Abraham Verghese

Abraham Verghese MD is Senior Associate Chair and Professor for the Theory and Practice of Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine. He has published extensively in the medical literature, and his writing has appeared in The New Yorker, Sports Illustrated, The New York Times Magazine, The Wall Street Journal and elsewhere. In 2011 he was elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences.  His most recent book, ‘Cutting for Stone’ was on the New York Times Book list for over two years.

Ahdaf Soueif

Ahdaf Soueif’s The Map of Love (1999) was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and translated into 30 languages.  Her most recent books are her memoir: Cairo: my City, our Revolution (2012) and, as editor, Reflections on Islamic Art (2011). She is the Founder and Chair of the Palestine Festival of Literature (PalFest).

Aita Ighodaro

Aita Ighodaro is a novelist, journalist and former model.  Born in West London and educated at Oxford University, her novels, ‘All That Glitters’ and ‘Sin Tropez’, explore the relationships between wealth, greed, lust, ambition and power. To learn more, please visit her website: www.aitaighodaro.com

Ajay Navaria

Ajay Navaria is the author of two collections of short stories, ‘Patkatha aur anya Kahaniyan’ (2006) and ‘Yes Sir’ (2012), and a novel, ‘Udhar ke Log’ (2008). He has been associated with the premier Hindi literary journal, ‘Hans’. Navaria teaches in the Hindi department at Jamia Millia Islamia University, Delhi. ‘Unclaimed Terrain’, a collection of his stories translated into English, will be published by Navayana in Janurary 2013. Navaria's stories have also been translated into Japanese.

Akash Kapur

Akash Kapur is the author of India Becoming, a New Yorker and New Republic "Best Book of 2012" and a Newsweek "Must-Read on Modern India." He has written for The Atlantic, The Economist, Granta, The New York Times, The New Yorker and Outlook, among other places. He is the former “Letter from India” columnist for the International Herald Tribune and the online edition of The New York Times.www.akashkapur.com

Ambai

Ambai is the pseudonym of Dr C S Lakshmi, who writes fiction in Tamil. She is a well-known writer in Tamil and is the recipient of several awards.  As Dr C S Lakshmi, she has been an independent researcher in Women's Studies for the last thirty-five years.  She is currently the Director of SPARROW (Sound & Picture Archives for Research on Women).

Ambika Dutt

Ambika Dutt Chaturvedi is an administrator by profession and a poet at heart. He was recently awarded the Meera Puraskar by Rajasthan Sahitya Akademi. Besides being published in literary magazines in Hindi and Rajasthani, several of his poems have been translated into Punjabi, Gujrati and English. He is presently the Sub-Divisional Magistrate at Sangod in Kota.

Ameena Saiyid

Ameena Saiyid, Managing Director, Oxford University Press Pakistan, has developed its publishing programme to make it the largest publisher in Pakistan. She is the niece of Quratul Ain Hyder. The British Queen awarded her the OBE for the promotion of Anglo-Pakistan relations, democracy, women’s rights, education, and intellectual property rights.

Aminatta Forna

Aminatta Forna is a writer. Her most recent novel, ‘The Memory of Love’, was winner of the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize Best Book Award 2011. ‘The Devil that Danced on the Water’, was shortlisted for the 2003 Samuel Johnson Prize and her first novel, ‘Ancestor Stones’, was winner of the 2007 German Liberaturpreis, the Hurston Wright Legacy Award for Debut Fiction 2007 and the Aidoo-Snyder Book Prize 2010 in the US.

Amit Chaudhuri

Amit Chaudhuri is the author of five novels, the latest of which is ‘The Immortals’, which was a New Yorker and San Francisco Chronicle Book of the Year, and Critics’ Choice, Best Books of 2009, in the Boston Globe and the Irish Times. He is Professor of Contemporary Literature at the University of East Anglia, and has two highly regarded critical works to his name: DH Lawrence and ‘Difference’ and Clearing a Space: Essays on India, Literature, and Culture.

Amit Khanna

Amit Khanna has written, produced and (or) directed several films and TV shows across genres. He has written over 400 film and non-film lyrics. He has served on and chaired several media committees and organizations in India and abroad. He set up India’s first integrated media company, Plus Channel, in 1989 and is chairman of Reliance Entertainment since 2000.

Amjad Ali Khan

Ustaad Amjad Ali Khan is one of the undisputed masters of the music world. He has reinvented the technique of sarod playing which today is distinct in its nomenclature. He has won numerous accolades including a Grammy nomination, the Crystal Award by the World Economic Forum and has performed at venues world over like the Carnegie Hall and the Royal Albert Hall.

Anamika

Author of six national award-winning poetry collections and four biomythographic novels, Dr. Anamika teaches English literature at Delhi University. In her own words, “My poetry aims at spreading a mat where the highbrow and the lowly, the classical and the popular, the cosmic and the commonplace, the humorous and the serious sit together chatting like eternal sakhis.”

Anand Maheshwari

Based on his experiences in the Police Service, Dr Anand Maheshwari has authored eight books on themes related to communal conflicts, policing sensitivities, insurgency and terrorism, blending logical aspects of life with the humane side which often gets lost in this brutal world. His latest book, ‘Mayan’ focuses on the care of cancer patients. One of his books has received the Govind Vallabh Pant award. Professionally, he has been decorated with President Medal for distinguished services and Police Medal for Gallantry.

Ananth Padmanabhan

Ananth Padmanabhan is Sales Director for Penguin Books and has worked in publishing since 1992. He is a graduate from Madras University and has studied publishing in Stanford.
He is also a professional photographer, and the first part of his project on publishing, Calcutta Walking in the City can be viewed on www.ananthpadmanabhan.com.

Ananya Vajpeyi

Ananya Vajpeyi writes widely for newspapers and magazines in India and abroad. Her first book, ‘Righteous Republic: The Political Foundations of Modern India’, was published in the US, UK and India in September 2012. She is an associate fellow  at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, New Delhi and a senior fellow with the American Institute for Indian Studies, 2012-13.

Andrea di Robilant

Andrea di Robilant was educated at Columbia University in New York. He spent thirty years in journalism covering Europe, the United States and Latin America for the Italian dailies Repubblica and La Stampa. He now writes historical non-fiction.  He is the author of A ‘Venetian Affair’; ‘Lucia: A Venetian Life in the Age of Napoleon’; and ‘Irresistible North’
www.andreadirobilant.com

Andrew Lycett

A former foreign correspondent who has reported from India, the Middle East and Africa, Andrew Lycett has written acclaimed biographies of Ian Fleming, Rudyard Kipling, Dylan Thomas and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. His latest book, to be published this year, is a life of the Victorian sensation novelist Wilkie Collins.

Andrew Solomon

Andrew Solomon’s new book is Far From the Tree: Parents, Children, and the Search for Identity.  His last, The Noonday Demon, won the National Book Award and was a Pulitzer Prize finalist.  He is pursuing a Ph.D. in psychology at Cambridge, and is a Lecturer in Psychiatry at Cornell. He lives with his husband and son in New York and London and is a dual national.

Ani Choying

Ani Choying Drolma is the founder of the Nuns Welfare Foundation of Nepal. She is an internationally reputed singer of Buddhist hymns and chants and has toured extensively in North America, Asia and Europe. She founded the Arya Tara School in the year 2000 for nuns which runs with the help of proceeds from her concerts, tours, CD sales and donation. She is the author of ‘My Voice for Freedom’.

Anisul Hoque

Anisul Hoque, author of more than 60 books also writes poetry, television and film scripts, and a newspaper column. His novels include Aetodin Kothai Chhilen [Where Have You Been], which won the Citi Bank-Anando Alo Award for Best Novel; Maa [Mother]; Phaand [Trap] and others. He has written for many television dramas and four feature-length films, receiving awards as a fiction writer and playwright. He won the Bangla Academy Award 2011 for his contribution to literature.

Anita Anand

Anita Anand is a BBC television and radio presenter based in London. As a political journalist she has interviewed Prime Ministers both in Great Britain and the Indian subcontinent, including PV Narasimah Rao, Benazir Bhutto, Nawaz Sharif, General Pervez Musharaf, Tony Blair, Shaikh Hasina and Chandrika Kumaratunga. She is currently writing the biography of Princess Sophia Duleep Singh.

Anjan Sundaram

Anjan Sundaram has reported from Africa for the New York Times and the Associated Press. He is the author of Stringer: A Reporter’s Journey in the Congo (Penguin India). He graduated from Yale, and received a Reutersaward for his reporting from Congo.

Anju Makhija

Anju Makhija is a poet, playwright and translator.  She is the author of several books including: 'Seeking the Beloved: the Poetry of Shah Abdul Latif '. Her edited works include; 'Freedom and Fissures'; 'Indo-English Plays'; and 'We Speak in Changing Languages'. She has been awarded the Sahitya Akademi Translation Prize (2011) and the BBC World Poetry Prize (2002).

Anjum Hasan

Anjum Hasan is the author of the short fiction collection ‘Difficult Pleasures’, the novels ‘Neti, Neti’ and ‘Lunatic in my Head’ and the collection of poems, ‘Street on the Hil’. Anjum’s fiction, non-fiction and poetry have been widely published in India and abroad. She works as books editor at The Caravan. See more on www.anjumhasan.com

Anne Solange Noble

Anne-Solange Noble has been working in publishing for many years, heading the Rights Department first of Editions Flammarion and now of Editions Gallimard, a 100-years-old family-owned publishing company where she promotes translation rights of many prestigious authors such as Nobel-Prize winner J.M.G. Le Clézio, and of best-selling novels such as ‘The Elegance of the Hedgehog’.

Anosh Irani

Anosh Irani is the author of the novels ‘Dahanu Road’, which was longlisted for the 2010 Man Asian Literary Prize, and ‘The Song of Kahunsha’, which was a finalist for CBC Radio's Canada Reads and the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize. His play Bombay Black’ was a Dora Award winner for Outstanding New Play. His novel ‘The Cripple and His Talismans’ will be published by Harper Collins India in January 2013.

Anuja Chauhan

Anuja Chauhan wrote ads for colas, chips and chocolates for 17 years before deciding to do something healthier for a living.  She now writes novels, screenplays and a regular column, Schizo-nation, for The Week.  Her best-selling books, ‘The Zoya Factor’ and ‘Battle for Bittora’, have both been optioned by major Bollywood studios. Her third novel, ‘Those Pricey Thakur Girls’, is out in January 2013.

Ariel Dorfman

Ariel Dorfman is a Chilean-American writer and a Distinguished Professor at Duke University. His books, in both Spanish and English, have been translated into more than 40 languages and his plays staged in over 100 countries. He has received numerous awards, including the Laurence Olivier Award (for ‘Death and the Maiden’). His latest book is the memoir ‘Feeding on Dreams’. He lives in Durham, North Carolina, with his wife Angélica.

Artemis Kirk

Artemis G. Kirk has served as University Librarian at Georgetown University since 2001. She participates in Main Campus-, University-, and external professional associations on behalf of the University Library, including the Association of Research Libraries, Coalition for Networked Information, Washington Research Library Consortium, Catholic Research Resources Alliance, and International Federation of Library Associations. She serves on multiple campus-wide committees including the President’s Senior Leadership team, the Council of Deans, Provost’s Council, and the Main Campus Planning Committee. She actively plans for and works with the Faculty Library Advisory Committee and the Georgetown University Library Board.

Aruna Chakravarti

Aruna  Chakravarti is a retired administrator, academic, creative writer, and translator. Prominent among her ten published books are her translations of Saratchandra Chattopadhyay’s  Srikanta,  Sunil Gangopadhyay’s  Those Days and First Light and a volume of short stories culled from the work of fourteen contemporary writers of Bengal. Her first novel The Inheritors was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers Prize 2004. Secret Spaces, an anthology of her own short stories, was published to critical acclaim in 2010. She has contributed widely to national and international journals. She is the recipient of several  awards. Among them are the Vaitalik Award, the Sahitya Akademi Award and the Sarat Puraskar. Jorasanko, a novel based on the lives of the women of the Tagore family, is her latest work.

Arunava Sinha

Arunava Sinha translates contemporary and classic Bengali fiction into English. Sixteen of his translations have been published in India so far, two in the UK, and one in the US. He is a two-time winner of the Crossword Prize for Fiction in Translation. His most recent translation is of Rabisankar Bal's 'Dozakhnama: Manto & Ghalib | Conversations in Hell'.

Asghar Ali Engineer

Asghar Ali Engineer studied Qur'an, tafsir, hadith and Islamic jurisprudence. He has written more than 70 books on Islam, Muslim women's rights, secularism and so on. He was conferred Honourary doctcrate by Calcutta University and also by Jamia Millia Islamia and Jamiah Hamdard. He is chair, Centre for Study of Society and Secularism and also Institute of Islamic Studies. He has received, among many other awards Right Livelihood Award from Sweden for his work for peace and communal harmony.

Ashis Nandy

Ashis Nandy is a political psychologist, social theorist and futurist. He is a Fellow of the Centre for the Study of Developing societies, New Delhi, and the Institute of Postcolonial Studies, Melbourne. His books include Alternative Sciences; The Intimate Enemy; Traditions, Tyranny and Utopias amongst others. In 2007 he was awarded the Grand Prize of the Fukuoka Asian Culture Prizes and in 2008 voted one of the 100 top public intellectuals of the world. Nandy’s new book - Regimes of Narcissism, Regimes of Despair, will be published by the Oxford University Press in early 2013.

Ashok Chakradhar

Prof. Ashok Chakradhar is considered as a force to reckon with in Hindi literature even for those who understand Hindi poetry well. After serving in Jamia Millia Islamia, he decided to dedicate rest of his life for the cause of Hindi. Presently, he has been functioning as the ‘Vice Chairman’ of the ‘Kendriya Hindi Sansthan’, Ministry of HRD, Govt. of India.

