Archives: Authors

Khan Mahboob Tarzi (d. 1960) was a novelist and writer from Lucknow. Educated in Aligarh, Tarzi had a number of interests and careers. He was briefly a supervisor in a locksmith factory, did a stint in the army, tried his hand at film-making and directing at Kardar Studios in Calcutta, followed his interest in translating and journalism, and was also involved in in theatre and radio. In the latter part of his life, he lived in Lucknow and worked at the Naseem Book Depot. Writing stories and novels remained his passion throughout his life, and he wrote more than 100 novels on history, politics, society, science fiction and romance.

Sunjeev Sahota is the author of Ours Are the Streets and The Year of the Runaways, which was shortlisted for the 2015 Man Booker Prize, the International Dylan Thomas Prize and the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award, and won the Encore Prize, the European Union Prize for Literature, and the South Bank Sky Arts Award. He was chosen as one of Granta‘s Best Young British Novelists in 2013. He lives in Sheffield.

SAMINA MISHRA is a documentary film-maker, writer and teacher based in New Delhi, with a special interest in media for and about children. Her work uses the lens of childhood, identity and education to reflect the experiences of growing up in India. She also runs The Magic Key Centre for the Arts and Childhood. Samina’s books include Shabana and the Baby Goat, My Friends in the City, My Sweet Home and 101 Children’s Books We Love! (co-author) among others. Her latest book with Duckbill called Nida Finds a Way will be out in 2021.

Anand Neelakantan is the author of the Bahubali trilogy, the prequel to S.S. Rajamouli’s movie. The first book in the series, The Rise of Sivagami, was released in 2017 and continues to be the no. 1 bestseller across charts. The book was on Amazon’s list of top five bestsellers for 2017.
Neelakantan is also the author of Asura: Tale of the Vanquished, which told the Ramayana from Ravana’s point of view. He followed it up with the tremendously successful Ajaya series. Neelakantan’s books have been translated into more than nine languages, including Indonesian.
S.S. Rajamouli has announced a mini-series based on Neelakantan’s books, on the lines of Game of Thrones. Neelakantan has also written scripts/screenplays for popular TV series like Siya Ke Ram, Ashoka, Mahabali Hanuman, among others.

Akshay Tyagi built his first business right out of his college dorm and has since gone on to build and iterate several profitable online and offline businesses. He is currently working on a food start-up. He is interested in technology, public policy and sustainability. He tweets at @theakshaytyagi and blogs at www.akshaytyagi.me.

Akshat Tyagi is the founder of edhack, a start-up helping young people learn on their own. Since selling his content company in 2014, he has written a book on the monoculture of schooling and contributed to several news platforms. He is the 2019 Rajeev Circle Fellow. Write to him at contact@akshattyagi.com.

A.A. Jafri was born and raised in Karachi, Pakistan. He is an economist by day and a writer by night. Of Smokeless Fire is his first novel.

Sam Pitroda is an internationally recognized telecom inventor, entrepreneur, development thinker and policymaker who has spent fifty years in information and communications technology and related global and national developments.

Credited with having laid the foundation for India’s telecommunications and technology revolution of the 1980s, he has been a leading campaigner to help bridge the global digital divide. As a way to induce the second phase of India’s technology revolution, in 2005 he headed India’s National Knowledge Commission (2005–09), to provide a blueprint of reform for the knowledge-related institutions and infrastructure for the twenty-first century in the country.

In addition, Sam is a serial entrepreneur having started several companies in the United States. He holds around twenty honorary PhDs, close to 100 worldwide patents and has published five books and numerous papers and lectured widely all over the world.

Sandeep K. Krishnan is the CEO of People Business, a leading global consulting firm. Sandeep seeks his purpose in helping professionals achieve their potential and transforming of organizations for good. He is a fellow (doctorate) of the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad and is now a visiting faculty. Over the past two decades, Sandeep has worked and researched in the areas of employee engagement, leadership and talent. He has partnered with over 100 clients on organizational and leadership transformation, and employee engagement. He is a certified coach from the University of Cambridge and completed the certification in Stanford Psychology for High Performance from Stanford Center for Health Education. At People Business, he has partnered with various organizations, such as IIM Bangalore, IIM Indore, SDA Bocconi and Hofstede Insights. He is the author of two books, The Making of a CEO and The Mind of a Consultant: Leveraging a Consulting Mindset for Professional Success, published by Penguin Random House India. He can be reached at sandeephrm@gmail.com.

Gauranga Das Prabhu is a IIT engineer turned monk, leadership consultant, corporate coach, inspirational speaker, environment leader, social reformer, spiritual leader, teacher, academician.
He’s an IIT graduate and worked for the Kirloskars before joining ISKON, Mumbai.