A.B. Majmudar was minding her own business: spending time with her family, dancing Bharatanatyam, reading books, and perfecting her methi paratha recipe…when the gods of ancient India benevolently, but persistently, demanded her attention. Before she knew it, she had written her first novel.
A graduate of UC Berkeley in English, she taught the subject to high school students, who quickly learned that she would drop everything for a story-knowledge which they tried to use to their advantage on exam days.
Despite (reluctantly) growing up, Majmudar still loves children’s and young adult books, which she loves to read with her three children. She is most at home in ancient Indian stories, and she looks forward to more visits from the gods, leading to more novels.
Nizrana Farook was born and raised in Colombo, Sri Lanka, and the beautiful landscapes of her home country find their way into the stories she writes. She has a master’s degree in writing for young people, and lives in Hertfordshire, United Kingdom with her husband and two daughters.
Akhil Gupta, a chartered accountant by qualification with over thirty years of professional experience, is the vice chairman of Bharti Group and executive chairman of Bharti Infratel Limited. He has played a pivotal role in Bharti’s phenomenal growth right since inception and has been closely involved from the very beginning in its growth in the telecommunication services sector-both organically and by way of various acquisitions. He has led the formation of various partnerships with leading international operators like British Telecom, Telecom Italia, Singapore Telecom and Vodafone, in addition to the induction of leading financial investors like Warburg Pincus, Temasek, KKR, Qatar Foundation Endowment, AIF and Sequoia, among many other private equity funds.
G.K. Sasidharan has held positions in educational institutions as lecturer, postgraduate professor, principal, pro-vice-chancellor and vice-chancellor. He has published many papers on cosmology and astrophysics, and is a regular writer on scientific topics in journals and periodicals. He is the architect of the astronomical observatory on the Calicut University campus and was instrumental in the introduction of compulsory social service (CSS) as part of the curriculum in university and colleges.
Sasidharan visited colleges in various states in the country as chairman of the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) peer team. He is the founder president of the All Kerala Astrosciences Society (AKAS). He has also authored widely accepted bestsellers. His books have been translated into many languages by eminent academicians and he is also the recipient of many awards.
PERUMAL MURUGAN is an eminent Tamil author, scholar and former professor whose literary works vividly capture the social and agrarian landscapes of rural Tamil Nadu. In his writings, he has explored questions of caste, community, desire and human relationships with remarkable sensitivity and insight. His works have been translated into English and several Indian and international languages, earning him widespread critical acclaim and introducing his writing to readers across the world. Over the course of his writing career, Murugan has received numerous national and international honours, cementing his place as one of the most significant voices in contemporary Indian literature.
NIDHI DUGAR KUNDALIA is a journalist and author whose work illuminates lives at the margins of power and privilege. Her previous books include The Lost Generation: Chronicling India’s Dying Professions (2016) and White as Milk and Rice: Stories of India’s Isolated Tribes (2020), both published by Penguin Random House India.
Over the years, Nidhi’s reportage and essays have appeared in The Hindu, Hindustan Times, Open Magazine and Platform, among others. She has served as assistant editor of Kindle Magazine and as a features writer with Times of India, where she honed her commitment to long-form storytelling that centres human dignity over headlines.
Ruth Vanita taught at Delhi University for 20 years and is now Professor at the University of Montana. She was founding co-editor of Manushi 1978-90. She is the author of several books, including Sappho and the Virgin Mary: Same-Sex Love and the English Literary Imagination (1996); Love’s Rite: Same-Sex Marriage in India (2005); Gandhi’s Tiger and Sita’s Smile: Essays on Gender, Sexuality and Culture (2005), Gender, Sex and the City: Urdu Rekhti Poetry in India 1780-1870 (2012); Dancing with the Nation: Courtesans in Bombay Cinema (2017). Her first novel, Memory of Light, appeared in 2020.
She is the author of over 60 articles on British and Indian literature, and has translated many works of fiction and poetry from Hindi and Urdu to English, most notably Chocolate: Stories on Male-Male Desire by Pandey Bechan Sharma ‘Ugra’ (2008). She divides her time between Missoula and Gurgaon.
Saleem Kidwai is a historian and independent scholar, who taught at Ramjas College, Delhi University, for twenty years. He has published several academic essays on medieval and modern India, and translated several works, including Song Sung True: A Memoir by Malka Pukhraj and a collection of Syed Rafiq Hussain’s short stories, The Mirror of Wonders. Apart from the author herself, he is the only person to have translated the novels of Qurratulain Hyder, Chandni Begum and Ship of Sorrow.
Srishti Chaudhary was born and raised in Delhi, and studied English literature at Lady Shri Ram College and Creative Writing at the University of Edinburgh. The author of Once upon a Curfew and Lallan Sweets, she also has a series of short stories to her credit. She now lives in Germany and is a research scholar studying Indian literature at the University of Tuebingen. For more about her, you can visit www.srishtichaudhary.com.
Satyajit Ray (1921-92) was one of the greatest film-makers of his time. In 1992, he was awarded the Oscar for Lifetime Achievement by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. In the same year he was also honoured with the Bharat Ratna. Ray was also a writer of repute, and his short stories, novellas, poems and articles, written in Bengali, have been immensely popular. He has published several books in Bengali, most of which became bestsellers. He is also the author of the famous Feluda stories, the translations of which have been made available by Penguin.
