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I am a journalist with The Hindu, with 14 years of experience in feature writing. I enjoy writing about everyday people, and my career-defining pieces have been about Chennai’s fishing community. I was born and raised in Coimbatore, and spent a few years in Chennai, working at the head office.I have two children aged 4 and 8 who love stories—Iventured into children’s writing for them, since as their primary story-teller, I am constantly making up stories.
The Hindu Publications brought out a compilation of my worktitled ‘Seaside Stories’ in 2023. It consists of pieces from myfortnightly column on Chennai’s fisherfolk, that ran for over a year in MetroPlus, the newspaper’s features supplement. ‘Seaside Stories’ was launched at the Ripon Building in Chennai on May 30, 2023 by Mayor R Priya in the presence of representatives from the fishing community.
The Lost Elephant and The Soul Treewas inspired by my visits to elephant camps in the Western Ghats for work. I have written several features about elephants, interacting with scientists and wildlife experts on man-animal conflict. The story is an ode to the gentle giants.
My second chapter book for children is in submission with publishers. I am now working on my third novel, thinking up more story ideas for children and adults as I write.
Aparna Jaishankar is a storyteller, educator, and performer with a background as a corporate trainer and a deep curiosity for the arts. Drawing on her expertise in History, Languages, Ethics, and Cultural Perspectives, she creates thought-provoking modules for educators and engaging performances for audiences of all ages. Her true passion lies in exploring Indic Mythology through a contemporary lens.
Aparna’s storytelling sessions for young audiences are vibrant and immersive—often laced with puzzles, riddles, and mystery trails that invite children to become part of the narrative while sparking curiosity and wonder.
Bhavana is a Childrens' book illustrator based in Bangalore. She holds a Master's Degree in Visual Communication from Srishti Manipal Institute of Art, Design and Technology, Bangalore. She transitioned into the world of children's illustration after working as a Big Data Engineer.
Her illustrations often have a dash of colors and warmth in them. Having grown up in a multicultural neighbourhood, her illustrations involve diverse cultures, food, festivals, inclusivity and nuanced everyday moments of joy. She loves drawing things that are whimsical in nature and those which involve animals too.
Apart from illustrating books, she works on illustrating book covers and concept illustrations.
Devashish Makhija is a poet, author, graphic artist, screenwriter and filmmaker. He has written and directed the multiple Filmfare Award-winning Joram, the National Award-winning Bhonsle and the internationally acclaimed Ajji, alongwith several multiply-awarded short films.
Makhija has had his own solo show of graphic-verse Occupying Silence, has written the bestselling children's books When Ali Became Bajrangbali, Why Paploo was perplexed, We are the dancing forest, and Go Go Flamingo!; a critically acclaimed collection of 49 short stories Forgetting, the multiple-award-winning YA novel Oonga, and the collection of poetry Bewilderness. He has been widely published by the Sahitya Akademi, Harper-Collins, Penguin, Akashic, Red River, Tulika, Scholastic, and many others.
Janaki Sabesh writes, performs and lives through stories. Her distinctive and authentic style of blending narration, music and movement is loved by children, youngsters, corporate professionals, teachers and everyone alike. Janaki’s engagement with children began when she produced an audio cassette “The Learning Train” (1995) simplifying the world of numbers through stories and songs.
A multi-faceted creative professional who wears many hats—and loves every bit of it! Janaki is an accomplished actor with over 30 films in Tamil and a few in Telugu and Malayalam, a voice-over and theatre artist, an experienced marketer, facilitator, and professional speaker. She’s also a happy Chief Fun Officer at her storytelling initiative 'Golpo Tales'—with 'Golpo' meaning 'story' in Bengali.
She curates and facilitates workshops on effective story-telling techniques in communication and marketing, for educators, corporates and many professional networks. She is a visiting faculty at Great Lakes Institute of Management where she teaches various aspects of storytelling as part of Corporate Learning and Development.
A simple question from a child during one of her sessions prompted Janaki to write her first picture book ‘The Jungle Storytelling Festival’ published by Tulika Books, available in 9 languages . Her second picture book is titled ‘Paati’s Rasam’, which she has co-authored with her daughter Dhwani Sabesh, is published by Karadi Tales. ‘Paati’s Rasam’ won the 2023 National Jarul Book Award, that recognises Indian picture books. Her third book is a multi-format one, titled ‘Appu the thirsty crow’ published by Crea-Play. Her recent picture book is ‘Mugi and the Rainbow’ published by DC Books.
She is currently a contributor to Tinkle magazine, where her ‘Naanu Paati’ stories are featured every quarter. She has also written short stories on request for Parent Circle magazine.
Janaki has curated multiple stories and monologues that she performs for adult audiences. Some of the notable ones are “The Other Sita”, “Agni”, “Discovering Kodhai,” “4pm coffee call” , “Nila”, to name a few. She also brings people together through intimate storytelling experiences around personal tales, food, music and nostalgia.
