Archives: Authors

Ki Rajanarayanan (1922-2021) was born in a village Idaiseval, near Kovilpatti, in southern Tamil Nadu. This belongs to the “Karisal” or black soil region in the Tamil land. The flavour of the language and life in this region is fresh in this novel, not surprisingly, as Ki Ra is acknowledged to be a doyen of Karisal literature. He won the Sahitya Akademi award for this novel in 1991.
His first short story was published in 1958. Since, he published numerous short stories, three novels and several essays. He has compiled a dictionary of dialect of the Black Soil region (Karisal vattaara vazhakku sol agaradhi). For all this, he did not attend school after the seventh class. He moved to Puducherry in 1989. This followed his being appointed as an honorary professor of folklore in the Tamil Department of Pondicherry Central University

Shubashree Desikan is a writer and translator based in Chennai. She has translated the novel Mul (Thorn) by Muthumeenal from the Tamil to the English and several children’s books published by Tulika into the Tamil. Some of her poems have appeared in Muse India.
She works as a science journalist with IIT Madras Shaastra Magazine, and was with The Hindu for a decade, earlier. She has a PhD in Physics from The Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chennai. She was given the National Award for Science Communication in Print, in 2017, by the Government of India.

Roopa Kudva is a distinguished business leader, early-stage investor and board director with nearly four decades of experience in the financial sector. Known for transformative leadership and a commitment to impact, she has built a career marked by innovation and advocacy for inclusive development.
As chief executive officer of Crisil, Roopa transformed India’s premier credit rating agency into a global analytical firm, growing market capitalization fourfold and tripling revenues. She later led Omidyar Network India, investing in tech-led solutions for India’s ‘Next Half Billion.’
Her board experience includes Infosys, Nestlé India, Tata AIA Life Insurance and The Global Impact Investing Network. She has served on key committees of the Securities and Exchange Board of India and Reserve Bank of India.
Her accolades include the CNBC-TV 18’s ‘Outstanding Woman Business Leader of the Year’ title. She has also consistently featured on Business Today and Fortune India’s ‘Most Powerful Women’ lists. A distinguished alumna of IIM Ahmedabad, Roopa’s writing blends business acumen with a focus on impact and inclusion.

Justice Dhananjaya Yeshwant Chandrachud held office as the fiftieth Chief Justice of India. An alumnus of Harvard Law School, where he obtained Master’s and Doctoral degrees, he practised law and served as Additional Solicitor General of India. He was appointed as a judge of the Bombay High Court in 2000 and became the Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court in 2013. In 2016, he was elevated to the Supreme Court of India. Justice Chandrachud is renowned for his landmark judgments on the right to privacy, gender equality, disability, dissent, free speech, decriminalizing homosexuality and for striking down the electoral bonds scheme, among others.