Archives: Authors

Paro Anand writes novels, short stories and plays for children, young adults and adults. She earlier headed the National Centre for Children’s Literature at the National Book Trust, India. She runs a podcast on HubHopper called Literature in Action. Her books have won many awards including the Sahitya Akademi Bal Sahitya Puruskar (2017), the IBBY Honors List (2006) and the the Kalinga Karubaki Award (2019)._x000D_ Taposhi Ghoshal is a freelance illustrator based in Delhi. She has worked with many NGOs and publishing houses, including Katha, Amnesty International, Pratham Books and National Book Trust, among others. Her books have won many awards, including the IBBY Honor (2007 and 2008) and her work has been exhibited internationally. She is currently teaching at Riyaaz, an academy for illustrators._x000D_

Gulzar, one of India’s leading poets, is a greatly respected scriptwriter and film director. He has been one of the most popular lyricists in mainstream Hindi cinema, gaining international fame when he won an Oscar and a Grammy for the song ‘Jai ho’. Gulzar received the Sahitya Akademi Award in 2002, the Padma Bhushan in 2004, the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 2014 and the Jnanpith Award in 2024. He lives and works in Mumbai.

AMIT MAJMUDAR is a diagnostic nuclear radiologist who lives in Westerville, Ohio, with his wife and three children. He is the author of several volumes of poetry, most recently Dothead. He is also the author of Sitayana, a retelling of the Ramayana that focuses on Sita’s fierce resistance. He is also the author of Godsong, a verse translation of the Bhagwad-Gita with commentary.

Subhadra Sen Gupta has written over forty books for children because she thinks they are the best readers in the world. She writes about history, loves cooking up mystery, ghost and adventure stories and dreams up comic books. She was awarded the Bal Sahitya Puraskar by the Sahitya Akademi in 2014.

Rohini Chowdhury is a writer and established literary translator. As a children’s writer, she has more than twenty books and several short stories to her credit. Her published writing is in both English and Hindi and covers a wide spectrum of literary genres including novels, short fiction, comics, and non-fiction. As a literary translator, her primary languages are pre-modern (Braj Bhasha and Avadhi) and modern (Khari Boli) Hindi, and English. Her translations include the seventeenth century Braj Bhasha text Ardhakathanak, widely regarded as the first autobiography in an Indian language, into modern Hindi and into English. Her literary interests include mythology, folklore, mathematics and history.

Elmo Jayawardena was born and educated in Sri Lanka. He is a pilot and the founder–president of AFLAC International, a humanitarian organization working to alleviate poverty. Whilst flying 747s and running a humanitarian organization, Elmo has carved out time to write two award winning novels. Sam’s Story won the Gratiaen Prize for the best book in Sri Lanka in 2001 and The Last Kingdom of Sinhalay won the State Literary Award for the best book in Sri Lanka in 2005. His most recent book is Rainbows in Braille which was shortlisted for the Singapore Literature Prize. All proceeds from the sale of his books are channelled to the poor. In 1999 Forbes Global featured Elmo for his humanitarian work, and Reader’s Digest honoured him as an ‘Everyday Hero’ in 2001.

Ranjit Lal has written fiction and non-fiction for both adults and children. His books for Puffin include The Caterpillar Who went on a Diet and Other Stories, When Banshee Kissed Bimbo and Other Bird Stories, The Battle for No. 19 and Faces in the Water, which won the Crossword Best Children’s Book Award in 2010 and the Laadli National Media Award.

Ritu Vaishnav has worked as a journalist, a teacher and an editor for children’s books. She has written for Indian Express and Times of India and worked as a news producer and reporter for the India Today news channel. She is also the co-founder of a popular children’s bookstore in Gurugram that actively works with schools to build a strong reading culture among students.

Amneh Shaikh-Farooqui is the founder and official storyteller for her social enterprise, ‘polly & other stories’, and a founding curatorial member for the Women of the World Festival (WOW) in Pakistan. She is passionate about women’s empowerment, visibility, inclusion and really good cheese. Amneh lives like a lyric from ‘Manic Monday’ and chugs along like The Little Engine That Could, which gets her through the day.

Amjad Ali Khan is one of the undisputed masters of the music world. Born to sarod maestro Haafiz Ali Khan, he gave his first performance at the age of six, and is credited with reinventing the technique of playing the sarod. Over the course of a distinguished career spanning more than six decades, Amjad Ali Khan has won numerous accolades including a Grammy nomination, the Crystal Award by the World Economic Forum, the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award and all three Padma Awards. He has performed at venues the world over including Carnegie Hall and the Royal Albert Hall, as well as at the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize Concert in 2014 in Oslo, Norway. Samaagam, his first sarod concerto, has been performed by the Britten Sinfonia, Orchestre National d’lle de France, Orchestre d’Auvergne, London Philharmonia, Gulbenkian Orchestra, Welsh National Opera and Scottish Chamber Orchestra. Amjad Ali Khan has also been a visiting professor at Stanford University, University of New Mexico and Jacob’s School of Music.