Ashok Ferrey

Sri Lankan author Ashok Ferrey has been many things: failed builder, indifferent mathematician, barman and personal trainer to the rich and infamous. He is guest lecturer at the Colombo School of Architecture and host of The Ashok Ferrey Show on Sri Lankan television. He lives in Colombo with his wife, two kids and his cholesterol.

Ashok Vajpeyi

Ashok Vajpeyi, a Hindi poet-critic, translator, editor and culture-activist, is a major cultural figure of India. With more than 13 books of poetry, 10 of criticism in Hindi and 4 books on art in English to his credit, he is widely recognized as an outstanding promoter of culture and an innovative institution-builder. At present he is the Executive Trustee of the Raza Foundation, New Delhi.

Ashutosh

Ashutosh is the managing editor of a leading Hindi news channel in India – IBN7. He was the first television journalist from India to be awarded the prestigious Daag Hammersjold U. N. Scholarship in 1996. He has recently written a book on Anna Hazare which is a culmination of covering Anna’s 13 day fast that began at the Ramlila Grounds in New Delhi in August, 2011. The book Anna- 13 Days that Awakened India talks of not only Anna’s crusade against corruption but also situates the movement in the historical context of Indian polity.

Asiya Zahoor

Asiya Zahoor is an Assistant Professor of Literature at Baramulla College, Kashmir. The body of her work may be grouped around broad thematic clusters such as the politics of place, transnational and diasporic studies, politics of the literature and the position of marginalized groups in literature. She has authored two books, in which she has investigated themes of diaspora and language politics in South-Asian and Caribbean Literature. Currently she is working on a book investigating representation of Kashmir in literature and cinema.

Atul Kanakk

Atul Kanakk is a renowned figure of Hindi Kavisammellans. He has published six books and seven thousand articles. He is the recipient of Sahitya Academy award 2011for his well appreciated novel in Rajasthani; ‘Joon Jaatraa’. He is also the recipient of  Sahastraabdi Hindi Sevi Samman (felicitation to outstanding Hindi scholar of the millennium) in 2000.

Barkha Dutt

Barkha Dutt is Group Editor with NDTV, India's premiere news and current affairs network. She is one of India's best known journalists and television anchors and is also the youngest journalist to receive the ‘Padma Shri’, one of the country's highest State honours. In a career spanning sixteen years she has won over forty national and international awards for journalism. In December, 2012 she won “International TV Personality of the Year’ at the AIB (Association for International Broadcasting) awards in London and “Best Current Affairs Presenter” at Asian Television Awards in Singapore.

Basharat Peer

Basharat Peer is the author of Curfewed Night, an account of the Kashmir conflict, which won the Crossword Prize for Non-Fiction and was chosen among the Books of the Year by The Economist and The New Yorker. He has worked as an editor at Foreign Affairs and was a Fellow at Open Society Institute, New York. He has written extensively on South Asian politics for The New Yorker, Granta, Foreign Affairs, Financial Times magazine, and The Caravan, among other places. His next book about religious politics and the aftermath of the Partition of India and Pakistan will be published by Random House in India and Simon and Schuster in the United States.

Benoy K Behl

Benoy K Behl is a film-maker, art-historian and photographer who is known for his tireless and prolific output of work over the past 32 years. He has taken over 35,000 photographs of Asian monuments and art heritage, made a hundred documentaries on art history, his exhibitions have been warmly received in 28 countries and he holds the Limca Book Record for having travelled to all corners of India.

Benyamin Daniel

Benyamin has published ten books in Malayalam including five novels and three short story collections. Most famous work 'Aadujeevitham' (Goat days) is a best seller in Malayalam and the novel received Kerala Sahithya Academy Award 2009, Abu Dhabi Sakthi award 2008 and many other awards.  The novel is translated into English, Tamil & Kannada.  Other famous works are ‘Euthanasia’, ‘Second Book of Prophet’s, ‘20 years of Christian quarrels’ and ‘Yellow lights of Death’.

Bhalchandra Nemade

Bhalchandra Nemade, PhD, is a poet, novelist and critic. He has taught literature in Universities at Aurangabad, London, Goa and Mumbai. His publications include ‘Kosla’ (Cocoon) and five more novels; Poetry collections; and works of literary criticism in both English and Marathi. He pioneered the Little Magazines Movement. He has been awarded the Sahitya Akademi and the Padma Shri.

Bhanu Bharti

Bhanu Bharti is best known for his bold innovations and creativity in Indian theatre. He is acclaimed as an actor and as author of original plays like Tamasha na Hua and Nachinai. He has launched many thought provoking events such as the Centenary of Satyagraha and Pravasi Bharatiya Divas. He has been honoured with the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in the field of theatre as a director.

Binayak Sen

Binayak Sen is a public health doctor and human rights activist who has spent long years in developing community based models of primary health care in Chhattisgarh. His areas of interest are nutrition, equity and social justice, and as national Vice President of the PUCL, he is deeply involved in the campaign to repeal the sedition law in India, of which he has been a victim.

Birad Rajaram Yajnik

Birad Rajaram Yajnik is the author of the book – ‘The Great Indian Yoga Masters’, a historical pictography - translated in nine languages. He has traced and photographed yoga across the world in more than 50 countries. In 2010 his book on Mahatma Gandhi – ‘Peace Truth and Ahimsa’ was released at the United Nations to mark the International Day of Non-Violence. From Jaipur, he travels to Cairo to speak at the celebrations of the Gandhian spirit of the 25th January revolution. www.biradrajaramyajnik.com

BN Goswamy

B.N.Goswamy, leading art historian of India, is Professor Emeritus of Art History at the Panjab University, Chandigarh. His work covers a wide range and hassignificantly influenced thinking on Indian painting.Recipient of several honours, including the Padma Shri and the Padma Bhushan, he is the author of more than twenty books, including the classic study, Nainsukh of Guler(Zurich, 1997).

C P Deval

Rajasthani and Hindi poet, and translator, Chandra Prakash Deval received the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1979 for his first poetry collection ‘Paagi’. His other collections include ‘Maarag’, ‘Kaavad’, ‘Topnama’, ‘Udeek Puran’ and the Meera Award winning ‘Bolo Madhavi’. Recently he has completed his monumental bilingual edition of Suryamall Misan’s classic epic Vansh Bhaskar. His other awards include Bharatiya Bhasa Parishad Samman and Sahitya Akademi’s translation award.

Carlo Pizzati

Carlo Pizzati is the author of a novel, a collection of short stories, three screenplays and the travel journal ‘Technoshamans’. For 15 years he worked as a special correspondent for ‘La Repubblica’ in New York, Rome, Mexico, Argentina and Madrid. He has also been editor in chief of two websites and produced documentaries for RAI 3 and La7. www.carlopizzati.com

Catherine Weinberger

Catherine Weinberger-Thomas is Professeur Emeritus from the National Institute of Oriental languages and Civilsations, University of Paris. She is the author of Cendres d'immortalité, La crémation des veuves en Inde (1996), L'Ashram de l'amour, Le gandhisme et l'imaginaire (1979), Le Suaire. Récits d'une autre Inde (1975), and the editor of L'Inde et l'imaginaire (1988).

Chandrahas Choudhury

Chandrahas Choudhury is a novelist based in New Delhi. His debut novel, ‘Arzee the Dwarf’, was shortlisted for the Commonwealth First Book Award and published in translation in Germany and Spain last year. His books’ reviews appear in the New York Times and the Washington Post. He is also the Fiction & Poetry editor of the Caravan.

Chandrashekhar Kambar

Chandrasekhar Kambar, one of the leading dramatists in the country, is also a great poet, folklorist, novelist and researcher. A multifaceted genius in creative writing, Kambar is a living legend in the poetry inspired by folk tradition. His poetry collections include Mugulu (1958), Aayda Kavanagalu (1980), Chakor (1996), Ellide Shivapura (2009) amongst others. Some of his novels include; Anna Tangi (1956); Singarevva mattu Aramane (1982); and Shikhara Soorya (2007).

Charles Allen

Charles Allen was born in Kanpur in the last days of the Raj and subsequently exiled at the age of seven. He returned to his homeland initially as a teacher volunteer and then as a BBC researcher and has been travelling in and writing about Jambudvipa ever since. More a writer about history than a historian, his most recent publication is Ashoka: the Search for India’s Lost Emperor.

Charles R. Di Salvo

Charles R. DiSalvo is the Woodrow A. Potesta Professor of Law at West Virginia University where he teaches one of the few law school courses in the United States on civil disobedience.  He has represented civil disobedients in trial and appellate courts and written and lectured widely on civil disobedience.  He is the author of The Man before the Mahatma: M.K. Gandhi, Attorney at Law (Random House India).

Chiki Sarkar

Christopher Lloyd

Christopher Lloyd is an British author, lecturer and educationalist. His books include: ‘What on Earth Happened? The Complete Story of Planet, Life and People from the Big Bang to the Present Day’ and ‘What on Earth Evolved? 100 Species that Changed the World’ as well as a series of three fold-out ‘What on Earth? Wallbooks’. An Indian version of Christopher's History of the World Wallbook is being launched at the 2013 DSC Jaipur Literature Festival.

Christopher Ricks

Christopher Ricks is Warren Professor of the Humanities and Co-Director of the Editorial Institute at Boston University. Whereas most of his work as a critic and editor has been devoted to poetry, he has also turned his attention to fiction in his book, ‘Beckett’s Dying Words’; in editing Samuel Beckett’s works and Henry James’s ‘What Maisie Knew’. Sir Christopher has reviewed fiction from France, Germany, Italy, Israel, Canada and South Africa.

Dalai Lama

His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, is the head of state and the spiritual leader of Tibet.  The Dalai Lamas are believed to be manifestations of Avalokiteshvara or Chenrezig, the Bodhisattva of Compassion and patron saint of Tibet.  Bodhisattvas are enlightened beings who have postponed their own nirvana and chosen to take rebirth in order to serve humanity. He is the author of several books, which include: My Spiritual Journey (Co-author Sofia strill-rever) and Toward a True Kinship of Faith.

Damayanti Beshra

Dr. Damayanti Beshra has written several books in Odia and Santali. Her recent books include ‘Jhumororo Kichhi Gumaro O Onyana Prabandha’ and ‘Santali Saonhed Reyag Nagam’ (History of Santali Literature). She is an editor of the yearly journal ‘Karamda.r’, an exclusive Santali Women Writers Magazine. Her recent awards include Janajati Pratibha Samman (2012) and Sambardhana for contribution to Tribal Literature and Art (2012).

Daniel Kurtz-Phelan

Daniel Kurtz-Phelan, a fellow of the Centre for Policy Research in Delhi and the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, was senior adviser to Hillary Clinton from 2009 to 2012 and senior editor of Foreign Affairs from 2003 to 2009. He has contributed to publications including The New York Times and The New Yorker and is writing a book about George Marshall after World War II.

David Gilmour

David Gilmour is the author of several prize-winning biographies, including lives of Lord Curzon, the Viceroy of India, and Rudyard Kipling.  A specialist in the British Raj, he is also the author of ‘The Ruling Caste’, a history of the Indian Civil Service.  His most recent is book is ‘The Pursuit of Italy’, a history since the Roman period.

David Gordon White

David Gordon White is the J. F. Rowny Professor of Comparative Religion at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is the author of four books, on comparative mythology (Myths of the Dog-Man), Indian alchemy (The Alchemical Body), Tantric sex (Kiss of the Yogini), and Indian yogis (Sinister Yogis).

David Shulman

David Shulman is Renee Lang Professor of Humanistic Studies at Hebrew University, Jerusalem. A specialist in South Indian languages and cultures, he has published some books but is happiest listening to Carnatic music.

Deborah Moggach

Deborah Moggach has written 17 novels, several of which she has adapted for TV and films. Her novel, ‘These Foolish Things’, was made into the hit movie ‘The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel’. Her other screenplays include the prize winning ‘Goggle-Eyes’, ‘The Diary of Anne Frank’ and the BAFTA-nominated movie of ‘Pride and Prejudice’. Her latest novel, ‘Heartbreak Hotel’ is due to be published in February.

Debra Diamond

Desmond Lazaro

Desmond Lazaro spent over ten years studying Pichhvai cloth painting of Rajasthan, participating in all aspects of their production. He documented his experience in a doctoral dissertation submitted to the Prince’s School of Traditional Art in London that was published in 2005 as a book entitled Materials, Methods & Symbolism in the Pichhvai Painting Tradition of Rajasthan. Since 2008 Lazaro has exhibited his work internationally and is currently represented by three galleries, Chemould Gallery (Mumbai, India), Ben Brown Fine Art (London, UK) and Beck & Eggeling (Dusseldorf, Germany). In 2013 Lazaro will complete his first major public art project at the new Mumbai International Airport, entitled ‘Gopuram’.

Devdutt Pattanaik

Devdutt Pattanaik writes, lectures and consults on the relevance of mythology in modern life, especially in matters related to leadership and storytelling. He has written 25 book and 400 articles on the subject over the past 15 years. To know more visit devdutt.com

Devyani Bhardawaj

Devyani Bhardawaj worked as a journalist with Rajasthan Patrika and Dainik Bhaskar. She was awarded the Prem Bhatia memorial fellowship as a young journalist and undertook a study on 'Disparities of development and Rural to Urban migration'.  She has been doing translations, especially academic writings in the field of education including 'The London Jungle Book' work of Bhajju Sham published by Tara books. At present she is working with Digantar, an organisation committed to improve the quality of education in the country.

