Bhisham Sahni (1915-2003) was an iconic writer who transformed the landscape of Hindi literature. His oeuvre encompassed novels, plays, short stories and essays. Tamas, his best known novel, won the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1975 and was subsequently adapted into a National Award-winning film by Govind Nihalani. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1998, and the Shlaka Award, the Delhi government’s highest literary prize, in 1999.
Daisy Rockwell is a renowned artist, writer and translator. She paints under the alias Lapata (Urdu for ‘missing’) and has shown her artwork widely. She has a PhD in South Asian literature and has written extensively on literature and art. Most recently, she translated Upendranath Ashk’s Falling Walls to widespread acclaim.
Stephen Alter is the author of seven books of fiction and five books of non-fiction, most recently Fantasies of a Bollywood Love Thief:Inside the World of Indian moviemaking. He has co-edited (with Wimal Dissanayake) The Penguin Book of Modern Indian Short Stories. As a writer-in-residence at MIT, he received both a Guggenheim and a Fulbright fellowship.
Stephen Alter now lives and writes in India.
Radha Thomas is the Executive Vice-President at Explocity Private Limited. She is an author and also a jazz vocalist and the band leader of the jazz-fusion band, UNK: the Radha Thomas Ensemble. Besides writing the lyrics for all the original material she performs, she has written, mostly in a humorous vein for the Bangalore Monthly, a column called, ‘Between the Sexes’. In addition, she also wrote extensively on health, diet and fitness for the magazine The Bangalore Monthly. In the course of these articles, she was able to meet and interview the city’s leading cutting-edge medical practitioners, especially those in the alternative medicine field, one of her passions. She conceived of and produced a series of food guides in the six major metros in India including Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Bangalore. These books, called, The Kingfisher Explocity Great Food Guide, were published and sold all over India regularly from around 2009 to around 2012. Men On My Mind and More Men on My Mind were her first two novels. The third in the trilogy will be released shortly.
Vikrant Shukla is an enthusiastic young writer who writes on varied subjects. He loves to experiment with his stories and characters. He is the author of Call Centre: An Inside Story, The Wrong Chase, Sukoon, Lord of Darkness, In Krishna’s Courtroom: After Death and Mystic Child.
Vikrant Shukla is based in Pune.
Kama Maclean is associate professor of South Asian and World History at UNSW in Sydney, and editor of South Asia. Her book, Pilgrimage and Power, was awarded an honourable mention in the Ananda Coomaraswamy Prize (2009).
Ashokamitran, born in 1931 in Secunderabad, is one of the most distinguished contemporary Indian writers. In a prolific career that began in 1955, he has written over 250 short stories along with two dozen novels and novellas, in addition to a steady output of columns, essays and book reviews, earning for him a central place in post-Independence Tamil literature. His work has been translated into many Indian and European languages. Five major novels as well as four collections of short fiction from his oeuvre are available in English translation. His years of rich and diverse contribution to Tamil literature have brought him many honours, including the Sahitya Akademi award (1996). Ashokamitran lives and works in Chennai.
Ashokamitran, born in 1931 in Secunderabad, is one of the most distinguished contemporary Indian writers. In a prolific career that began in 1955, he has written over 250 short stories along with two dozen novels and novellas, in addition to a steady output of columns, essays and book reviews, earning for him a central place in post-Independence Tamil literature. His work has been translated into many Indian and European languages. Five major novels as well as four collections of short fiction from his oeuvre are available in English translation. His years of rich and diverse contribution to Tamil literature have brought him many honours, including the Sahitya Akademi award (1996). Ashokamitran lives and works in Chennai.
Glenn Christo Kharkongor is a graduate of Christian Medical College, Vellore. After completing his residency in paediatrics at the Loma Linda University Medical Center, USA, he joined Kasturba Medical College as a lecturer in 1986. He worked in various academic and administrative roles in the Manipal group for eighteen years. In 2006, he returned to Shillong, his home town, and to his Khasi tribal roots, taking his mother’s clan name in their matrilineal society. He was the founder vice-chancellor of Martin Luther Christian University, the first private university in Meghalaya. Glenn was named a Times of India fellow in 1995, and a senior fellow at the Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi, in 1996.
Samit Basu writes books, films and comics and divides his time between Delhi and Mumbai. India’s most beloved writer in the genre of fantasy published his bestselling Gameworld Trilogy – The Simoqin Prophecies, The Manticore’s Secret and The Unwaba Revelations – in his twenties. Turbulence and its sequel, Resistance, was published in the UK/US to wide fanfare. Basu also writes for younger readers, in series like Morningstar Agency and Adventures of Stoob. His comics range in genre from historical romance to zombie comedy, and include diverse collaborators – from X-Men/Felix Castor writer Mike Carey to Terry Gilliam and Duran Duran.
Samit Basu writes books, films and comics and divides his time between Delhi and Mumbai. India’s most beloved writer in the genre of fantasy published his bestselling Gameworld Trilogy – The Simoqin Prophecies, The Manticore’s Secret and The Unwaba Revelations – in his twenties. Turbulence and its sequel, Resistance, was published in the UK/US to wide fanfare. Basu also writes for younger readers, in series like Morningstar Agency and Adventures of Stoob. His comics range in genre from historical romance to zombie comedy, and include diverse collaborators – from X-Men/Felix Castor writer Mike Carey to Terry Gilliam and Duran Duran.
