Archives: Authors

Melanie Silgardo was born and educated in Bombay. She has published two books of poetry and was a founder-member of a poetry publishing house, Newground, also in Bombay. She has worked in publishing, both in India and in the UK, where she worked with Virago Press for many years. She has
edited anthologies of poetry and short fiction. Melanie lives in London.

Eunice de Souza (1940-2016) was born in Pune where she grew up. She graduated from Bombay’s Sophia College, University of Bombay, did her postgraduate work at Marquette University, Wisconsin, and years later obtained a doctorate for her thesis on Indian poetry and criticism from the University of Bombay. She taught English literature at St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai, and was head of the department till she retired. There she distinguished herself as an inspirational teacher influencing generations of students. She was a scholar of illuminating research into poetry written in English in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and was the anthologist of several works of prose and poetry, the last These My Words: The Penguin Book of Indian Poetry (2012) co-edited with Melanie Silgardo.

She was the author of several books of poems. Her first — the groundbreaking Fix was published in 1979, followed by Women in Dutch Painting (1988), Ways of Belonging (1990) and Learn from the Almond Leaf (2016). She also wrote two novels—Dangerlok (2001) and Dev and Simran (2003) as well as several books for children.

In the last several years of her life she brought all the weight of her knowledge and her passion for literature to her much-loved weekly Mumbai Mirror cultural column which she wrote right to the end.

M.G.Vassanji is the author of six novels, two collections of stories and two works of non- fiction. His first Novel, The Gunny Sack, won the commonwealth Prize. The Book of Secrets and The In- Between World of Vikram Lall each won the Giller Prize, while the memoir A place within: Rediscovering India won the Governor General’s Literary Award for non- fiction. M. G Vassanji was born in Kenya and raised in Tanzania. He now lives in Toronto, Canada.

Ken Spillman developed his imagination while playing games in bushland on the edge of one of Australia’s most isolated cities, and by reading adventures set in faraway places. He is now the author of around 80 books, published in around 20 languages. Ken is a frequent visitor to India and has written a number of books featuring sharp-witted young Indian characters. These include the Daydreamer Dev stories; Advaita the Writer(2011); No Fear, Jiyaa!(2017); and Radhika Takes the Plunge (2012), which was listed in 101 Indian Children’s Books We Love! For more information, visit www.kenspillman.com.

Son of a government schoolteacher, Manish Sisodia, deputy chief minister and education minister of Delhi, is a senior leader of the Aam Aadmi Party and a member of the Political Affairs Committee. In the past, he was a journalist with Zee News and All India Radio, after which he was active in the struggle to pass the Right to Information Act and played a key role in laying the foundation of the Jan Lokpal Movement. His significant contribution to reforming the education system in Delhi has gained him reputation around the country as one of the best education administrators and educationists in government.

Khadija Mastur (1927-82) was a renowned and award-winning Urdu writer from Pakistan, famous for her novels and short stories. She is best remembered for her novel Aangan, published in Penguin Classics as The Women’s Courtyard.

Joseph P. Quinlan (Author)
Joseph P. Quinlan is Managing Director and the Chief Market Strategist of Bank of America, Global Wealth and Investment Management, in New York. He is a Senior Fellow at the Center for Transatlantic Relations, the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) of Johns Hopkins University. He is also a Senior Transatlantic Fellow (non-resident) at the German Marshall Fund in Brussels, where his research centres on regional and global trade and investment flows.He is the author, co-author, editor or contributor to over a dozen books. He has published over 125 articles on international economics and trade, with publications appearing in such venues as Foreign Affairs, Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, and Barron’s. Quinlan lectures on global finance at New York University since 1992. He is an adjunct professor at Fordham University. In addition to lecturing at Wharton School of Business and Thunderbird School of Global Management, AZ, he has lectured in Europe, South America, Turkey and China on global affairs and international finance.

Sumantra Sen (Author)
Sumantra Sen is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Responsible Investment Research Association (RIRA), a non-profit organization that facilitates mainstreaming of Environment, Social & Governance (ESG) factors into Financial Markets through active inputs in Policy, Research and Capacity Building. He is also the Managing Partner at ESGalier Advisors, a consulting organization that specializes in the areas of Sustainable Finance and Impact Investing in the Asia Pacific region.

Kiran Nanda (Author)
Ms Kiran Nanda, a Corporate Economist and Sustainability Analyst who till recently worked as Director at Indian Merchant’s Chamber’s research wing – “Economic Research & Training Foundation” (IMC-ERTF) since last over eight years. At IMC-ERTF, she handled the IMC’s Energy & Environment Committee which comprised distinguished experts and professionals in environment and energy domain and also managed IMC’s research and related activities on Water amongst other responsibilities.

Sumantra Sen is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Responsible Investment Research Association (RIRA), a non-profit organization that facilitates mainstreaming of Environment, Social & Governance (ESG) factors into Financial Markets through active inputs in Policy, Research and Capacity Building. He is also the Managing Partner at ESGalier Advisors, a consulting organization that specializes in the areas of Sustainable Finance and Impact Investing in the Asia Pacific region.

Ms Kiran Nanda, a Corporate Economist and Sustainability Analyst who till recently worked as Director at Indian Merchant’s Chamber’s research wing – “Economic Research & Training Foundation” (IMC-ERTF) since last over eight years. At IMC-ERTF, she handled the IMC’s Energy & Environment Committee which comprised distinguished experts and professionals in environment and energy domain and also managed IMC’s research and related activities on Water amongst other responsibilities.

SUNITA NARAIN is an environmentalist and political activist who uses knowledge to push for changes in policy and practice. She has been with the Centre for Science and Environment since 1982 and is currently its director general. She is also the editor of the fortnightly magazine Down to Earth. For her tireless struggle for a cleaner environment in a fast-growing economy, Narain was included in Time magazine’s list of 100 most influential people, in April 2016, where her profile was written by Amitav Ghosh. Hers was a compelling voice in Before the Flood, a feature-length documentary produced and presented by Leonardo DiCaprio and released in October 2016.