Diana Eck

Diana Eck is Professor of Comparative Religion at Harvard University. Her work includes ‘Banaras: City of Light, A New Religious America’ and most recently ‘India: A Sacred Geography’. She is founder and director of the Pluralism Project (http://www.pluralism.org ) that studies the religious dimensions of America's new immigration. For her work on American religious pluralism, Eck received the National Humanities Medal from President Clinton.

Dinesh Singh

Professor Dinesh Singh is the Vice Chancellor of University of Delhi, Delhi. He is also the Director of Mathematical Sciences Foundation, Delhi and Adjunct Professor, Department of Mathematics, University of Houston, USA and is involved at the international level in many areas of mathematics research and education. He is a member of many committees of the Government of India and of international agencies for furthering research and academic activities. He has been awarded numerous academic awards and prizes.

Durgaprasad Agarwal

Dr. Durgaprasad  Agrawal is a versatile author, columnist, editor, reviewer and translator. He is the recipient of Rajasthan Sahitya Academy award for his travelogue ‘Aankhan Dekhee’. Author of ten books, he is creatively engaged in matters pertaining to literature, education, socio-political issues, music, films and drama.

Dushyant

Dushyant is a widely published fiction writer and poet. His first ever collection of poems (2005) was awarded by the Rajasthani Akademi. His recent collection of poems – ‘Prem Ka Anya' (2011) has been awarded the 'Ramkumar Ojha Award'. He was the founder editor of the acclaimed literary magazine 'Shabdkram'. His first collection of short stories - 'July Ki Ek Raat' is scheduled to be published in March 2013 by Penguin.

Edward Girardet

Edward Girardet is a journalist, writer and producer who has reported widely from humanitarian and conflict zones in Africa, Asia and elsewhere since the late 1970s. In addition to ‘Killing the Cranes’, he has written and edited several books, notably ‘Afghanistan - The Soviet War’ (1985), ‘Somalia, Rwanda and Beyond’ (1996), ‘Populations in Danger’ (1996), and ‘The CROSSLINES Essential Field Guide to Afghanistan’ (1998, 2004 and 2006).

Edward Luce

Edward Luce was made the FT's chief US commentator in September 2011 with a weekly column and regular editorials on the US economy and politics. His highly-acclaimed book on India: ‘In Spite of the Gods, The Strange Rise of Modern India’, was released in the US in 2007. His latest book, ‘Time to Start Thinking: America and the Spectre of Descent’ was published in April 2012.

Elif Batuman

Elif Batuman is writer-in-residence at Koç University. Her first book, ‘The Possessed: Adventures with Russian Books and the People Who Read Them’ (2010), was a finalist for a National Book Critics Circle Award and a runner-up for a PEN/ Diamondstein-Spielvogel Award. Her essays, articles and criticism have appeared in the New York Times Magazine, the New York Times Book Review, the London Review of Books, the Guardian, Harper’s and n+1.

Emma Dawson Varughese

E. Dawson Varughese is the author of ‘Reading New India: post-millennial Indian Fiction in English’ (Bloomsbury). She has conducted extensive field research on world literature in English, which was recently published in ‘Beyond The Postcolonial: World Englishes Literature’ (Palgrave). See her work at: www.beyondthepostcolonial.com

Eugenia Herbert

Eugenia W. Herbert is Professor Emeritus of History at Mount Holyoke College (USA) and the author of wide-ranging publications on the history of Africa, Europe, the US, and India under colonial rule. Her most recent book, ‘Flora's Empire: British Gardens in India’, won the J. B. Jackson Prize of the Foundation for Landscape Studies (2011).

Fahmida Riaz

Fahmida Riaz is a poet and writer of the Indo-Pak subcontinent.  Her first collection of verses, ‘Pathar ki Zuban’ was published in 1967. Since then she has published several collections of poetry and prose, fiction and non-fiction. Her translations from Persian and Sindhi literature have been widely acclaimed. She received the Hemmett Hellman Award from the Human Rights Watch in 1997 and Pride of Performance from the Government of Pakistan in 2010.

Faisal Devji

Faisal Devji is Reader in Indian History at the University of Oxford and Fellow of St. Antony's College. He is the author of three books, ‘The Impossible Indian: Gandhi and the Temptation of Violence’, ‘The Terrorist in Search of Humanity: Militant Islam and Global Politics’, and ‘Landscapes of the Jihad: Militancy, Morality, Modernity’.

Faramerz Dabhoiwala

Faramerz Dabhoiwala is Senior Fellow in history at Exeter College, Oxford University. His first book, ‘The Origins of Sex: A History of the First Sexual Revolution’ (Penguin) tells the story of one of the great turning points in western history. Dabhoiwala’s work has received international acclaim and been translated into several languages.

Fariba Hachtroudi

Fariba Hachtroudi is a journalist who is settled in Paris. Besides social and political reports on Iran and the region (1982-1985); during the Iran-Iraq War she covered the story for the European and American media. At the end of 1985 and in the beginning of 1986, to understand the daily life of her compatriots, Fariba travelled clandestinely to Iran. L’Exilée translated as “The Exiled” (re-edited in 2009 under the title of Khomeyni Express) her first book, is a document which relates partly to this astounding journey. Followed by this trip, Fariba got involved actively against theocracy by campaigning within the National Council of the Resistance, which she left in 2002.

Frank Dikötter

Frank Dikötter is Chair Professor of Humanities at the University of Hong Kong and the author of ‘Mao's Great Famine’, which won the 2011 Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction. A prequel entitled ‘The Tragedy of Liberation: A History of the Chinese Revolution’will be published by Bloomsbury in September 2013.

Frank Savage

Frank Savage is the author of ‘The Savage Way’; CEO of Savage Holdings LLC, a global financial services company; and Chairman of Hinduja Capital Advisors, Inc. He is an international businessman, Chairman Emeritus of Howard University, Trustee Emeritus of Johns Hopkins University and a former trustee of Lockheed Martin and Qualcomm, Inc.

Gagan Gill

Gagan Gill is a critically acclaimed Hindi author of 4 poetry collections and 2 books of essays. Her poems are understated, deceptively simple, occasionally prosaic, and extremely carefully crafted. She combines stark images with rare silences which go beyond language. Buddhism informs most of her writing. She was a Fellow at International Writing Program, Iowa University (1990) and a Nieman Fellow for journalism at Harvard University (1992-93).

Gary Shteyngart

Gary Shteyngart’s most recent novel ‘Super Sad True Love Story’ was an instant New York Times Bestseller and was named to over 40 "Best Books of the Year". His first novel, ‘The Russian Debutante’s Handbook’, won the Stephen Crane Award for First Fiction and the National Jewish Book Award for Fiction. His second novel, ‘Absurdistan’, was a national bestseller.

Gaurav Solanki

Gaurav Solanki is a Hindi fiction writer and poet. Born in 1986 in a village in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, He spent his childhood in Sangaria (Rajasthan). He is an engineering graduate from IIT Roorkee. Currently he lives in Mumbai and is writing a feature film.

Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak

Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak is University Professor at Columbia University. Her latest books are ‘Other Asias’ and ‘An Aesthetic Education in An Era of Globalization’. She has 5 honorary doctorates. She is the 2012 laureate of the Kyoto Prize in Art and Philosophy. She trains teachers and guides ecological agriculture in western Birbhum district in West Bengal.

Glenn Lowry

Glenn Lowry has been the Director of The Museum of Modern Art since 1995. He has written and lectured extensively on early Mughal Art and Architecture as well as on Contemporary Art and Culture. His most recent publications include ‘Making History: Some Thoughts on Contemporary Art and the Middle East’ and ‘Abodes of the Muses: Theorizing the Modern Art Museum’.

Gurcharan Das

Gurcharan Das is the author of a new book, ‘India Grows at Night: a liberal case for a strong state’. His earlier works include ‘The Difficulty of Being Good: On the subtle art of dharma’ and ‘India Unbound’. He wrote a novel, ‘A Fine Family’, in his thirties, and ‘Three Plays’ in his twenties. He studied philosophy at Harvard University, and was CEO Procter & Gamble, India before he took early retirement to become a writer.

Harsh Mander

Harsh Mander’s books include ‘Unheard Voices: Stories of Forgotten Lives’, ‘Fear and Forgiveness: The Aftermath of Massacre’, ‘Fractured Freedom: Chronicles from India’s Margins’, ‘Untouchability in Rural India’ (co-authored), and his newest ‘Ash in the Belly: India’s Unfinished Battle against Hunger’. He works with survivors of mass violence, hunger, street children and homeless persons.

Himmat Shah

Himmat Shah is a terracotta sculptor. His work is like an ancient classic spiritual relationship with earth and fire. In some of his works one can decipher his attempt to amalgamate the three-dimensional with the two-dimensional, creating in the process unique artworks. His work can be found in several important collections all over the world and he has received several awards and scholarships in his 50 years of work experience.

Hindol Sengupta

Hindol Sengupta is the author of ‘The Liberals’ on living through 20 years of Indian economic liberalization. He was voted by the global ideas platform Idea Mensch on its 2011 list of 33 entrepreneurs who make the world a better place. He is writing a new book on enterprise and the citizen. He is also Senior Editor at Fortune in India.

HM Nerurkar

Mr. Hemant M. Nerurkar was Executive Director of India and South East Asia of Tata Steel Limited since April 9, 2009 and was appointed as Managing Director of Tata Steel Limited from October 01, 2009. Mr. Nerurkar has over 35 years of experience in steel industry in various functions. He is an executive with multifaceted experience ranging from Project Execution, Manufacturing, Quality Control, Supply Chain and Marketing. He became the Vice President (Flat Products) in November 2002 and in September 2007 was appointed Chief Operating Officer.

Homi K. Bhabha

Homi K. Bhabha, professor at Harvard University and Padma Bhushan recipient in 2012, is a leading cultural and literary theorist and the author of numerous works exploring postcolonial theory, cultural change and power, cosmopolitanism, human rights, and various other themes. His seminal work ‘The Location of Culture’ presents a theory of cultural hybridity to understand the connections between colonialism and globalization.

Howard Jacobson

Howard Jacobson read English at Cambridge under F R Leavis. He is the author of twelve novels, including ‘The Finkler Question’ which won the 2010 Man Booker prize, and five works of non-fiction. He writes a weekly column for ‘The Independent’.  His latest novel, ‘Zoo Time’, is published by Bloomsbury.

Ian Buruma

Ian Buruma was educated in Holland and Japan, where he studied history, Chinese literature, and Japanese cinema. He now writes about a broad range of political and cultural subjects for major publications. He was voted as one of the Top 100 Public Intellectuals by the ‘Foreign Policy/Prospect’ magazines in 2008, and in 2010.

Ikraam Rajasthani

Ikraam Rajasthani is an acclaimed scriptwriter, poet, lyricist, and has more than 23 books to his credit both in Handi and Rajasthani. He is the recipient of several prestigious awards and his works have been published in several leading magazines and newspapers. He is in every sense a true representative of the desert souls.

Ilina Sen

Ilina Sen is currently Professor of Women’s Studies at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences in Mumbai, and President of the Indian Association for Women’s Studies. She has worked for many years with indigenous  women and issues of food sovereignty in Chhattisgarh, and written  academic  and popular pieces  on these experiences. Her interests include the history of women’s struggles, their creative art and music.

Imogen Edwards-Jones

Imogen Edwards-Jones is an award winning journalist, broadcaster, novelist and screenwriter. Author of some 13 books, she is probably best known for her best-selling Babylon series – including ‘Hotel Babylon’ and ‘Fashion Babylon’ which were both adapted by BBC TV. The series has sold over 1 million copies in the UK alone and been translated into over 20 languages.

Ira Pande

Ira Pande has taught at Punjab University and been an editor and writer for the last 20 years. Her first book, Diddi: My Mother’s Voice, was published in 2005. She has translated Manohar Shyam Joshi’s T’Ta Professor, which won both the 2009 Crossword-Vodaphone Award and the 2010 Sahitya Akademi award for the Best Translated work in English. Her latest work, a translation of her mother Shivani’s work, titled Shivani’s Apradhini: Women Without Men, was published by HarperCollins-India in 2011. She is currently working on some translation projects.

Ish Madhu Talwar

Ish Madhu Talwar is a well known hindi fiction writer, playwright and satirist. His personal memoirs of the time spent with famous Bollywood Music Composer Late Daan Singh is scheduled to be published in 2013.
Ish is a founder editor of a literary magazine 'Kurjaan'. At present,he is the Consulting Editor with ETV Hindi Channels based at Jaipur.

Jaideep Sahni

Jaideep Sahni has written some of the most admired Hindi film screenplays of recent times: ‘Chak De India’, ‘Rocket Singh: Salesman of the Year’, ‘Company’, ‘Bunty Aur Babli’ and ‘Khosla Ka Ghosla’, a film he also creative produced. He is also an award-winning lyricist. A computer engineer by training, he worked in IT consulting and advertising before switching to writing and creative producing.

Jaishree Misra

Jaishree Misra has written seven novels published by Penguin and Harper Collins. She has an MA in English Literature from Kerala University and two post-graduate diplomas from the University of London, in Special Education and Broadcast Journalism. She recently edited an anthology on motherhood for Zubaan and Save the Children. 

http://www.jaishreemisra.com

James Holland

James Holland is a historian of the Second World War, whose books include the best-selling Battle of Britain and Dam Busters. He has also written a number of wartime novels and has written and presented several BAFTA-shortlisted films for the BBC. He has also lectured to the MCC at Lord's.

James Mallenson

James Mallinson is a Sanskritist specializing in yoga and yogis with several academic books and translations to his name. He has spent nearly a decade living with sadhus in India and is writing a book called Rogue Yogis about his adventures. From Jaipur he travels to the Kumbh Mela where he is making a film for the BBC.

