Archives: Authors

Vipul Rikhi is a poet and translator.

Mahesh Rao grew up in Nairobi, Kenya. He has worked as a lawyer, academic researcher and bookseller. His debut novel, The Smoke Is Rising, won the Tata First Book Award for fiction and was shortlisted for the Shakti Bhatt First Book Prize, the Crossword Book Award and the Guardian‘s Not the Booker Prize. His short fiction has been shortlisted for numerous awards, including the Commonwealth Short Story Prize and the Bridport Prize. Mahesh has written for the New York Times, The Baffler, Prospect and Elle. He lives most of the year in Mysore, India.

Vikas Khanna is one of the most beloved Indian chefs in the world. An award-winning Michelin-Starred chef and host of the highly rated prime-time shows MasterChef India, Twist of Taste and Mega Kitchens, Khanna has been a guest on Gordon Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares and Hell’s Kitchen, as well as The Martha Stewart Show, Throwdown! with Bobby Flay and MasterChef Australia.
He has hosted events for former president Barack Obama, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Pope Francis, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and many other world leaders and celebrities. Deutsche Welle listed Khanna as one of the world’s ten most iconic chefs of all time.
Khanna has received rave reviews from the New York Times, Condé Nast and Wall Street Journal. He is the goodwill ambassador for the Smile Foundation and supports the cause of malnutrition in India.
He lives in New York City.

Arpit Vageria is the bestselling author of You Are My Reason to Smile, Be My Perfect Ending and I Still Think about You. Tata Motors made a documentary featuring Arpit to inspire young generation to read interesting stories. Arpit also writes scripts for shows and award functions like India’s Best Dramebaaz, Sabse Bada Kalakar, IIFA Awards and Indian Idol.
Arpit can be contacted at:
Email: arpitvageria401@gmail.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/arpitvageria27/
Instagram: arpitvageria
Twitter: arpitvageria27

Sonu Bhasin is one of the early and senior women professionals in the industry and had led businesses in senior leadership positions during her corporate career, including director at ING Barings; president, Axis Bank; group president, Yes Bank. Currently Sonu is an independent director on boards of well-known companies.
She is the founder of Families and Business (FAB), a platform for family businesses, and the editor of Families & Business magazine.
She can be reached at sonubhasinfab@hotmail.com.

VANITA KOHLI-KHANDEKAR is an India-based media specialist and writer. She has been tracking the Indian media and entertainment business for over fifteen years. Currently, she is a columnist and writer for Business Standard, one of India’s leading financial dailies. She is also a contributor to Singapore-based ContentAsia. Her earlier stints were at Businessworld magazine and EY. A Cambridge University Press fellow (2000), Vanita has taught at some of the top media schools in India and is a regular speaker at industry forums in India and overseas. She has several research papers to her name. The four editions of her book, The Indian Media Business, have sold over 14,000 copies. The Hindi edition was released in 2017.

Raghunandan is a consultant in decentralization, anti-corruption and heritage conservation. Formerly in the Indian Administrative Service, he quit the IAS in 2010 after twenty-seven years in order to concentrate on his pet passions of strengthening local democracy and local governments and working on anti-corruption. He currently handles several national and international assignments, including adviser to the accountability initiative of the Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi, and adviser to Login Asia, a network of practitioners in decentralization from countries in south, central and south-east Asia. He is an avid scale model maker, industrial heritage archivist, steam railway enthusiast and classic automobile restorer. He lives in Bengaluru with his wife, Aditi.

Roald Dahl (Author)
Roald Dahl was a spy, ace fighter pilot, chocolate historian and medical inventor. He was also the author of Matilda, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The BFG and many more brilliant stories. He remains THE WORLD’S NUMBER ONE STORYTELLER.

Quentin Blake (Illustrator)
Quentin Blake has illustrated more than three hundred books and was Roald Dahl’s favourite illustrator. In 1980 he won the prestigious Kate Greenaway Medal. In 1999 he became the first ever Children’s Laureate and in 2013 he was knighted for services to illustration.

Lubaina Bandukwala trained as a journalist but followed her heart into children’s publishing as a writer, editor and curator of children’s
literature festivals.

With an impressive editorial career, Lubaina has contributed her editing prowess to numerous publications for esteemed media houses, including DNA, The Times of India and Time Life. She has also held the role of a consulting editor for Scholastic India and HarperCollins India. As a writer, Lubaina has showcased her versatility by crafting both fiction and non-fiction. Her works include titles like The Chowpatty Cooking Club and Let’s Do This Together: Math Stories to Solve published by Penguin Random House India.

She is passionate about promoting Indian children’s literature through literature festivals for kids. She founded the children’s literature section at the prestigious Kala Ghoda Arts Festival and her very own Peek A Book Literature Festival, held at the Royal Opera House in Mumbai.

As the awards director for BK Foundation, she helped set up the Binod Kanoria Children’s Book Awards and also serves as the Director of Communication for the Jane Goodall Institute, India.

Vineeta Kanoria has been a preschool educator for over 20 years. She also set up the Early Intervention Centre at Ummeed Child Development Center for children with special needs. She enjoys helping children and parents discover the joys of maths an an early age.