Archives: Authors

Nivedita Menon teaches Political Thought at Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi. Her previous books include Recovering Subversion: Feminist Politics Beyond the Law (2004); an edited volume, Sexualities (2007); and Power and Contestation: India after 1989 (2007, co-authored with Aditya Nigam). An active commentator on the blog kafila.org, she has also translated fiction and non-fiction from Hindi and Malayalam into English. She has been active with citizens’ forums in Delhi on secularism, workers’ and women’s rights, sexuality, and in opposition to the nuclear bomb.

Ismat Chughtai (1911-91) was Urdu’s most courageous and controversial
woman writer in the twentieth century. She carved a niche for herself
among her contemporaries of Urdu fiction writers-Rajinder Singh
Bedi, Saadat Hasan Manto and Krishan Chander-by introducing areas
of experience not explored before. Her work not only transformed the
complexion of Urdu fiction but also brought about an attitudinal change
in the assessment of literary works. Although a spirited member of the
Progressive Writers’ Movement in India, she spoke vehemently against its
orthodoxy and inflexibility. Often perceived as a feminist writer, Chughtai
explored female sexuality while also exploring other dimensions of social
and existential reality.

Ismat Chughtai (1911–91) was Urdu’s most courageous and controversial woman writer in the twentieth century. She carved a niche for herself among her contemporaries of Urdu fiction writers—Rajinder Singh Bedi, Saadat Hasan Manto and Krishan Chander—by introducing areas of experience not explored before. Her work not only transformed the complexion of Urdu fiction but also brought about an attitudinal change in the assessment of literary works. Although a spirited member of the Progressive Writers’ Movement in India, she spoke vehemently against its orthodoxy and inflexibility. Often perceived as a feminist writer, Chughtai explored female sexuality while also exploring other dimensions of social and existential reality.

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.

M. Amirthalingam is a botanist and environmental education officer at C.P.R. Environmental Education Centre, Chennai. He has researched and published the books Sacred Groves of Tamil Nadu, Sacred Trees of Tamil Nadu, Temple Tanks of Chennai, and Flora and Fauna of Valmiki’s Ramayana, besides research papers and articles in various journals, magazines, and seminar proceedings. He is currently working on the All India Coordinated Research Project on Sacred Grove Ecosystem Service Assessment in the Inland Plains of Tamil Nadu sponsored by the ministry of environment and forests, Government of India.

Born in 1938, Lt Cdr K.V. Singh served in the armed forces for thirty years. He is widely travelled within the country and abroad and has authored a number of books in English and Hindi, in addition to being an anchor and participant in numerous television programmes. He is currently CEO of the Flag Foundation of India.

Neel Madhav is India’s new-age illusionist who combines magic with mentalism, neurolinguistic programming and criminology. While he conducts corporate shows and has been part of TED talks, he also has an ongoing show on NDTV Good Times.

Vinita Madhav began her career as a freelance presenter with BBC Radio, London, in 1989, after a short stint with All India Radio and Doordarshan. Thereafter she proceeded to work in corporate and film production, specializing in scriptwriting. On returning to India, she launched her own company, Media Network Pvt. Ltd. For the past twenty years, Vinita has produced several shows for a host of Indian and international television networks. Many of her programmes have focused on lifestyle content, oriented towards the youth, as does her latest venture, You Got Magic with Neel Madhav. Vinita spends her time between London and India.

ARSHIA SATTAR teaches classical Indian literatures at various institutions all over India. Her acclaimed English translations of Valmiki’s Ramayana and the Kathasaritsagara are Penguin Classics.
She has a PhD from the Department of South Asian Languages and Civilizations at the University of Chicago, and her areas of interest are Indian epics, mythology and the story traditions of the subcontinent. // GURCHARAN DAS is a world-renowned author, commentator and public intellectual. His bestselling books include India Unbound and The Difficulty of Being Good; his newest book is India Grows at Night. A graduate of Harvard University, Das was CEO of Procter & Gamble India before he took early retirement to become a full-time writer. He lives in Delhi.

Arshia Sattar has a PhD in South Asian Languages and Civilizations from the University of Chicago. Her translation of Valmiki’s Ramayana is now a bestselling Penguin Classic. Lost Loves: Exploring Rama’s Anguish is a series of essays that reads the Ramayana as a tragic love story. She works with myth, epic and the story literatures of the subcontinent.