awards for exceptional work in public service, including the National e-Governance Award 2017-2018 and the President of India’s medal for outstanding work in census operations.