She believes : “A story told from the heart will always win more hearts”.
Janani Murali is a performer, educator, researcher, and freelance writer based in Bangalore, India. She is the Associate Director of the Padmalaya Dance Foundation and an Executive Member of the International Dance Alliance, Bangalore Chapter.
Janani’s artistic journey traverses both traditional and contemporary forms of performance, dance education, and practice. She has received several awards in recognition of her contributions to the field.
She uses dance as a medium to convey the deeper meanings of our Itihasas and Puranas, and as a powerful tool to engage with and address socio-cultural complexities. Her research into the creative process and her UNBOXED performance-as-pedagogy series explore embodied methodologies and storytelling as a tool to influence mainstream educational spaces.
Meet Jyothi - a Montessori teacher who loves crafting. When she’s not training teachers, she’s probably plotting her next glitter explosion. Equal parts educator and artist, she turns every lesson into a hands-on masterpiece and believes that the best way to learn is with your heart, your hands and a little bit of glue.
Kasturi is a quintessential classic case of a right-brainer who got lost in that grey goofy world of left-brain and who has struggled to be back into this glaring glorious creative turf.
She started her career after Engineering as a number cruncher, database administer and a digital analyst and then it took her an MBA and an innovation degree from Stanford University,San Francisco to finally drop her in user experience and interface design space which she is passionate about. Today she works as lead designer in an Argentinian firm called Globant and in parallel also runs her own branding and designing venture.
In the creative arena, she juggles her interests between poetry , theatre, designing and Tabla . She is a professional tabla player and has accompanied Trupti in Atta Galata a couple of times.
Talking about poetry, Sun-struck mornings, rainy afternoons, starry nights of poetry doesn’t strike Kasturi as a disciplined poet who writes regularly and publishes her poems frequently. It's just that the humble platforms like 'Let poetry be' and the love and motivation that she gets from fellow poets in Atta Galata, that keeps her beautiful and secret journey with words alive. Her twist in the tail poems are something to look out for.
Niyatee Sharma is a children’s author based in Bengaluru. An interior architect by training; Niyatee combines her love for writing and her expertise in design to create much loved books for children.
Some of her books are featured in the Parag Honour List, Toka Box top South Asian picture book awards, Jarul book award long list and Green Lit Fest long list.
She is usually found tending to her vegetable garden, exploring the green pockets of her city or curled up with a book and her adorable cat.
Priya Kuriyan is a Children's book writer-illustrator and comics maker and chronic doodler. She has directed educational films for the Sesame street show (India) and the Children's Film Society of India (CFSI) and has illustrated numerous children's books for various Indian publishers. She lives and works in the city of Bangalore and in her spare time likes to make funny caricatures of its residents.
Purnima Ramakrishnan writes for both grown-ups and children. Her work has appeared in The Huffington Post, Shot@Life, and the Gates Foundation’s Impatient Optimists. But what she enjoys most is writing for young readers, stories that invite laughter, spark, reflection and sometimes leave a quiet pause behind.
Purnima didn’t always write stories. She studied electronics and began her career in the automotive industry. Then one day, she started listening closely to the real stories people live every day. That listening led her to writing, and writing took her to places she had never imagined. From Brazil, as a fellow of the International Reporting Project, to the United Nations stage, where she received the Elizabeth Neuffer Prize for her reporting, her everyday stories helped bring distant lives into a shared narrative.
She is also a Heartfulness meditation trainer, and her practice continues to shape the calm, thoughtful voice of her writing. She believes that telling stories and listening to them has the power to change us, slowly at first, then all at once.
Shreya is the author of Muddy Feet Raya, published by Tulika Books. Her work focuses on nurturing children’s connection to nature and sparking conversations about the human relationship with the wider world, whether it’s the environment, animals, or everything unseen that shapes our lives. She believes in the power of stories to inspire empathy, curiosity, and responsibility in young readers.
Shreya is a children’s author whose work celebrates the wonder of the natural world and our place within it. Her debut book, Muddy Feet Raya with Tulika Publishers, invites young readers to explore the magic of small creatures and hidden corners of nature. Passionate about how humans interact with the world beyond us, from spider webs to forests, she weaves curiosity and care into stories she tells.
Trupti is a materials engineer by profession and founder of the start-up Earthworks, wherein she is developing sustainable materials during the day to combat plastic pollution. While at home, she creates a lot of noise pollution by constantly lecturing her 9 year old son and at times her husband!
She was born in Baroda, brought up in Mumbai, studied in the UK and finally settled down in Bangalore.
Her tryst with poetry started during her school days, when she expressed her undying love for cricket in the form of a poem. Over the years, her limericks grew into full bodied verses. A closet poet for years, she finally published her poems in an anthology named " Solitude and other obsessions" in the year 2017.
Her poems have been published in literary journals like efiction India, Taj Mahal Review and Coffee Shop Poems. She has also been a regular performer at "Let Poetry Be" events at Atta Galatta.