Jamil Ahmad

Jamil Ahmad was born in Jalandhar in 1933. He has been a member of the Civil Service of Pakistan, a Political Agent, commissioner in Dera Ismail Khan and in Swat, and chairman of the Tribal Development Corporation. He was also posted as a minister in Pakistan’s embassy in Kabul, before and during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979.

Jason Burke

Jason Burke is the South Asia correspondent of The Guardian and The Observer newspapers. A veteran of numerous conflicts, he has reported from the Middle East, Afghanistan, Pakistan and elsewhere for more than 15 years. He has published three critically acclaimed books; ‘Al'Qaeda: The True Story of Radical Islam’, ‘On The Road to Kandahar’ and ‘The 9/11 Wars’.

Jason Grunebaum

Jason Grunebaum has worked as an interpreter and delegate for the International Committee of the Red Cross in Kashmir, Kosovo and East Timor. His short stories and translations have appeared in many journals. He is also a senior lecturer in Hindi at the University of Chicago, where he teaches creative writing.

Javed Akhtar

Javed Akhtar is a poet, lyricist and scriptwriter. He writes in Hindi and Urdu. His work reflects his consummate skill with words while also underlining his interest in politics and the struggle against religious fundamentalism. His first collection of poetry, Tarkash, is in its eleventh edition in Hindi, and its seventh edition in Urdu. He has been honoured with five national awards by the Government of India, including the Padmashri, the Padma Bhushan, and the Avadh Ratan, and has been awarded 15 Filmfare Awards for his contribution to films.

Jeet Thayil

Jeet Thayil is a poet, novelist, librettist and musician. His four poetry collections include ‘These Errors Are Correct’ and ‘English’, and he is the editor of ‘The Bloodaxe Book of Contemporary Indian Poets’. His libretto for the opera ‘Babur in London’ toured internationally in 2012. His debut novel ‘Narcopolis’ was shortlisted for the 2012 Man Booker prize and has been published in nine languages.

John Burnside

John Burnside's last two books were the novel, A Summer of Drowning, shortlisted for the 2011 Costa Prize, and his poetry collection, Black Cat Bone, which won both the 2011 Forward Prize and the T.S. Eliot Prize for Poetry. His Selected Poems was published in 2006, alongside his memoir, A Lie About My Father. The second volume of his memoir, Waking Up In Toytown, was published in 2010.

John Elliot

John Elliott has been a journalist in Asia since 1983, initially for the Financial Times. Based in New Delhi, he contributes to The Economist and writes a current affairs blog - http://ridingtheelephant.wordpress.com - which he is turning into a book. The blog also appears on The Independent (UK) newspaper website.

John Kampfner

John Kampfner is Adviser to Google on freedom of expression and culture. A journalist of long standing, he was Moscow and Berlin bureau chief for the Daily Telegraph, then after spells at the FT and BBC became Editor of the New Statesman in 2005, taking the magazine to 30-year circulation highs. A documentary maker for TV and radio, he is also Chair of the board of Turner Contemporary, one of the UK's highest profile art galleries. He is working on a new book on the history of the super-rich. His previous books include, Freedom For Sale, and the best selling Blair's Wars.

John Zubrzycki

Sydney-based author and journalist, John Zubrzycki’s latest book, ‘The Mysterious Mr Jacob: Diamond Merchant, Magician and Spy’, tells the extraordinary story of the notorious Simla jeweller Alexander Malcolm Jacob. His previous book was ‘The Last Nizam: The Rise and Fall of India's Greatest Princely State’. A former Delhi-based foreign correspondent, he also worked in India as a diplomat and consultant.

Johnathan Shainin

Jonathan Shainin is the senior editor at The Caravan. He was the founder and editor of The Review, a weekly literary supplement to The National newspaper in Abu Dhabi, and previously worked at the New Yorker and the New York Review of Books. His own writing has appeared in The Nation, Bookforum, Salon and The Paris Review.

Joseph Kanon

Joseph Kanon is the author of several novels; ‘Los Alamos’, which won the Edgar Award for best first novel; ‘The Good German’, which was made into a film; ‘The Prodigal Spy’; and ‘Alibi’, which earned Kanon the Hammett Award of the International Association of Crime Writers.  He is also a recipient of The Anne Frank Human Writers Award for his writings on the aftermath of the Holocaust.
His most recent book is Istanbul Passage (2012).

Judith Curr

Judith Curr is President and Publisher of Atria Publishing Group, a division of Simon and Schuster, Inc.  She is responsible for all the publishing activities of the imprints, which include Atria, Howard Books, Atria Trade Paperbacks, Washington Square Press, Strebor Books, Atria/Beyond Words, Atria Books Español, Atria Unbound e-books, and Cash Money Content.

Judith Oriol

Judith Oriol is author of an essay on wowen in Marcel Proust' works. She was the head of the French Book Office in Bucharest at the French Embassy in Romania from 2004 to 2006 and from the until 2010, she worked in the Gallimard Publishers' Foreign rights Department, where she was in charge of all the projects of translation into languages of Eastern European countries. She's currently the Book Attachée at the French Embassy in India, having started her work there in September 2010

K R Indira

K R Indira is an auditioned drama artist of All India Radio. She now works in All India Radio, Devikulam, Munnar, Kerala as Head of Programmes. Her published works include a number of articles on social criticism in different publications; a collection of short stories titled 'Illam Nira'; and 'Sthraina kaamasuthram', a rewriting on Vatsyayana's Kamasuthra with a critique's view.

K.Satchidanandan

K. Satchidanandan, has 23 collections of his poetry in 18 languages including English, Irish, Arabic, French, German and Italian. His book ‘While I Write: New and Selected Poems’ (Harper-Collins) came out in 2011. He has won 27 literary awards including Knighthood of the Order of Merit from the Government of Italy and India-Poland Friendship Medal from the Government of Poland. A film on him, ‘Summer Rain’ was released in 2007.

Kanak Mani Dixit

Kanak Mani Dixit worked at the United Nations Secretariat in New York City from 1982 to 1990, and started Himal magazine in 1987. Since 1990, he has been involved in Southasian and Nepali journalism, writing for children, translations, documentary film festivals, spinal injury, civil rights, accountability, architectural preservation, public transport, archiving, and animal welfare in Kathmandu.
www.kanakdixit.com

Kancha Ilaiah

Prof Kancha Ilaiah presently heads a research centre at Maualana Azad National Urdu University, Hyderbad. He authored ‘Why I am Not a Hindu’ and his theoretical work ‘God As Political Philosopher: Buddha's Challenge to Brahminism’ was published in 2000, that created a new framework in Buddhist ideology. His first novel ‘Untouchable God’ will be launched at Jaipur Literature Festival.

Karma Ura

Karma Ura is the President of the Centre for Bhutan Studies. He was a member of the Drafting Committee of Bhutan's Constitution, enacted in July 2008. He is the author of several articles and books, including a novel, ‘The Hero with a Thousand Eyes’. He is a member of various international and national bodies such as the Chief Economist’s Advisory Panel, South Asia Region, World Bank; Reflection Group on Global Development Perspectives, Global Policy Forum; the Executive Committee for Nalanda Tradition; the Royal Monetary Authority of Bhutan; and the Tarayana Foundation.

Ken Wissoker

Kiran Bedi

Kiran Bedi is the first and highest ranked woman police officer in India. Kiran has been voted as the most trusted and admired woman of the country, time and again. She has authored books, founded nation building NGOs and hosted the popular TV show ‘Aap Ki Kachehri’. To know more log on to www.kiranbedi.com

Kishwar Desai

Kishwar Desai’s debut novel, ‘Witness the Night’ won the prestigious Costa First Novel Award (2010). Her controversial second novel, ‘Origins of Love’, has been published internationally by Simon and Schuster. She has just completed her third novel; ‘The Sea Of Innocence’, to be published in May 2013, and is working on a book on cinema on Devika Rani and Himansu Rai.

Kota Neelima

Kota Neelima is a political journalist and novelist. Her two novels, ‘Riverstones’ and ‘Death of a Moneylender’, were a critique of media’s marginal reportage of rural stories due their distance from the limelight. Her forthcoming third novel, ‘Shoes of the Dead’, is a contrast between the inheritances of two sons of modern India: the son of a powerful politician and the son of a farmer who had committed suicide due to debt.

Kshama Sharma

Dr. Kshama Sharma is a renowned feminist author, translator and journalist. She is a notable media personality and has been associated with the Hindustan Times Group's popular children magazine 'Nandan' for the last 37 years. At present she is an executive editor with the Hindustan Group. She has various award winning titles to her credit, including: Name Plate ('Kriti Samman' by Hindi Academy), Dusra Paath (Hindi Academy Award), Shibbu Pahalwan and many more. She is a member of various juries, award committees and trusts.

Kunzang Choden

Kunzang Choden, born in 1952 in Central Bhutan, writes on folklore, culture and women.  Her book ‘The Circle Of Karma’, published in 2005, was the first novel from Bhutan. Her other published works include folktale collection, short stories, and children’s books.

Kwasi Kwarteng

Kwasi Kwarteng is Conservative Member of Parliament for Spelthorne. Prior to entering Parliament, Kwasi studied at Eton College and Trinity College, Cambridge obtaining Bachelor and PhD degrees in British History. He has worked as a financial analyst, journalist and author. His first book, ‘Ghosts of Empire’, was published in 2011.

Lakshmi Holmström

Lakshmi Holmström has translated short stories, novels and poetry by major contemporary writers in Tamil, which include two collections; ‘Wild Girls, Wicked Words’ by Tamil women poets, and ‘In a Time of Burning’ by the Sri Lankan poet Cheran, are in press.  She received the Crossword Award in 2000, Iyal Award from the Tamil Literary Garden 2008, and shared the Crossword-Hutch Award in 2007.

Lakshmi Kannan

Lakshmi Kannan is a poet, novelist and short story writer. She is bilingual, writes in English and in Tamil, for which she uses the pen-name `Kaaveri’. Her published books include collections of poems in English, and fiction in Tamil and English translations. This year she received the `Manjula Srinivas Award, 2012’, for her writings in Tamil.

Lakshmi Sharma

Dr Lakshmi Sharma is associate professor of Hindi at Government College, Malpura. She has published a story collection called ‘Ek Hansi ki Umra’ and is an editor of Aksar, Literary Magazine. She has done several book reviews and published a short play. She has also edited a poetry collection called ‘Stree ho Kar Sawal Karti Hai’.

Laleh Khadivi

Laleh Khadivi has worked as a documentary filmmaker focusing on the American Criminal Justice system and directing the feature length documentary ‘900 Women’. Her first novel ‘The Age of Orphans’ was the recipient of the Whiting Award, a Barnes and Noble Discovery Award, nominated for the Dublin IMPAC Award and translated into 8 languages. Her second book ‘The Walking’ comes out in Spring 2013.

Lata Sharma

Lata Sharma has been a lecturer for 22 years. Her work has been published in all leading journals in Hindi, broadcast from Akashvani and has been translated into German & English and many other regional languages of India. She has published many books, won many prizes. Lata used to write a column for Rashtriya Sahara.

Lawrence Norfolk

Lawrence Norfolk is the author of four historical novels which have been translated into twenty-four languages. His latest novel, ‘John Saturnall’s Feast’, tells the story of a cook in seventeenth century England. He is the winner of the Somerset Maugham Award and the Budapest Festival Prize for Literature.

Laxmi Tendulkar Dhaul

Laxmi Tendulkar Dhaul has a Masters in Biochemistry from Mumbai University. Her published works include ‘The Sufi Shrine of Ajmer’, ‘The Dargah of Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya’, ‘Guide to the Gentleman Chef’, and ‘Chimi’s Dream’. She lives in Mumbai and is currently involved in producing animation films to create environmental awareness among school children.

Linda Grant

Linda Grant is the winner of the Orange Prize for fiction for her novel ‘When I Lived in Modern Times’ and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize for the novel ‘The Clothes on Their Backs’.

Lucy Morgan Edwards

Lucy Morgan Edwards arrived in Kandahar under a fatwa at the height of the Taliban regime to work for the UN, living within metres of Mullah Omar’s compound. After 9/11 she experienced the western military intervention as an election monitor, a journalist and Political Advisor to the EU Ambassador in Kabul. She spent months living in Jalalabad with a tribal family and this formed the basis of an investigation which led to 'The Afghan Solution'.

Madeline Miller

Madeline Miller has a BA and MA in Classics from Brown University, and has taught Latin, Greek and Shakespeare for the last ten years. ‘The Song of Achilles’, her first novel, was awarded the 2012 Orange Prize for Fiction and was a New York Times Bestseller. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Madhu Trehan

Madhu Trehan, a journalist for 40 years, started India Today magazine in 1975. She produced and anchored Newstrack, a video magazine, from 1988 to 1995 when private TV channels were not allowed.  It became known for incredible scoops. She authored a book Tehelka As Metaphor in 2009. She is currently the Content Director at www.newslaundry.com

Mahasweta Devi

Mahasweta Devi is a prolific and best-selling author in Bengali. A deeply political social activist, she has worked with and for tribals and marginalized communities in India, and has received numerous awards such as Jnanpith Award, Ramon Magsaysay Award and honours such as Padma Shri and Padma Vibhushan.

Makarand Sathe

Makarand Sathe, has been writing plays, novels, articles and films in Marathi for last three decades. His plays have been performed in many national and international festivals. His most recent novel, 'The Man Who Tried to Remember', has been published by Penguin. His three volume 'Socio-Political History of Marathi Theatre' was published to acclaim in 2011.

