Archives: Authors

Margaret Bhatty was born in Berinag, then in the wilds of Kumaon. Her fascination with wildlife, and adventure and travel books began in her childhood. At home, she read at night by the light of burning pine cones in the fireplace. Though she did a degree in journalism from Thoburn College, Lucknow, Margaret went on to teach at school and college. A prolific writer and freelance journalist, her published books for children include The Mystery of Zamorin’s Treasure, The Adventures of Bhim the Bold and Little Old Woman among others. She has also written several short stories for adults. Margaret lives in Nagpur.

Bishnupada Chakravarty was born in 1947. He is the author of several books on religion, science and children’s literature in Bengali.

Veena Talwar Oldenburg was born and educated in Lucknow and still has her ancestral home there. She moved to the United States in 1970 and stayed on after her PhD in history to teach and share a life with Philip Oldenburg in New York.
She is currently Professor of History at Baruch College and The Graduate Center of the City University of New York. She has written several scholarly articles and published two books, The Making of Colonial Lucknow, 1856-1877 (University of Prioceton Press) and Dowry Murder: The Imperial Origins if a Cultural Crime (Oxford University Press, New York).

Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni is an award-winning author and poet. Her work has been published in over fifty magazines, including the Atlantic Monthly and the New Yorker, and her writing has beenincluded in over sixty anthologies. Her works have been translated into fourteen languages, including Dutch, Hebrew and Japanese. Her other children’s books are The Conch Bearer and The Mirror of Fire and Dreaming. Her novel The Mistress of Spices was made into a movie. She lives in Houston with her husband and two sons, and teaches at the University of Houston.

Aditya Narayan Dhairyasheel Haksar is a well-known translator of Sanskrit classics. Educated at the universities of Allahabad and Oxford, he was for many years a career diplomat, serving as the Indian high commissioner in Kenya and the Seychelles, minister in the United States and ambassador in Portugal and Yugoslavia. His translations from the Sanskrit include The Shattered Thigh and Other Plays, Tales of the Ten Princes, Hitopadesa, Simhasana Dvatrimsika, Subhashitavali, Kama Sutra, and Three Satires from Ancient Kashmir, all published as Penguin Classics.

Sonia Faleiro is an award-winning reporter and writer. She is the author of a book of fiction, The Girl, and a contributor to numerous anthologies including AIDS Sutra: Untold Stories from India. She has reported for publications including India Today and Tehelka, and is now a contributing editor with Vogue. Sonia was born in Goa, studied in Edinburgh and lives in San Francisco. She is working on her second book of non-fiction. www.soniafaleiro.com