Archives: Authors

Neelesh Misra is a lyricist, radio storyteller, journalist and writer. He is the founder and editor of Gaon Connection, India’s biggest rural media platform, and the founder of Content Project, home to some of India’s best emerging writers, collectively called the Mandali. His exceptionally popular shows on radio and digital platforms include Yaadon ka Idiot Box (Big FM), The Neelesh Misra Show (Red FM), Qisson ka Kona, Time Machine and Kahaani Express (Saavn App). Neelesh is also one of Bollywood’s prominent lyricists, the author of five books and two-time winner of the Ramnath Goenka Award for Excellence in Journalism. If you wish to join Neelesh Misra’s Mandali, send an original story in any Indian language to mandli@contentproject.in. To connect directly with Neelesh, download his spoken and video content app ‘Mic’ or follow these verified pages and handles:
Facebook: @TheNeeleshMisraPage
Twitter and Instagram: @neeleshmisra
YouTube: Neelesh Misra

Jerry Pinto is a writer of prose, poetry and children’s fiction in English and also a journalist. Some of Pinto’s noted titles include Helen: The Life and Times of an H-Bomb, Surviving Women, Leela: A Patchwork Life and Asylum and Other Poems. Pinto has translated rare works of Marathi into English, like Cobalt Blue and Baluta. His first novel, Em and the Big Hoom received the Sahitya Akademi Award (2016), the Windham-Campbell Literary Prize, The Hindu Literary Prize and the Crossword Book Award.
Of Goan origin, Pinto grew up in Mahim, Mumbai, and received his Liberal Arts degree from the Elphinstone College and a law degree from the Government Law College in Mumbai.

Naresh Fernandes is a journalist, an editor of Scroll.in and a consulting editor at National Geographic Traveler India. Fernandes is the author of Taj Mahal Foxtrot: The Story of Bombay’s Jazz Age, City Adrift: A Short Biography of Bombay and Bombay Then/Mumbai Now. He has worked with the print media publications including the Times of India, the Wall Street Journal in New York and the Associated Press in Mumbai. He won the Shakti Bhatt First Book Award for Taj Mahal Foxtrot.

Esther David writes about Jewish life in India and personally illustrates her books. She is the author of the highly acclaimed The Walled City, Book of Esther, Man with Enormous Wings and Ahmedabad: City with a Past, among others. She has also written a collection of short stories, By the Sabarmati, a children’s book, My Father’s Zoo, and co-authored India’s Jewish Heritage: Ritual, Art and Life-cycle. Her books have been translated into several languages, including French, Gujarati and Marathi. Her work is included in the library of modern Jewish literature, Syracuse University Press, New York.

Esther received the Sahitya Akademi Award for English Literature in 2010 and the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute Research Award, USA, for documenting the Bene Israel Jews of Gujarat and the study of Indo-Jewish cuisine. The French translation of Book of Rachel received the Prix Eugénie Brazier. Esther belongs to the Bene Israel Jewish community of Ahmedabad.

Esther David writes about Jewish life in India and personally illustrates her books. She is the author of the highly acclaimed The Walled City, Book of Rachel, Man with Enormous Wings and Ahmedabad: City with a Past, among others. She has also written a collection of short stories, By the Sabarmati, a children’s book, My Father’s Zoo, and co-authored India’s Jewish Heritage: Ritual, Art and Life-cycle. Her books have been translated into several languages, including French, Gujarati and Marathi. Her work is included in the library of modern Jewish literature, Syracuse University Press, New York.

Esther received the Sahitya Akademi Award for English Literature in 2010 and the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute Research Award, USA, for documenting the Bene Israel Jews of Gujarat and the study of Indo-Jewish cuisine. The French translation of Book of Rachel received the Prix Eugénie Brazier. Esther belongs to the Bene Israel Jewish community of Ahmedabad.

Born in north-eastern India in 1970, Siddhartha Deb is the author of two novels. A contributing editor to The New Republic, Deb’s journalism, essays and reviews have appeared in the Guardian, the New York Times, n+1, Caravan, the Nation, the Baffler and the Times Literary Supplement. He is the recipient of grants and fellowships from the Society of Authors, the Radcliffe Institute of Advanced Studies at Harvard University and the Howard Foundation at Brown University.

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 from 2002 until 2007.
Yagnaswami Sundara Rajan is a well-recognized authority and a thought leader on technology development, business management and society linkages. He held various positions of responsibility related to science and technology between 1988 and 2002 and has shaped key policies and implemented several successful R&D projects with industry participation. He was awarded the Padma Shri in 2012.
Srijan Pal Singh is an engineer and management graduate from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. He was with the Indian Institute of Space Sciences and Technology (IIST) where he directly worked with Kalam as a scientific advisor.

Namita Gokhale has authored twenty five works and is co-founder and co-director of the Jaipur Literature Festival. Her debut novel, Paro: Dreams of Passion is an audacious satire of Delhi’s elite, and has been issued as a Penguin Modern Classic. Her eclectic body of work includes a collection of marvellous Himalayan folktales for young readers Whispering Mountains, the novella Never Never Land, collections Life on Mars and Mystics and Sceptics- Searching Himalayan Masters, and the anthology Treasures of Lakshmi. Gokhale’s work spans different genres, including novels, short fiction, Himalayan studies, mythology, travel, books for young readers, and a play. She is the recipient of various prizes and awards, including the prestigious Sahitya Akademi (National Academy of Literature) Award in 2021 for her novel Things to Leave Behind.

Her commitment to cross cultural dialoging seeps into her contributions as festival co-director of the Jaipur Literature Festival where she has helped create a global center for ideas and literary exchange, while showcasing the rich diversity of the multilingual Indian identity. Gokhale’s endeavors as cultural interlocutor and catalyst are varied and extensive. In the 2010s she created and hosted Kitaabnama, a multilingual television show on Doordarshan which brought writers, translators, scholars, and artists from across India and the world in conversations about books and culture.

Gokhale is deeply influenced by a love for the Himalayas, carrying the mountains in her voice and imagination. Her work revives myth and oral traditions, nurtures new voices, and brings literary dialogue into public discourse.

Sohaila Abdulali was born in Mumbai. She has a BA from Brandeis University in economics and sociology and an MA from Stanford University in communication. She is the author of two novels as well as children’s books and short stories. She lives in New York with her family.