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Aditya Tiwari is an award-winning poet and broadcaster. He is the author of the poetry collections All That’s Left Behind and April is Lush, as well as the widely praised anthology Over the Rainbow: India’s Queer Heroes. He is a recipient of the India-UK Achievers Award at the UK Parliament’s House of Lords and a finalist for the Toto Award for Creative Writing. Born in Jabalpur in central India, he is one of the country’s few openly gay poets. A former BBC producer and host of the BBC’s Voices series on men’s mental health, he has regularly appeared on BBC Newsbeat (Radio 1, 1Xtra, Asian Network) and BBC Radio 4 in the UK. He has led a life that has hopscotched across America, Britain, and Europe.
Thomas, A.J.: Indian English poet, translator and editor with more than 20 books. He has two poetry collections in English and in Hindi translation, respectively. His poems have been featured in more than ten international and national anthologies. He has edited more than ten books of poems of various poets besides anthologies. He has edited, in various capacities, Indian Literature, the bi-monthly English Journal of the Sahitya Akademi (The National Academy of Letters, India), for about eighteen years in three stints. He is the Co-ordinating Editor for Malayalam, in Tamil Nadu government’s project ‘Disathorum Draavidam,’ for translation of literature books from Tamil to English and other Indian languages, and from those languages into Tamil at a later stage.
Anbuchelvi Subburaju is a Tamil poet, children's author, Haiku enthusiast, literary trainer, and organizer from Chennai. She was born in Andipatti, Theni District, Tamil Nadu. She completed her Diploma in Costume Design and Dress Making at the Government Women's Polytechnic College, Madurai.
She is the founder of Anbin Sangamam Siruvar Ulagam, Thanmunai Kavithai Padaippalargal Peravai, and Anbin Sangamam Haiku Ulagam. Through these organizations, she actively promotes Tamil literature by conducting free training programs on Haiku, Haibun, and Thanmunai poetry, organizing poetry workshops, literary competitions, reading initiatives, and creative programs for women and children. She is also a regular resource person at schools, colleges, and literary seminars, encouraging reading and creative writing.
She has authored more than fifteen individual books, edited over fifteen anthologies, and published several collections of children's stories and songs. Her anthology "Malargal Theettiya Varaivugal" earned recognition in the Book of World Records, while her poetry collection "Makarandhathin Thedalgal" received the Dr. Ambikadevi Award.
For over 230 weeks, she has hosted literary programs through Tamizhazhi TV, Canada, and has continuously presented books in the weekly program "One Book a Week." She also compiles and publishes children's creative works in the France-based Tamil e-magazine Tamil Nenjam.
Her contributions to Tamil literature have been recognized with numerous prestigious national and international awards, including the Bharathiyar Award, Bharathidasan Award, Tamil Annai Award, Ki. Aa. Pe. Viswanatham Award, Sanga Ilakkiya Semmal, and Sevai Semmal, among many others.
Her primary mission is to encourage aspiring writers especially women and children by nurturing their creativity and providing opportunities to publish and showcase their literary works.
Anitha Thampi is a Malayalam poet, translator and essayist from the state of Kerala, India. Critically acclaimed within and outside of India, her works have been widely translated into a number of languages and has appeared in various journals and anthologies worldwide.
She has published five collections of poetry:
Ankush Banerjee is a poet, masculinity studies research scholar, and a serving officer and educator in the Indian Navy. For him, poetry has been a lifelong preoccupation that has grown quietly alongside uniforms, classrooms, research, and the daily practice of responsibility that deepens rather than limits creative freedom. His poetry emerges from an attentiveness to the limits of tenderness and the small acts of kindness that hold life together. He is the author of two volumes of poetry, The Essence of Eternity (Sahitya Akademi, 2016) and Field Notes of Kindness (Red River, 2025). Across these books, and in poems published widely in national and international journals such as The Bombay Literary Magazine, Cha, The Bangalore Review, Usawa Literary Review, and Eclectica, his work returns again and again to people, memories, loss, gratitude, and kindness. His poems also appear in several anthologies, including Best Asian Poetry 2021 (Kitaab, 2022), Collegiality and Other Ballads: Feminist Poems by Men and Non-binary Allies (Hawakaal, 2021), Converse: Contemporary English Poetry by Indians (Pippa Rann Books, 2022), and the Yearbook of Indian Poetry (2020, 2021, 2022, and 2024).
Ankush has read his work at the Prakriti Foundation’s Poetry for Prakriti Festival in Chennai (2026), Anantha: Samyukta Foundation’s Poetry Festival (2023, 2024), and the Delhi Poetry Festival (2023). He has also conducted poetry workshops for Circuit Creative, a Kochi-based publishing house and arts collective. A three-time recipient of the United Services Institution Gold Medal Essay Prize (2015, 2017, 2021), Ankush has also received the erstwhile Commodore Nott Essay Prize (2018), the All India Poetry Prize (2019), Eclectica’s Spotlight Author recognition for his poem “Feet of Women I Know” (2022), and 1st Prize in the National Poetry Competition organized by the National Defence Academy (2023). Alongside poetry, his scholarly and journalistic work, rooted in questions of masculinity, power and responsibility, appears in the Journal of Defence Studies, Observer Research Foundation’s Occasional Papers, United Services Institution of India’s Journal, Defence & Diplomacy, The New Indian Express, The Hindu, and Scroll, among others. For his contributions as an educator and researcher in the Indian Navy, he has received Commendation Awards from the Chief of the Naval Staff and the Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Southern Naval Command, in 2023 and 2015, respectively. He is a proud husband, father, son, brother, and cat parent, with all of these roles vividly featured in his poetry.