Malashri Lal

Malashri Lal is an author and a critic with an interest in literature for social change. She wrote ‘The Law of the Threshold: Women Writers in Indian English’, and recently co-edited ‘In Search of Sita: Revisiting Mythology’ and ‘Chamba-Achamba: Women’s Oral Narratives’. Currently she is Dean, Academics at the University of Delhi.

Malchand Tiwari

Malchand Tiwari is a noted Hindi and Rajasthani poet and author. He received the Sahiya Akademi award for his poetry collection ‘Uttaryo Hai Abho’ in 1997. His novel ‘Paryayvachi’, and his collection of short stories ‘Sukant ke Sapno mein’, and ‘Jalian aur Jharokhe’ have also won him wide critical acclaim. Tiwari's work has been translated in many regional languages.

Mandira Sen

Mandira Sen is the director of two imprints Stree (gender studies) and Samya (culture and dissent), published by Bhatkal & Sen, a joint partnership of Popular Prakashan, Mumbai, and Mandira Sen, Kolkata. She had worked in publishing for over three decades, in Boston and in Calcutta, and is also a partner of Independent Publishers Distribution Alternatives (IPDA), Delhi.
www.stree-samyabooks.com

Manil Suri

Manil Suri is the author of the novels ‘The Death of Vishnu’, ‘The Age of Shiva’ and ‘The City of Devi’. His fiction has won several awards and been translated into twenty-seven languages. He currently resides in Maryland, where he is professor of mathematics at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

Manu Joseph

Manu Joseph is the author of The Illicit Happiness of Other People. His first novel, Serious Men, which has been translated into several languages, won The Hindu Literary Prize and the American PEN/Open Book Award, and was shortlisted for the Man Asian Literary Prize among other prizes. He is the editor of the Open magazine and is a columnist for The New York Times' global edition, The International Herald Tribune.

Marc Quinn

Marc Quinn is one of the leading artists of his generation. His sculptures, paintings and drawings explore the relationship between art and science, the human body and the perception of beauty, among other things. Quinn came to prominence in 1991 with his sculpture Self (1991); a cast of the artist’s head made from eight pints of his own frozen blood. Other critically acclaimed works include Siren (2008) and Alison Lapper Pregnant (2005). He has shown in many international museums and galleries including Tate Gallery, London (1995), Fondazione Prada, Milan (2000),Institut Océanographique, Monaco (2012) and the The Multimedia Art Museum of Moscow.

Mark Singleton

Dr. Mark Singleton has published extensively on modern, transnational yoga, notably ‘Yoga in the Modern World’, ‘Contemporary Perspectives’ (ed. 2008), ‘Yoga Body, the Origins of Modern Posture Practice’ (2010) and ‘Gurus of Modern Yoga’ (ed. 2013). His current project, with Dr. James Mallinson, is entitled ‘Roots of Yoga’. He teaches at St. John's College, Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Mary Harper

Mary Harper is the Africa Editor at the BBC World Service. She is the author of ‘Getting Somalia Wrong? Faith, War and Hope in a Shattered State’. She has reported from many other African conflict zones, including Sudan, Congo, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Algeria. She has written for several publications including The Economist, Granta, The Guardian, The Times and The Washington Post.

www.maryharper.co.uk

Maya Krishna Rao

Born and raised in erstwhile Bombay, now Mumbai, Yasmeen Premji graduated from St.Xavier’s College, before completing her master’s degree from Smith College in the USA.  She has always been interested in writing and her first short story was published when she was seventeen.  She worked as an assistant editor for the Indian design magazine, ‘Inside Outside’, for many years before moving with her husband Azim to Bangalore, which she now calls home. Her first novel, Days of Gold and Sepia, was longlisted for the Tata First Book Award, 2012

Meru Gokhale

Meru Gokhale is the Editorial Director of Vintage Books India at the Random House Group, and is building a list of high-quality literary fiction and non-fiction focused on the Indian subcontinent.

Michael Sandel

Michael Sandel, a political philosopher at Harvard University, has been called “the most relevant living philosopher,” a “rock-star moralist” (Newsweek), and “the most famous teacher of philosophy in the world” (New Republic).  His new book, ‘What Money Can’t Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets’, is “a brilliant, indispensable book on the relationship between morality and economics” (The Times, London).  Sandel’s previous book, ‘Justice’, has sold over 2 million copies.

Mita Kapur

Mita Kapur is the author of ‘The F-Word’ and a freelance journalist regularly featured in many publications. She covers social development issues, travel and food. As the founder of Siyahi, she doubles as a literary agent and conceptualizes, produces and directs literary festivals. She is the producer of Bhutan’s ‘Mountain Echoes Literary Festival’.

Mohammed Hanif

Mohammed Hanif is a Pakistani writer and journalist. He graduated from Pakistan Air Force Academy as a pilot officer but subsequently left to pursue a career in journalism. He initially worked for Newsline, The Washington Post and India Today. In 1996, he moved to London to work for the BBC. Later, he became the head of the BBC's Urdu service in London. He moved back to Pakistan in 2008.

Monika Boehm-Tettelbach

Monika Boehm-Tettelbach, retired Professor of Modern South Asian Languages and Literatures, Heidelberg University, has focused on the Sants and religion and politics in the kingdom of Jaipur. Her books include a translation of Dadu's songs, and studies of the Govinddevji temple of Jaipur and Savai Jaisingh's religious policy. More recently, she has authored monograph on Pratap Singh of Jaipur (2013), is the editor of a festschrift for Mukund Lath (2013), and co-editor of a volume of Satire in early modern India (2012)

Monisha Rajesh

Monisha Rajesh is a British journalist at The Week magazine in London. She has written for the London Evening Standard, The Guardian, The Times, TIME magazine and The New York Times. Her first book ‘Around India in 80 Trains’ was published in October 2012.

Mukund Lath

Academically, Mukund Lath studied English literature, followed by an MA and PhD in Sanskrit. He has also studied music, mainly with Pt. Jasraj. He has taught history in the University of Rajasthan, Jaipur. His work presents research and thinking on history, music, philosophy and the arts in general. He has been awarded the Padmashri (2008) and the Fellowship of the Sangita Nataka Academy (2011).

Musharraf Ali Farooqi

Musharraf Ali Farooqi's novel ‘Between Clay and Dust’ was long listed for the 2012 Man Asian Literary Prize and DSC Prize 2012. His novel ‘The Story of a Widow’ was shortlisted for the DSC Prize 2010, and long listed for the IMPAC Award. Farooqi is the PEN award winning translator of Urdu classics.

 www.mafarooqi.com

Nadeem Aslam

Nadeem Aslam was born in Pakistan and now lives in England. He is the author of the novels ‘Season of the Rainbirds’ (1993), ‘Maps for Lost Lovers’ (2004), and ‘The Wasted Vigil’ (2008). His fourth novel, ‘The Blind Man's Garden’ will be published in January 2013. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

Namita Gokhale

Writer, publisher and festival director Namita Gokhale has authored over eleven books including seven works of fiction. Her first novel ‘Paro, Dreams of Passion’ (1984) created a sensation due to its candid sexual humor. ‘Priya’ a sequel to her first novel ‘Paro’ was published in 2011 followed by a collection of short stories, ‘The Habit of Love’ (2012). A founder-director of the DSC Jaipur Literature Festival, she is also director of ‘Mountain Echoes: The Bhutan Literary Festival’ and several other literary initiatives.

Namrata Joshi

Namrata Joshi is Associate Editor and film critic with Outlook newsmagazine. She is the winner of India’s National Award for Best Film Critic for 2004. She has written monographs on actresses Nutan and Mumtaz for a series ‘Women in Indian Film’ edited by Nasreen Munni Kabir. She has also written an essay on women technicians in Bollywood for a commemorative volume on Women Changing India. Her most recent essay on Indian superstar Shah Rukh Khan for Bollywood Top 20: Superstars of Indian Cinema, was published in January 2012.

Nand Bhardwaj

Nand Bhardwaj is a well-known writer of Hindi and Rajasthani. He has contributed a number of books in fiction, literary criticism, interviews with personalities and a collection of articles on culture and media. His novel, ‘Samhi Khulato Marag’ in Rajasthani, has been awarded by Sahitya Akademi in 2005. As a media professional, he has worked with AIR and DD for more than three decades.

Nandan Nilekani

Nandan Nilekani is currently the Chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) in the rank of Union Cabinet Minister.  In 2005, he received the prestigious Joseph Schumpeter Prize and in 2006, he was awarded the Padma Bhushan. He is the author of ‘Imagining India’, which was one of the finalists for the FT-Goldman Sachs Book Award for the year 2009.

Nasreen Munni Kabir

Born in India, Nasreen Munni Kabir is a London based documentary filmmaker and author of ‘Guru Dutt, a life in cinema’, ‘Talking Films/Talking Songs’ with Javed Akhtar, ‘Lata Mangeshkar in her own voice’, ‘A R Rahman, the Spirit of Music’, ‘In the company of a poet: Gulzar’ and five dialogue books of classics including ‘Mughal-e-Azam’, ‘Awaara’, and ‘Devdas’.

Naveen Kishore

Naveen Kishore is the Commissioning Editor of the groundbreaking Indian publisher Seagull Books.

Navtej Sarna

Navtej Sarna is the author of the novels ‘The Exile’ and ‘We Weren't Lovers Like That’ as well as the non-fiction works- ‘The Book of Nanak’; ‘Folk Tales of Poland’ and a translation of Guru Gobind Singh’s ‘Zafarnama’. His most recent work is ‘Winter Evenings’, a collection of short stories. A member of the Indian Foreign Service since 1980, he has served as a diplomat in several capitals, as the Foreign Office Spokesperson and most recently, as India's ambassador to Israel.

Nayanjot Lahiri

Nayanjot Lahiri is a Professor at the Department of History, University of Delhi.  She has written extensively on the people, processes and puzzles involved in the writing of Indian history and archaeology. She is author and editor of many books ranging from ‘The Archaeology of Indian Trade Routes’ (1992) to ‘Finding Forgotten Cities’ (2005). Her most recent book is ‘Marshalling the Past - Ancient India and its Modern Histories’ (2012).

Neelesh Misra

Neelesh Misra, is a radio storyteller, Bollywood lyricist, scriptwriter (‘Ek Tha Tiger’), author of five books and a former Deputy Executive Editor of Hindustan Times. He is the co-founder and editorial director of the just-launched rural newspaper ‘Gaon Connection’. Neelesh has reinvented India’s centuries-old oral storytelling tradition with a national radio show on 92.7 Big FM, on which he narrates stories of an imaginary city, ‘Yaad Sheher’.

Neeta Gupta

Neeta Gupta is the publisher of Yatra Books. She is also a Joint Secretary with the Bharatiya Anuvad Parishad and edits their quarterly journal, Anuvad. She has been working towards creating publishing connectivities across different languages and cultures.

Nicholas Hogg

Nicholas Hogg was nominated for the IMPAC literary award for his début novel; ‘Show Me the Sky’. Winner of numerous story prizes, including the Bridport, Raymond Carver and New Writing Ventures contests, his short fiction has also been broadcast by the BBC. He is a co-founder of The Authors Cricket Club, published by Bloomsbury in 2013. www.nicholashogg.com

Nirupama Dutt

Nirupama Dutt is Chandigarh's homegrown poet, journalist and translator of many seasons who has written and edited several books. She writes in both Punjabi and English. She received the Punjabi Akademi Award for her anthology of poems, ‘Ik Nadi Sanwali Jahi’. Her poetry anthologies have also come out in English and Hindi. At present she is translating three novellas by Amrita Pritam and dreaming a novel.

Om Nagar

Om Nagar is one of the most promising poets of contemporary Rajasthani world. Having six books to his credit, Om Nagar has received the prestigious Baab Ji Chatar Singh Translation Award and Sumnesh Joshi Awad. A research scholar, he is currently working as journalist with a regional news channel and translating some important books for Kendriya Sahitya Academy.

Om Thanvi

Om Thanvi writes travelogues and critical essays. He is deeply involved with literary activities of Hindi in Delhi. He was awarded the Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi Puraskar for his contribution to Hindi journalism. His other awards include the SAARC Literary Award and Haldi Ghati Award. He has published a travelogue ‘Muanjodaro’ on the Indus Valley's Mohen-jo-daro.

Orlando Figes

Orlando Figes is Professor of History at Birkbeck, University of London, and the author of seven books, including A People's Tragedy: The Russian Revolution 1891-1924 (1996), Natasha's Dance: A Cultural History of Russia (2002), The Whisperers: Private Life in Stalin's Russia (2007) and Crimea: The Last Crusade (2010). His latest is Just Send Me Word: A True Story of Love and Survival in the Gulag (2012).

Pablo Bartholomew

Pablo Bartholomew is a self-taught, Indian photographer. He won the World Press Picture of the Year for his iconic image of the Bhopal Gas Tragedy (1984). His work has been featured in magazines like Time and Life and as an artist he has exhibited worldwide at Rencontres d’Arles, France, Rubin Museum of Art, New York and more recently at the 2012 Shanghai Biennale. His most recent book is  ‘Richard Bartholomew -The Art Critic’. 

www.bartholomew.tv

Paranjoy Guha Thakurta

Paranjoy Guha Thakurta is an independent journalist and an educator. His work experience, spanning more than 35 years, cuts across different media: print, radio, television and documentary cinema. He is a writer, speaker, anchor, interviewer, teacher and commentator in three languages: English, Bengali and Hindi. His main areas of interest are the working of the political economy and the media in India and the world, on which he has authored/co-authored books and directed/produced documentary films. He participates frequently in and organizes seminars/conferences, is a regular contributor to newspapers, magazines and websites and is featured on television channels and radio programmes as an anchor as well as an analyst and commentator.

