Archives: Authors

Aditya Sharma grew up in Sonipat, aspiring to be cricketer. When his not- so- distinguished cricket career went for a toss, he tsudied law at Delhi University and then practiced in his hometown for a couple of years – until he discovered that he wanted to be a writer. Aditya started by freelanceing for various national newspapers and magazines. When a weekly publication took him on as a journalist in New Delhi, he was more than relieved to be rescued from a lawyer’s drab life in the district courts. His articles and short stories have been published in The Hindu, THe Tribune, Sahara Time and Life Positive. Currently, he works as an editor with Reader’s Digest in Mumbai. He can be reached at aditya.devgarh@gmail.com.

A.P.J. Abdul Kalam was one of India’s most distinguished scientists, responsible for the development of India’s first satellite launch vehicle and the operationalization of strategic missiles. He was also the President of India between 2002 and 2007.

Salima Hashmi, the daughter of the Urdu poet, Faiz Ahmed Faiz, is an internationally renowned artist, curator, contemporary art historian and activist. She taught at the National College of Arts, Lahore for thirty years, four of them as Principal. She is also a Founding Dean of the School of Art and Design at Beaconhouse National University, Lahore, where she is now Professor Emerita.

Salima has curated and produced catalogues for several exhibitions and written extensively on the arts in numerous publications. Among her publications are Unveiling the Visible – Lives and Works of Women Artists of Pakistan and Memories, Myths, Mutations – Contemporary Art of India and Pakistan (co-authored with Yashodhara Dalmia). Her edited works include Two Loves – Faiz’s Letters from Jail and The Eye Still Seeks – Contemporary Art of Pakistan.

During the 1970s, Salima appeared in a series of highly popular television shows like Akkar Bakkar and Such Gup. She is a council member of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.

David C. Buck (b. 1948) has been translating Tamil works into English since 1965. He has also studied Cittar and Saiva religion and philosophy, as well as Carnatic music on the veena. His publications include a number of collaborations with the late Dr K. Paramasivam, including a translation of Iraiyanar Akapporul with Nakkirar’s commentary, as well as some Sangam poetry. He has also published a translation, with comments, of Thirukkurraalak Kuravanci. More recently, he has published a number of translations from contemporary Tamil literature in collaboration with Kannan
M. of the French Institute in Pondicherry. David C. Buck is an Associate Professor Emeritus at Elizabethtown Community and Technical College in Kentucky, USA.

Kannan M. (b. 1968) heads the Programme on Contemporary Tamil Culture, Department of Indology, French Institute of Pondicherry.

Rebecca Whittington (b. 1987) is a PhD student in the Department of South and Southeast Asian Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. Her research interests include Tamil and Bengali modern literature, comparative literature, literary modernism, and translation studies.

D. Senthil Babu (b. 1972) is a historian of science affiliated to the Department of Indology, French Institute of Pondicherry.

Kamala Das (1934-2009) was a major Indian English poet and an important Malayalam writer. She was born into a distinguished literary family. Her mother, Balamani Amma, was a well-known Malayalam poet and her grand-uncle Nalapat Narayana Menon was a renowned writer and translator. She grew up in Punnayurkulam, her ancestral village in Kerala, and in Calcutta where her parents lived. She was married off at the age of fifteen, and began writing and publishing while in her teens. With her taboo-breaking early poetry and her controversial autobiography, Kamala became an icon for Indian women. In English, she published six collections of poetry in her lifetime-Summer in Calcutta (1965), The Descendants (1967), The Old Playhouse and Other Poems (1973), Collected Poems vol. I (1984), Only the Soul Knows How to Sing: Selections from Kamala Das (1996), Encountering Kamala (2007)-and her autobiography, My Story (1976). She was recognized with many literary prizes, including the Sahitya Akademi and the Vayalar awards.