Archives: Authors

Razak Khan is a research fellow at the Centre for Modern Indian Studies, University of Göttingen. He has edited special issues of the Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient (2015) and Comparative Studies in South Asia, Africa and the Middle East (2020). His book Minority Pasts: Locality, Emotions and Belonging in Rampur is forthcoming from Oxford University Press.

DAVE TROTT is a creative director, copywriter and author. He studied at the Pratt Institute in New York City, majoring in advertising before going on to found the advertising agencies Gold Greenlees Trott, Bainsfair Sharkey Trott and Walsh Trott Chick Smith. In 2004 he was given the D&AD President’s Award for lifetime achievement in advertising. He has also received lifetime achievement in advertising awards from The Creative Circle, The Marketing Society, and The Scottish Advertising Association. Dave is married with two children and lives in London. The Power of Ignorance is his fifth book.

Ruth Vanita (Author)
Ruth Vanita taught at Delhi University for twenty years and is now professor at the University of Montana. She was founding co-editor of Manushi, 1978-90. She is the author of several books, including Love’s Rite: Same-Sex Marriages in Modern India (2005); Gender, Sex and the City: Urdu Rekhti Poetry in India 1780-1870 (2012); and Dancing with the Nation: Courtesans in Bombay Cinema (2017). She is the co-editor of Same-Sex Love in India: A Literary History, and has translated many works of fiction and poetry from Hindi and Urdu to English, most notably Chocolate: Stories on Male-Male Desire by Pandey Bechan Sharma ‘Ugra’ (2008). This is her first work of fiction. She divides her time between Missoula and Gurgaon.

Saleem Kidwai (Author)
Saleem Kidwai is a historian and independent scholar, who taught at Ramjas College, Delhi University, for twenty years. He has published several academic essays on medieval and modern India, and translated several works, including Song Sung True: A Memoir by Malka Pukhraj and a collection of Syed Rafiq Hussain’s short stories, The Mirror of Wonders. Apart from the author herself, he is the only person to have translated the novels of Qurratulain Hyder, Chandni Begum and Ship of Sorrow.

BRIAN PORTNOY is the founder of Shaping Wealth, a financial wellness platform that engages with individuals and organizations to make better money decisions. In his two highly acclaimed books in the field of behavioral finance, The Investor’s Paradox and The Geometry of Wealth, he tackles the challenges of making better financial decisions and figuring out how money fits into a joyful life. He has served as keynote speaker, seminar leader, and coach to thousands of investors on topics ranging from portfolio strategy to the connection between money and happiness. Brian has worked in the hedge fund and mutual fund industries for more than two decades. He is a CFA Charterholder, earned his doctorate at the University of Chicago, and serves on the advisory board for the Alliance for Decision Education. He lives in Chicago with his wife and three children.

JOSHUA BROWN is the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Ritholtz Wealth Management, which manages over $1.3 billion for individual investors, corporate retirement plans, endowments and foundations. He is the author of two books, Backstage Wall Street and Clash of the Financial Pundits, as well as the creator of the widely-read The Reformed Broker blog, now in its 12th year of publication. Josh has been an on-air contributor to CNBC television each week for the past decade and has amassed one of the largest social media followings in the industry. He lives on Long Island in New York with his wife and two children.

Ruth Vanita (Author)
Ruth Vanita taught at Delhi University for twenty years and is now professor at the University of Montana. She was founding co-editor of Manushi 1978-90. She is the author of several books, including Sappho and the Virgin Mary: Same-Sex Love and the English Literary Imagination (1996); Love’s Rite: Same-Sex Marriage in India (2005); Gandhi’s Tiger and Sita’s Smile: Essays on Gender, Sexuality and Culture (2005), Gender, Sex and the City: Urdu Rekhti Poetry in India 1780–1870 (2012); Dancing with the Nation: Courtesans in Bombay Cinema (2017). Her first novel, Memory of Light, appeared in 2020.

She is the author of over sixty articles on British and Indian literature, and has translated many works of fiction and poetry from Hindi and Urdu to English, most notably Chocolate: Stories on Male-Male Desire by Pandey Bechan Sharma ‘Ugra’ (2008). She divides her time between Missoula and Gurgaon.

Saleem Kidwai (Author)
Saleem Kidwai is a historian and independent scholar, who taught at Ramjas College, Delhi University, for twenty years. He has published several academic essays on medieval and modern India, and translated several works, including Song Sung True: A Memoir by Malka Pukhraj and a collection of Syed Rafiq Hussain’s short stories, The Mirror of Wonders. Apart from the author herself, he is the only person to have translated the novels of Qurratulain Hyder, Chandni Begum and Ship of Sorrow.

STEPHEN CLAPHAM is the founder of Behind the Balance Sheet, a professional investor training consultancy and online school. Stephen trained as an accountant before joining the equity research department of Hoare Govett, one of London’s top stockbrokers. Stephen had a successful career as a sell-side analyst, working for various investment banks and consistently being rated as one of the top analysts in his sector in the leading surveys. In 2005, he joined Toscafund to cover non-financial stocks. He has also held positions as a partner and head of research at two multi-billion hedge funds and one smaller fund. He has been responsible for international equity selection and for managing portfolios as a consultant to one of London’s top wealth managers, where he was also a member of the firm’s Investment Committee.

In 2018, he set up Behind the Balance Sheet as a training business, initially dedicated to helping professional investors improve their skills. His flagship product, the Forensic Accounting Training Course, had over 250 professional students in its first 18 months, and hundreds more have taken his other courses, webinars and online programmes. Stephen is recognised as one of the leading commentators on fraud and aggressive accounting in quoted companies, and he regularly appears or is cited in the press, including BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, The Sunday Times, Financial Times and specialist financial media such as the Investors Chronicle, The Acquirers Podcast and Real Vision.

Venita Coelho is a screenwriter, novelist and artist who writes across age groups and genres. She has been awarded the Sahitya Akademi Bal Puraskar for her book Dead as a Dodo. Among her other awards are the Hindu Goodreads Award for Best Fiction for Children, the Neev Award and the Peekabook award. Her collection of feminist ghost stories, The Washer of the Dead, was longlisted for the Frank O’Connor award. Her book, Soap-Writing and Surviving Television, teaches how to write for the medium.
She has had a long career in film and television as a writer, director and producer. As an artist she works in charcoal, acrylics and glass.

JACK D. SCHWAGER is a recognized industry expert on futures and hedge funds, and the author of the iconic Market Wizards series in which he interviewed many of the trading legends of our time. Mr. Schwager is a Co-founder and Chief Research Officer of FundSeeder, a firm that seeks to find undiscovered trading talent worldwide via its trader platform (FundSeeder.com). His prior experience also includes 10 years as a partner in a hedge fund advisory firm and 22 years as Director of Futures Research for some of Wall Street’s leading firms, most recently Prudential Securities. Mr. Schwager is a frequent seminar speaker and has lectured on a range of analytical topics including the characteristics of great traders, investment fallacies, hedge fund portfolios, managed accounts, technical analysis, and trading system evaluation. He holds a BA in Economics from Brooklyn College (1970) and an MA in Economics from Brown University (1971).

Dale Carnegie, known as ‘the arch-priest of the art of making friends’, pioneered the development of personal business skills, self-confidence and motivational techniques. His books – most notably How to Win Friends and Influence People – have sold tens of millions worldwide and, even in today’s changing climate, they remain as popular as ever.