Patrick French

Patrick French is a leading biographer and historian, the author of prize-winning works on contemporary Asia and the impact of imperialism. His most recent books are ‘India: A Portrait and The World Is What It Is: The Authorized Biography of VS Naipaul’, which won the US National Book Critics Circle Award.

Pavan Choudary

Pavan Choudary is the author of best-selling books like ‘When you are Sinking Become a Submarine’ and ‘Broom and Groom’ (co-author Kiran Bedi). Pavan hosts the TV program ‘Hum Aise Kyun Hain’ on Doordarshan and has written columns for Times of India and Financial Chronicle. To know more log on to www.pavanchoudary.in.

Pavan Varma

Author-Diplomat Pavan K. Varma, who has now resigned to join public life, has written over a dozen best selling books, including 'Ghalib: The Man, The Times', 'Krishna: The Playful Divine', 'The Great Indian Middle Class', 'Being Indian' and 'Becoming Indian'.  His first book of fiction was 'When Loss is Gain'. His latest book, which he considers his most important, is 'Chanakya's New Manifesto: To Resolve the Crisis Within India'.

Peter Hessler

Peter Hessler is a staff writer at The New Yorker, where he served as the Beijing correspondent from 2000 to 2007, and is also a contributing writer for National Geographic.  He is the author of a trilogy of books about China:  ‘River Town, Oracle Bones’, and ‘Country Driving’.  He lives in Cairo, Egypt.

Philip Hensher

Philip Hensher is a novelist, author of eight books, including ‘Kitchen Venom’, winner of the Somerset Maugham award, The Northern Clemency, shortlisted for the Man Booker prize and, most recently, ‘Scenes from Early Life’. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Bath Spa.

Pico Iyer

Pico Iyer is the author of two novels and eight works of non-fiction, most recently ‘The Man Within My Head’, a meditation on Graham Greene and globalism. His previous book, ‘The Open Road’, drawing on 34 years of talks with the XIVth Dalai Lama, came out in a dozen countries and was a bestseller across the U.S.

Prajwal Parajuly

Prajwal Parajuly, is the son of an Indian father and a Nepalese mother. His first book, ‘The Gurkha's Daughter’, is a collection of short stories based on the lives of Nepali-speaking people. The Hindu has called him "the harbinger of the resurgence of the short story" while The Times of India has speculated that he's the next big thing in South Asian fiction.

Pramod K G

Pramod Kumar KG is the Managing Director of Eka Archiving Services, a museum consulting company at Delhi. As the Director of the Jaipur Virasat Foundation and the Jaipur Heritage International Festival, he started the Jaipur Literature Festival in 2005. He is the author of ‘Posing for Posterity – Royal Indian Portraits’.

Prasoon Joshi

Prasoon Joshi is a writer and poet. He is currently the Executive Chairperson &CEO of McCann Worldgroup India and President – South Asia.  He’s also been designated a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum. His lyrics for films like Rang De Basanti, Hum Tum, Taare Zameen Par and Delhi 6 differ from the usual cacophony of clichés and forced rhymes in their essential, simple beauty.

Preeta Bhargava

Preeta Bhargava is the first woman to be the Jail Superintendent of Rajasthan. Her works for the welfare of women and children are widely recognized. Her collection of Hindi poems include ‘Choote ghar ki deewarein’, ‘Tum ho Isiliye’ and ‘Baki Sab Khairiyat Hai’. She recently published a story - ‘Khirani ki Chanv’. Many institutions have awarded her for her exemplary efforts in the domain of women empowerment.

Premchand Gandhi

Hindi poet, writer, translator, columnist and critic Prem Chand Gandhi has been actively writing since the last 25 years. His collection of poems include ‘Is Symphony Mein’ and ‘Chaand Ke Aaaiene Mein’. Another collection of journalistic writings ‘Samskriti ka Samakaal’ has been widely acclaimed. He is currently engaged in writing a book about his visits to Pakistan.

Purushottam Agrawal

Purushottam Agrawal is a leading scholar of Kabir and Bhakti literature. His book Akath Kahani Prem Ki: Kabir ki Kavita aur Unka Samay (2009) has met with enormous critical and popular acclaim. He is a prominent public intellectual of long standing, and is especially popular as a public speaker. His latest book is Hindi Sarai: Astrakhan via Yerevan, a travelogue that has been described as a “thought-log”.

R. Sivapriya

R Sivapriya is managing editor, Penguin Books India. She specializes in translations of contemporary and classic texts from Indian languages. She published the 2012 winner of the Sahitya Akademi award for English translation: Love Stands Alone: Selections from Tamil Sangam Poetry. She’s also published a range of translations including A. Revathi’s The Truth about Me, Ranjit Hoskote’s I, Lalla, the Cybermohalla Collective’s Trickster City, Benyamin’s Goat Days, Ismat Chugtai’s A Life in Words and Makarand Sathe’s The Man Who Tried to Remember.

Rachel Dwyer

Rachel Dwyer is Professor of Indian Cinema and Cultures at SOAS, University of London.  Her research publications are mostly on Hindi cinema and she is currently completing her book ‘Bollywood’s India: the dreams of Hindi cinema's imaginary world’. Her next project is the cultural history of the Indian elephant.

Radha Chakravarty

Radha Chakravarty has co-edited The Essential Tagore, a major anthology of Tagore’s works, nominated Book of the Year 2011 by Martha Nussbaum. She is the author of Novelist Tagore: Gender and Modernity in Selected Texts and Feminism and Contemporary Women Writers, and is currently editing Shades of Difference: Selected Writings of Rabindranath Tagore for the Social Science Press. Her translations of Tagore include Chokher Bali, Gora, Boyhood Days, amongst others. She was nominated for the Crossword Translation Award, 2004.

Rahul Dravid

Rajasthan Royals captain Rahul Dravid is a cricketing legend who is regarded as one of the world’s best batsman. His spirit of hard work and dedication continue to inspire sportsmen all around the world. While his cricketing skills have earned him a great amount of accolades, Dravid is widely respected for being a humble human being and perfect role model. He is a passionate lover of books and spends a lot of his time reading about various subjects.

Rahul Pandita

Rahul Pandita is the author of the best-selling ‘Hello, Bastar: The Untold Story of India’s Maoist Movement’ (2011), and the co-author of ‘The Absent State’ (2010). In the last few years, most of his work has been focused on India’s Maoist rebellion, in Central and East India. In 2010, he received the International Red Cross award for conflict reporting. His memoir on living and leaving Kashmir titled ‘Our Moon Has Blood Clots’ will be out by the year-end.

Rajdeep Sardesai

Rajdeep Sardesai, is the Editor-in-chief of IBN network. He has over 23 years of journalistic experience in print and television. During the last 20 years, he has covered major national and international stories, specialising in national politics. He has won numerous other awards for journalistic excellence, including the prestigious Padma Shri for Journalism in 2008, the International Broadcasters award for coverage of the 2002 Gujarat riots and the Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism award for 2007.

Ranjini Obeyesekere

Ranjini Obeyesekere, Ph.D has taught in the English Departments at the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka and at the University of California, San Diego. For the last ten years she was a lecturer in Anthropology at Princeton University where she taught courses in South Asian Literature and Culture. Her published books include works on, Criticism, the Sri Lankan Theatre, Buddhist Literature in Sri Lanka, and a collection of Short Stories.

Ravi DeeCee

Ravi Deecee is a known name in the publishing industry as CEO of DC Books, first ISO Certified publishing house in India and Current Books, one of the largest retail bookstore chains in India. Besides publishing, he is also the Chief Facilitator of DC School of Management and Technology (www.dcsmat.ac.in), in Vagamon and Trivandrum, Kerala.

Ravinder Singh

Ravinder Singh is a bestselling author. His romantic novels ‘I Too had a Love Story’ and ‘Can Love happen Twice?’ have touched millions of hearts. Ravinder is an MBA from the renowned Indian School of Business – Hyderabad. At present he is working as a Sr. Program Manager at Microsoft.

Ravish Kumar

Ravish Kumar has had 16 years of experience in journalism. He hosts the daily prime time debate and weekly ‘Hum Log’ on NDTV India. Ravish loves to write in a different format and is currently involved in writing micro fiction known as Laghu Prem Katha 'Laprek' and Twittayari Ie couplets in 140 characters.

Reza Aslan

Dr. Reza Aslan is founder of AslanMedia.com, an online journal for news and entertainment about the Greater Middle East and the world. His books include the international bestseller, ‘No god but God: The Origins, Evolution’; ‘Future of Islam, How to Win a Cosmic War’, and ‘Tablet & Pen: Literary Landscapes from the Modern Middle East’.

Richard Beard

Richard Beard has published five novels including ‘X 20 A Novel of (not) Smoking’, ‘Dry Bones’ and ‘Damascus’, which was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. His latest novel is ‘Lazarus is Dead’ (2011). He is Director of The National Academy of Writing, and a judge for the inaugural Costa Short Story Award, 2012.

Richard Cable

Richard Sorabji

Professor Richard Sorabji is an Honorary Fellow of Wolfson College, Oxford, perpetual student of the history of thought and lover of India. Among the 120 books he has authored or edited two are on India: ‘Opening Doors: The Untold Story of Cornelia Sorabji, Reformer, Lawyer and Champion of Women's Rights in India’ (2010), and ‘Gandhi and the Stoics’ (2012).

Rick Simonson

Rick Simonson is co-director of an internationally renowned author reading series which he founded at Seattle's Elliott Bay Book Company in 1984. He also helps develop programs with the Gardner Center for Asian Art & Ideas at the Seattle Asian Art Museum, and is a jury member for the 2013 DSC South Asian Literature Prize.

Rima Hooja

Archaeologist, historian and writer, Dr. Rima Hooja is Member National Monuments Authority, and Director of Minnesota University’s MSID India Program. A Ph.D in Archaeology (Cambridge), and Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society, she has held several academic posts, been on various governing boards, committees and councils, and published over 90 research papers, articles and book-reviews. Books by her include Ahar Culture and Beyond; Prince, Patriot; Mandan’s “Devata-Murti-Prakarnam”; History of Rajasthan; and (co-edited with Rakesh Hooja and Rakshat Hooja) Rajpootana- Rajasthan.

Robert Darnton

Robert Darnton  has written and edited many books, including The Business of Enlightenment: A Publishing History of the Encyclopédie, The Great Cat Massacre and Other Episodes in French Cultural History, Berlin Journal, 1989-1990 and The Forbidden Best-Sellers of Prerevolutionary France.  His latest books are The Case for Books, The Devil in the Holy Water, or The Art of Slander in France from Louis XIV to Napoleon, and Poetry and the Police: Communication Networks in Eighteenth-Century Paris.

Rohini Nilekani

Rohini Nilekani spent several years as a journalist, and has written for many leading publications. Her first novel, ‘Stillborn’, a medical thriller, was published by Penguin Books. In 2008, she anchored a television show called Uncommon Ground for NDTV, which created a rare dialogue between top leaders of the corporate and social sectors in India. Penguin Books India has released a book based on the show. She is Founder-Chairperson, ARGHYAM and Pratham Books.

Roopa Patel

Dr. Roopa Patel is among the first in India to use Tarot to interpret the signs of the Zodiacs. Her book, ‘Experiencing Tarot’, is about the right understanding of Tarot. The book explains rationally how Tarot works, its history and how it connects with other new age sciences. It has some interesting real life stories of great human interest.

Ruchir Sharma

Ruchir is Head of Emerging Markets and global macro at Morgan Stanley Investment Management. He has been a contributing editor with Newsweek and has frequently penned essays for publications such as The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, New York Times, Foreign Affairs and The Economic Times. Ruchir has also authored the book, ‘Breakout Nations: In Pursuit of the Next Economic Miracles’, which is an international bestseller.

Rupleena Bose

Rupleena Bose has achieved moderate success at her lifelong ambition to do everything all at once. So when she is not teaching English Literature to unsuspecting Delhi University students, not publishing academic articles, not writing scripts for National Award winning films, she is generally found trying to squeeze it all in a short bio note.

Sadakat Kadri

Sadakat Kadri is a London-based human rights barrister who studied at Cambridge and Harvard. He has worked in several countries, most recently Syria and Myanmar; he is a past winner of the Spectator/Shiva Naipaul travel writing prize; and his most recent book was ‘Heaven on Earth: A Journey Through Shari’a Law’.

Saleem Kidwai

Saleem Kidwai, taught medieval history at Ramjas College, Delhi University. He is the co-author of Same-Sex Love in India: A Literary History, and has translated several texts from Urdu to English, including Song Sung True, a memoir of Malka Pukhraj, and Mirror of Wonders (2013), short stories by Syed Rafiq Husain.

Samanth Subramanian

Samanth Subramanian is the India correspondent for The National and the author of ‘Following Fish: Travels Around the Indian Coast’, which won the Shakti Bhatt First Book Prize in 2010. He is currently working on a book about the Sri Lankan civil war.

Sampat Saral

Sampat Saral is a Poet and Satirist. He has participated in various prestigious Hasya Kavi Sammelans. He is the Honorary Secretary of Raskalash, an institution devoted to promote Indian art, culture and literature. His two albums include: ‘Haas Parihaas’ (Humour & Satire) and ‘Maru Thare Desh Me’. He has also written title songs of several TV serials.

Sandip Roy

Sandip Roy is the culture editor of Firstpost.com from Network18. He is a commentator for National Public Radio in the US and blogs on Huffington Post. He is part of the new anthology Out! Stories from the New Queer India and was editor of Trikone, the world’s oldest magazine on LGBT South Asian issues for over a decade. He currently lives in Kolkata.

Sanjoy Roy

Sanjoy Roy established Teamwork Films in 1998 producing a range of film and television programmes, including drama and lifestyle. Sanjoy has been the Festival Director for Indian Performing Arts in the UK, Singapore, and Australia & New Zealand. The company has programmed arts festivals extensively in collaboration with The Edinburgh International and Fringe Festival; India Festivals in USA and Canada; Egypt and; South Africa. Sanjoy produces The Jaipur Literature Festival running into its 6th edition this year - the largest literary festival in the Asia-Pacific.

Santiago Roncagliolo

Santiago Roncagliolo has been selected by Granta magazine among the best young Spanish language novelists. His novel ‘Red April’ received the Hispanic Alfaguara Prize and the British Independent Prize for Foreign Fiction. It has been translated to 18 languages. He has also written biographies of Latin American figures, which have raised big debates and even censorship.

Saraswati Mathur

Dr. Saraswati Mathur is an eminent writer, poet, educationist, social activist and editor of magazines. Her books on poetry and biotechnology have been published by State Academies. She is a regular contributor of poems, stories and articles in leading national newspapers and magazines. She is a part of regular programs on Doordarshan and Akashwani.

Sebastian Faulks

Sebastian Faulks is one of Britain's best loved literary novelists. His most recent book is ‘A Possible Life’, which was published in September 2012. Among his other books are ‘Birdsong’, which has sold more than three million copies; ‘Human Traces’ and ‘A Week in December’. He was appointed CBE for services to literature in 2002.

Selma Dabbagh

Selma Dabbagh is a British Palestinian writer of fiction based in London. Her first novel, ‘Out of It,’ (Bloomsbury, 2011) has been listed as a Guardian Book of the Year in 2011 and 2012. Her short stories have appeared in anthologies published by Granta, International PEN and the British Council. She was the 2005 English PEN nominee for the David TK Wong Short Story Award. She is currently working on a second novel about expatriate living.

www.selmadabbagh.com

Sethu Madhavan

A prominent writer in Malayalam with 37 titles to his credit, Sethu has won the Sahitya Akademi and other major awards. Many of his works have been translated into other languages. Four have been filmed including one in Bengali. A professional banker, he was the Chairman of the South Indian Bank and now he is the Chairman of the National Book Trust.

Shabana Azmi

A highly acclaimed actress, Shabana Azmi has acted in more than 140 Hindi films and several International films. She has won the National Award for Best Actress five times. She is also a very respected social activist and works for the rights of women, particularly the girl child, housing rights for slum dwellers, and is a vocal upholder of India's secular liberal values. Shabana was the first Indian to receive the Gandhi International Peace Prize 2006 by Gandhi Foundation London. She was nominated to the Rajya Sabha by the President of India and is recipient of the Padma Bhushan.

Shahid Malik

Mr. Shahid Malik recently relinquished the office of High Commissioner to India. During the course of his career, he has served in various diplomatic assignments abroad and at the Headquarters. These include Tokyo, Rome, Washington, twice in New Delhi and as High Commissioner to Canada, Ambassador to Venezuela, Guyana and Trinidad.

At Headquarters, Mr. Malik served as Additional Foreign Secretary, Director General and Director. He has been participating in the Jaipur LitFest for a number of years.

Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy

Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy is an Academy Award and Emmy Award winning documentary filmmaker. Her recent films include ‘Saving Face’, ‘Transgenders: Pakistan’s Open Secret’ and ‘Pakistan’s Taliban Generation’. Sharmeen has made over a dozen-multi award winning films and is the first non-American to be awarded the Livingston Award for best international reporting. In 2012, Time Magazine included her in the annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world.

Sharmila Tagore

Sharmila has won several awards for her performances and was honoured by the Government of France in 1999, and presented the ‘Officier de L’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres’ (Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters). Sharmila supports socio-cultural and community projects like KATHA, an organization for under-privileged women and children that translates regional literature into English. In December 2005 she was chosen as UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador and has led the Censor Board of India.

Shashi Tharoor

State for Human Resources Development, an elected member of the Indian Parliament, Dr. Shashi Tharoor straddles several worlds of experience is the prize-winning author of 12 books. These are fiction and non-fiction and include India: From Midnight to the Millennium (1997), Nehru: The Invention of India (2003), The Elephant, the Tiger and the Cellphone: Reflections on India in the 21^st Century (2007) and most recently Pax Indica: India &the World of the 21^st Century. He was awarded the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman, and numerous literary awards, including a Commonwealth Writers’ Prize.

Shauna Singh Baldwin

Montreal-born award-winning author Shauna Singh Baldwin’s fiction includes ‘What the Body Remembers’, ‘The Tiger Claw’, ‘We Are Not in Pakistan’, and ‘English Lessons & Other Stories’. In her sixth book, ‘The Selector of Souls’, set in 1990s India, a Hindu woman and a novice nun find ways to remould sustaining traditions so baby girl’s will be born. www.ShaunaSinghBaldwin.com

Sheen Kaaf Nizam

Sheen Kaaf  Nizam is eminent urdu poet and critic. Nizam has eight collections of poetry, four books of criticism and nine books edited works. Some of his important publications include Lamhon Ki Saleeb , Naad , Dasht Mein Dariya, Saaya Koi Lamba Na Tha, Tazkira Ma’aasir Sho’ra, Lafz Dar Lafz amongst others. He has translated poetry from different languages and won many honours and Nationational awards.

Sheniz Janmohamed

Sheniz Janmohamed is spoken word artist, author and graduate of the MFA in Creative Writing program at the University of Guelph, Canada. She has performed at various conferences and festivals in Toronto, Vancouver and Kenya. Her first book, ‘Bleeding Light’, is a collection of poems in ghazal form that traces the steps of a woman’s journey through night.

www.shenizjanmohamed.com

Shobhaa De

Shobhaa De's seventeen books include the bestsellers, ‘Socialite Evening’, ‘Starry Nights’, ‘Spouse’ and ‘Superstar India’. A widely read columnist in leading publications, she is known for her outspoken views, making her one of India's most respected opinion shapers. De lives in Mumbai with her family.

Shoma Chaudhury

Shoma Chaudhury is Managing Editor, Tehelka. In 2000, she left Outlook to join Tarun Tejpal, and was among the team that started Tehelka.com. Shoma has written extensively on several areas of conflict in India – people vs State; the Maoist insurgency, the Muslim question, and issues of capitalist development and land grab. She has won several awards, including the Ramnath Goenka Award and the Chameli Devi Award for the most outstanding woman journalist in 2009. In 2011, Newsweek (USA) picked her as one of 150 power women who “shake the world”. In May 2012, she also won the Mumbai Press Club Award for best political reporting.

Siddiq Wahid

Siddiq Wahid is a political historian and Director of the UNESCO Madanjeet Singh Institute of Kashmir Studies at the University of Kashmir. In the last eighteen years he has been an activist for resolution of the Kashmir dispute and participated in several Track II initiatives on the subject. He is currently working on a history of the composite State of Jammu & Kashmir between 1835 and 1947, writing a monograph on Islam in the Tibetan-speaking world and finalizing his translation of an oral version of the Tibeto-Himalayan epic, the ‘Gling Kesar’.

Simon Armitage

Simon Armitage is Professor of Poetry at the University of Sheffield.  He has published twelve full collections of poetry as well as memoir, fiction, and two critically acclaimed translations of medieval epics.  He also writes for radio, television, film and theatre, and in 2012 conceived and curated Poetry Parnassus – the world’s largest ever international poetry festival.  In 2011, he received the CBE for services to poetry.

Simon Singh

Simon Singh is a science writer who lives in London. After completing a PhD in particle physics at CERN and Cambridge University, he joined the BBC and produced science TV programmes, such as Tomorrow’s World and Horizon. His books include ‘Fermat’s Last Theorem’, ‘Big Bang’ and ‘Trick or Treatment?’.

Sirish Rao

Sirish Rao is the author of 20 books ranging from commentaries on popular culture to children's books, fiction and retellings of Greek plays. He is the former Director of the award-winning visual arts publisher Tara Books. Sirish now lives between Canada and India and is the Director of Idefix & Co., a publishing and arts and culture consultancy. He is also the Artistic Director of the Indian Summer Festival - an annual festival of arts and ideas in Vancouver, Canada - that is produced in partnership with Teamwork Productions.

Sitanshu Yashaschandra

Sitanshu Yashaschandra is an eminent Gujarati poet, playwright, critical theorist and cultural historian. He has been invited to several countries to read from his creative work and to participate in conferences on literature and culture. He has received many awards, some of which include; the Sahitya Akademi Award, Ranjeetram Suvarna Chandrak, Narmad Chandrak (Gujarat), National Integration Award (Delhi) and Padmashree.

Smita Tewari Jassal

Prof. Smita Tewari Jassal teaches Anthropology at the Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Turkey, and is Visiting Fellow at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, Delhi. Her book, ‘Unearthing Gender: Folksongs of North India’ based on the ethnographic analysis of folksongs, explores questions of gender and power. She is the author of ‘Daughters of the Earth: Women and Land in Uttar Pradesh’ and co-editor of ‘The Partition Motif in Contemporary Conflicts’.

Sonam Dorji

Sonam Dorji is a master musician, vocalist, and composer who plays several instruments native to Bhutan and India. He has released a string of hit rigsar (Bhutanese pop) albums and composed the first-ever nationally broadcast song in Khengpa, his native language, which earned him the name Kheng Sonam Dorji. International audiences know Sonam through his soundtrack contributions to the acclaimed Bhutanese film, ‘Travellers and Magicians’ (2004) and his appearances at the Smithsonians Festival of American Folklife.

Sudeep Chakravarti

Sudeep Chakravarti is the author of two critically acclaimed works of narrative non-fiction, ‘Red Sun: Travels in Naxalite Country’ and ‘Highway 39: Journeys through a Fractured Land’. He also writes fiction (including the best-selling ‘Tin Fish’, and its sequel, ‘The Avenue of Kings’). He is also a professional member of the World Future Society, and along with fellow scuba divers started Coastal Impact, a marine conservation NGO.

Suhel Seth

Suhel Seth is the Founder and Managing Partner of Counselage India. Suhel has several passions: he is a regular speaker at industry meets; is a lecturer at various Institutes of management. Suhel has co-authored two books on Calcutta with Khushwant Singh and R K Laxman and his last book was Get to the Top.

Sujata Chaterjee

Sujata is visiting faculty at JNU, teaching German interpretation and translation to BA and MA students. She is a German interpreter/translator and researcher. She has traveled for research and documentation of Buddhist sites in Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Russia, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Indonesia, as well as mosques in Malaysia and Hindu temples in Mauritius.

Suman Bissa

Dr. Suman Bissa is a major literary figure of Rajasthan. Her favourite genres are poetry and childrens literature. She is associated with several literary organisations including the Rajasthan Sahitya Akademi and the Rajasthani Salahkaar Samiti of Kandriya Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi. At present, she is an associate Professor at the Hindi Department of Mahila Mahavidyalay, Jodhpur.

Supriya Nair

Supriya Nair is a journalist from Bombay, who writes about books, publishing, culture and urban life. Her work has appeared in Verve and Open magazines. She is currently a writer with Mint newspaper.

Suresh K Goel

Suresh K Goel, is currently Director General of Indian Council for Cultural Relations, which is the pre eminent institution engaged in cultural diplomacy and sponsor of intellectual exchanges between India and other countries. He has served in various diplomatic positions in Indian Missions in Singapore, Malaysia, China, Egypt and South Africa. He has also served at Permanent Mission of India to UN in New York. He headed UN efforts on removal of Apartheid structure in South Africa. He also dealt with all UN reforms in the General Assembly and the Security Council as well as the “Agenda for Peace” proposed by Boutros Ghali.

Suresh Menon

Suresh Menon, author and columnist, is one of the world's most respected cricket writers. He was one of India's youngest newspaper editors (New Indian Express). His books include ‘Bishan: Portrait of a Cricketer’, ‘Champions: How the World Cup was Won’ and ‘Sachin, Genius Unplugged’ (Edited). He is currently editor, Wisden India Almanack, the 'Bible of cricket'.

Surina Narula

Surina Narula graduated in Economics (Hons) from Delhi University and got a Masters in Social Anthropology from University College London. She received the Asian of the Year Award in 2006 for her dedication to philanthropic causes. She is a fund raiser and is best known for her work in supporting street children worldwide as President of the Consortium for Street Children (a network of 80 organisations in 130 countries).

Susanne and Lloyd Rudolph

Susanne Hoeber Rudolph is Professor of Political Science Emerita, the University of Chicago, and past President of the American Political Science Association and of the Association for Asian Studies. She is a co-author of Reversing the Gaze, one of her many books on Indian politics, society and culture and on Rajasthan. Lloyd Rudolph is Professor of Political Science Emeritus, University of Chicago. He too has written extensively on India, the most recent being the co-authored three volume Explaining Indian Democracy and Postmodern Gandhi and Other Essays: Gandhi in the World and at Home.

Sushila Shivran

Sushila Shivran is an educator by profession and a writer by passion. She is currently teaching at Suncity World School, Gurgaon. Her literary works have been published in various national and international Hindi journals. She is compassionately involved with NGOs such as ‘Cry’ and ‘Help Age India’.

Swapan Dasgupta

Swapan Dasgupta’s writings are centred on unpopular and quirky causes: a deregulated economy, Curzonian foreign policy, writing of narrative history, Raj nostalgia and an England that no longer exists. Perceived by the Left as belonging to the Right, he is regarded by India’s Right as a friendly oddity and a heretical nationalist.

Swati Chopra

Swati Chopra has written five books that explore spirituality and religion in contemporary contexts. These are: ‘Women Awakened’, ‘Dharamsala Diaries’, ‘Sadhus and Shamans’, ‘Himalayan Art’, and ‘Buddhism: On the Path to Nirvana’. She received a fellowship from the Foundation for Universal Responsibility of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to research gender and spirituality for ‘Women Awakened’.

Website: www.swatichopra.com

Syed Shahid Mahdi

Syed Shahid Mahdi did his MA with a  First class in History from Aligarh Muslim University( AMU ) and taught for four years respectively at AMU and as one of the founding faculty at Kurukshetra University. He joined Indian Administrative Service (IAS) in 1963 and served on various posts in Bihar and Government of India. Later he joined FAO of the United Nations, Rome. He was Vice Chancellor of Jamia Millia Islamia,New Delhi a Central University . He is a member of several Universities' Committees and of the Governing Body of Katha.

Syeda Hameed

Dr. Syeda Hameed is a feminist and writer. Her major publications include- ‘They Hang: 12 Women in My Portrait Gallery’, ‘My Voice Shall be Heard: Status of Muslim Women’, ‘Dr. Zakir Husain: Teacher Who Became President’ amongst others. She is recognized for writing reviews for films, which are published in different national newspapers. Dr. Hameed is currently Member of the Planning Commission.  She is the founder member of the Muslim Women’s Forum and a Founder Trustee of the Women’s Initiative for Peace in South Asia.

Tahar ben Jelloun

Tahar ben Jelloun is one of France’s most celebrated writers. His first novel, ‘Harrouda’, was published in 1973. Since then, he has written numerous novels, short stories, poetry, and essays. He is perhaps best known for his trilogy: ‘The Sand Child’ (1985); ‘The Sacred Night’ (1987: for which he received the prestigious French literary prize, the Goncourt, making him the first Maghreb author to do so); and ‘The Wrong Night’ (1997).

Tania James

Tania James is the author of the novel ‘Atlas of Unknowns’, which was a finalist for the DSC Prize in South Asian Literature, and ‘Aerogrammes’, a collection of stories.  Her essays and stories have appeared in Granta, Boston Review, The Kenyon Review, The New York Times, and elsewhere.  She was a Fulbright fellow to India from 2011-2012.

Taranand Viyogi

Taranand Viyogi, is a literary stalwart from Mithila. His published works include: ‘Buddha ka dukh aur mera’, ‘Hastkchep’, ‘Pralay rahasya’,  ‘Apan yuddhak sakshya’ (Poetry), amongst others. He has been awarded the Sahitya Akademi’s Baal Sahitya Puraskar for ‘Ee Bhetal tan ki bhetal’; Yatri Chetna Samman and Kiran Puraskar for his body of work; and the Muktibodh Puraskar for poetry.

Tarun Das

Tarun Das has dedicated his professional career to the development and promotion of Indian Industry. He is a member of several Government of India bodies under the aegis of Ministry of Finance, Planning Commission, Ministry of Human Resources Development, Ministry of External Affairs, and Ministry of Culture. He is also a member of Kerala State Planning Board, Government of Kerala. He is also associated with several Indian and International institutions and bodies some of which include: Council on Energy Environment and Water (CEEW), World Wildlife Fund - India (WWF), Public Interest Foundation (PIF), Sasakawa India Leprosy Foundation (SILF) amongst others.

Tarun Tejpal

Tarun Tejpal has been an editor with the India Today and the Indian Express groups, and the managing editor of Outlook. He is the founder of Tehelka - which has garnered international fame for its aggressive public interest journalism. Tarun's debut novel, ‘The Alchemy of Desire’, was hailed by the Sunday Times as “an impressive and memorable debut”. Tarun’s new novel, ‘The Valley of Masks’, has been long listed for the Man Asia Booker.

Tejas Modak

Tejas Modak is a Pune based writer and graphic artist. His first graphic novel Private-eye Anonymous was published by Westland in 2008. Animal Palette, his second graphic book where he collaborated as artist was published in 2011 by Akruti Books and nominated for Best Graphic Novel at the Comic Con India Awards.

Tim Parks

Tim Parks studied at Cambridge and Harvard before moving permanently to Italy in 1981. Author of three bestselling books on Italy, and fourteen novels, including the Booker short-listed ‘Europa’, he has translated works by  Alberto Moravia, Italo Calvino, Roberto Calasso and, most recently, Niccolò  Machiavelli. His non-fiction works include ‘Translating Style’, ‘Medici Money’, and most recently, ‘Teach Us to Sit Still’.

Tim Supple

Tim Supple has created theatre throughout the world. His work with the RSC, the National Theatre and the Young Vic led to his reputation as “the leading storyteller in British Theatre” (Financial Times). His multi-lingual ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’, created for Dash Arts in India, was a world-wide success and acclaimed as  ‘the most life-enhancing production of Shakespeare’s play since Peter Brook’s” (Guardian).

Timothy Garton Ash

Timothy Garton Ash is the author of nine books of political writing which have charted the transformation of Europe over the last thirty years. He is Professor of European Studies in the University of Oxford, Isaiah Berlin Professorial Fellow at St Antony’s College, Oxford, and a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. His most recent book is ’Facts are Subversive: Political Writing from a Decade without a Name’. He is currently leading a major Oxford University project on global freedom of expression in the internet age: www.freespeechdebate.com

Tishani Doshi

Tishani Doshi is an award-winning poet and writer. She has published two collections of poetry – ‘Countries of the Body’ and ‘Everything Begins Elsewhere’. In 2010 she published her first novel, ‘The Pleasure Seekers’, which has been translated into six languages. Since 2001 she has worked as the lead dancer with the Chandralekha troupe in Madras. www.tishanidoshi.com

Tom Holland

Tom Holland is the author of ‘Rubicon’, ‘Persian Fire’ and ‘Millennium’, all of which explore dramatic moments in the history of ancient imperialism. His newest book, ‘In the Shadow of the Sword’, covers the emergence of Islam. His translation of Herodotus for Penguin Classics will come out later this year.

Uday Prakash

Uday Prakash is one of contemporary Hindi’s most important voices. He has published several volumes of poetry and fiction, published over the past twenty-five years. Uday is also a freelance writer and journalist, a filmmaker of documentaries, feature films and television series, and a playwright. He divides his time between New Delhi and Sitapur in Madhya Pradesh.

Udaya Narayana Singh

Udaya Narayana Singh is a poet-linguist, and has published three collections of poems and six books of essays in Bangla, and three anthologies of poems plus eleven plays in Maithili - besides translating six and editing 16 books with over 180 research papers in Linguistics. He lectured and read poems in numerous countries, and had been a Poet-invitee at the Frankfurt Book Fair (2006) and London Book Fair (2009).

Upamanyu Chatterjee

Upamanyu Chatterjee was born in 1959. He joined the Indian Administrative Service in 1983. His published works include short stories and the novels English, August: An Indian Story (1988), The Last Burden (1993), The Mammaries of the Welfare State (2000), which won the Sahitya Akademi Award for writing in English, and Weight Loss (2006). In 2008, he was awarded the Order of Officier des Arts et des Lettres by the French Government for his contribution to literature.

Urvashi Butalia

Urvashi Butalia is a publisher and writer. Co-founder of Kali for Women, India's first feminist publishing house, she is now Director of Zubaan, an imprint of Kali. Among her published works are ‘Speaking Peace: Women's Voices from Kashmir’ (edited) and the award winning history of Partition, ‘The Other Side of Silence: Voices from the Partition of India’.

V.K. Karthika

Karthika is a Publisher & Chief Editor of HarperCollins India

Vayu Naidu

Vayu’s work with oral storytellers of diverse traditions forms her research and inspiration that continues into fiction. Her special interest is in transposition of cultural sensibilities while reimagining epic and classical literature with a focus on character and intention. Her workshop is to alchemise different sources of tales – folk, tribal, epic and reveal how contemporary they are with the premise that: Stories of the past are significant in creating meaning of our present. Vayu Naidu is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and a Member of the Institute of Journalism, writes an arts feature for The Hindu.

Vera Michalski

Vera Michalski-Hoffmann is the publisher of the Libella group that comprises the following imprints: In France : Buchet/Chastel, Phébus, Le temps apprivoisé, les Cahiers dessinés, Libretto. In Switzerland : Noir sur Blanc, with a new line called Notabilia, Editions Favre. In Poland: Oficyna Literacka Noir sur Blanc.

She owns also owns in France 2 imprints specialised in photography :Editions Robert Delpire and éditions Photosynthèses  and in Poland Wydawnictwo Literackie. Among our authors familiar of the Jaipur literary festival  : William Dalrymple, Tarun Tejpal, Orhan Pamuk, Tishani Doshi,Gurcharan Das and Kiran Desai.

Vibha Rani

Vibha Rani is a national level writer, playwright & theatre performer of two Indian Languages- Hindi & Maithili. She has published more than fifteen books and translated seven books of three Maithili Sahitya Akademi Award Winner writers. A nationally acclaimed theatre actor, specialized in solo performance, Vibha is continuously doing theatre in & around the world.

Victor Chan

Victor Chan is the author of the ‘Tibet Handbook: A Pilgrimage Guide’ (1994). Chan co-authored the ‘Wisdom of Forgiveness: Intimate Conversations and Travels’ (2004) with HH the Dalai Lama, a book shortlisted for the Nautilus Prize, New York. His new book also co-authored with the Dalai Lama, ‘The Wisdom of Compassion: Stories of Remarkable Encounters and Timeless Insights’, will be published by Riverhead in January, 2013. victorchanbooks.org

Vikas Swarup

Diplomat and novelist Vikas Swarup is the author of Q&A, which was filmed as the Oscar-winning ‘Slumdog Millionaire’, ‘Six Suspects’, and ‘The Accidental Apprentice’, which will be launched at the Jaipur Literature Festival. His novels have been translated into more than 40 languages.

Vikram Sampath

Vikram Sampath is the author of three acclaimed books ‘Splendours of Royal Mysore: the untold story of the Wodeyars’, ‘My name is Gauhar Jaan!: the life and times of a musician’ and ‘Voice of the Veena: S Balachander, a biography’. The book on Gauhar Jaan won him the Sahitya Akademi’s first Yuva Puraskar in the English Category in 2011 as well as the ARSC International Award for Excellence in Historical Research. A trained classical vocalist, Vikram is the Founder of the ‘Archive of Indian Music’ and the Bangalore Literature Festival (BLF).

Website: www.vikramsampath.com

Wade Davis

An Explorer-in-Residence at the National Geographic Society, Wade Davis has been described as “a rare combination of scientist, scholar, poet and passionate defender of all of life’s diversity.” Author of 17 books he holds degrees in anthropology and biology and received his Ph.D. in ethnobotany, all from Harvard University. ‘Into the Silence: The Great War, Mallory and the Conquest of Everest’ received the 2012 Samuel Johnson Prize for non-fiction.

William Dalrymple

William Dalrymple is the author of nine books about India and the Islamic world, including City of Djinns (Thomas Cook Travel Book Award and Sunday Times Young British Writer of the Year Prize), White Mughals (Wolfson Prize for History and SAC Scottish Book of the Year Prize), The Last Mughal (Duff Cooper Prize and Crossword/ Vodafone Award for Non-Fiction) and Nine Lives: In Search of the Sacred in Modern India (Asia House Literary Award). He recently curated a major show of Late Mughal art for the Asia Society in New York, Princes and Painters in Mughal Delhi 1707-1857. His new book, Return of a King: The Battle for Afghanistan 1839-42 was published to acclaim in December. He writes regularly for the New Yorker, the New York Review of Books and the Guardian, and is one of the founders and a co-director of the Jaipur Literary Festival. He has honorary doctorates of letters from the universities of St Andrews, Aberdeen, Bradford and Lucknow, and in September took up a visiting fellowship at Princeton.

William Kentridge

The South African artist William Kentridge is internationally acclaimed for his drawings, films, theatre and opera productions. His work draws on varied sources to create a complex universe where good and evil are complementary and inseparable forces, transforming sobering political events into powerful poetic allegories, which confront social injustice, revolutionary politics and the power of creative expression.

Yasmeen Premji

Born and raised in erstwhile Bombay, now Mumbai, Yasmeen Premji graduated from St.Xavier’s College, before completing her master’s degree from Smith College in the USA.  She has always been interested in writing and her first short story was published when she was seventeen.  She worked as an assistant editor for the Indian design magazine, ‘Inside Outside’, for many years before moving with her husband Azim to Bangalore, which she now calls home. Her first novel, Days of Gold and Sepia, was longlisted for the Tata First Book Award, 2012

Yiyun Li

Yiyun Li’s debut collection, ‘A Thousand Years of Good Prayers’, won the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award, the Guardian First Book Award, the PEN/Hemingway Award, among others. Her recent collection, ‘Gold Boy, Emerald Girl’, was shortlisted for the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award and was a finalist of the Story Prize.

Zac O’Yeah

Zac O’Yeah worked in the theatre and music business in Sweden until he retired early, at the age of 25, to come to India. He has published twelve books ranging from bestselling crime fiction to history and travelogue, and translated Indian literature. ‘Once Upon a Time in Scandinavistan’ (2010) and ‘Mr. Majestic! The Tout of Bengaluru’ (2012) have been published by Hachette India. www.zacoyeah.com

Zakia Zaheer

Zakia Zaheer is an Urdu writer, Translator and is in theatre production. She has scripted, directed and conceptualized many plays and productions including ‘Dastaan e Purani Dilli’ and ‘Purani Dilli Sawan Mein’ in a new genre, with music, dance and audiovisuals. Her real passion is in Urdu Poetry.

Zoe Heller

Zoe Heller is the author of three novels, ‘Everything You Know’, ‘Notes on a Scandal’ and ‘The Believers’. Heller’s work as a journalist and critic has appeared in the New Yorker magazine, the New York Review of Books, the London Review of Books, and the New York Times.