Dr. Anupama Raju is a poet, novelist, communications professional, literary journalist and translator. She is the author of two poetry collections, Bitter Gourd (Copper Coin, 2023) and Nine (Speaking Tiger, 2015) and a novel, C: a novel (Aleph Book Company, 2022). Her work has been anthologised widely. She has also been translating Malayalam writer Paul Zacharia's stories into English.
Lauded as one of the top young Indian poets in English by India Today in 2016, Anupama collaborated with French photographer Pascal Bernard on two Indo-French poetry and photography projects ‘Surfaces and Depths’ and ‘Une Ville, Un Lieu, Une Personne’. She is also collaborating with dancer Dr. Rajashree Warrier on ‘Nine –Our Circle of Lines’, a performance combining dance and poetry. Anupama was Charles Wallace Fellow at the University of Kent, Canterbury, and Writer-in-Residence at Centres Intermondes, La Rochelle, France.
Anupama also has a Ph.D. in the use of poetry in leadership communications. She is an alumna of the Said Business School, University of Oxford.
Ashis straddles the two worlds of software and literature. A software entrepreneur and a freelance writer on travel, music and culture.
For over two decades, Ashis’ articles are published in mainstream newspapers, inflight and travel magazines, and online portals, in India, USA, Canada and (in Bengali) in Bangladesh.
A storyteller by passion, Ashis is the author of the book, Gandhi and the London Cabby, a delightful ensemble of stories which “fell” during his travels, from Jerusalem to remote Himalayas.
Bhumika Anand is the Founder and Director of Bangalore Writers Workshop (BWW) a writing and storytelling, community-centric school established in Bangalore in 2012. She is a writer, editor, facilitator, and a builder of communities. Most recently, she is the editor of The BWW Book of Emerging Poets.
Buku Sarkar is a photographer and writer who works between Calcutta, New York, and Paris. Her writing has appeared in The New and New York Review of Books, n+1, ZYZZYVA, and The Threepenny Review; recipient of the Andrew Lytle Best Fiction of the year award; while her photography has been featured in The New York Times, Art Basel Miami, and exhibited at the International Center of Photography.
Her debut novel Not Quite a Disaster After All was published by HarperCollins India in Dec. 2023 and is now available in the U.S with Flowersong Press. Her photobook Photowali Didi (Fall Line Press, 2023), documenting her five-year relationship with residents of a Calcutta slum, explores themes of identity and belonging across cultures. Her forthcoming poetry collection My Dead Flowers, will be published in December 2025 by Harper Collins India.
Sarkar serves as part-time faculty at the International Center of Photography and offers writing workshops. Her screenplay The Shameless was adapted into a feature film that premiered at the Cannes Film Festival's Un Certain Regard section in 2024. Her work examines the complexities of cross-cultural identity, feminine freedom, social stratification and the spaces between worlds—both literal and metaphorical. She is currently working on a novel about two generations of an Indian family in New York, a memoir about living with neurological disorder, endless short stories, and a photographic series exploring women's relationships with their bodies, building on seven years of documenting her own illness through self-portraits and a memoir in her series "Containment Diaries,"
CP Surendran is a poet, novelist, script writer and columnist. (Here's a link to one of his recent columns, The Reader as Leader, connecting the consumption of literature to leadership). His latest novel is The One Love and the Many Lives of Osip B, and his latest collection of poems is Window With a Train Attached. He divides his time between Delhi and Kerala.
Deepti Sudhindra is an artiste practicing through the medium of design, dance n theatre. A thought leader she has constantly pushed her performance narratives to expand possibilities in finding new ways to be.
"My spiritual practice guides my performance . The stage is a sacred grid of energy that I hold in deep reverence . The last five years having performed across the country in temples has given me a direction to the work on stage that unfolds today . Blessed by my spiritual masters this path of my dance theatre expression is a journey of finding the new in the timeless and a response to the demands n rigour of a life that is lived as saadhana."
She also leads groups in movement meditation - a devised modality called MY SACRED BODY, bringing together her practices from Yoga, Vedanta, Shakta Tantra and the Natya Shastra to integrate into an immersive session that leads to inner transformation. She has been leading these for 18 years.
With over 35 plays on the theatre stage, innumerable Bharatanatyam performances, a sought after writer and host for creative performances and a 20 year design practice as creative director of The Jewelry Project - Deepti Sudhindra's work has always been bold, fresh courageous, immersive and an artistic soul unfolding
Devdutt Pattanaik is a mythologist, writer, illustrator, and speaker known for explaining the relevance of Indian and World mythology in modern times, especially in management, leadership, and culture. A medical doctor by qualification, with a 15-year career in the healthcare and pharma industries, he has written over 50 books and 1,500 newspaper columns on these topics. His popular books include Jaya: An Illustrated Retelling of the Mahabharata, Business Sutra and The Bakasura Trap. His TV shows include Devlok and Business Sutra. He consults organisations and media on art, heritage, storytelling and Indian Knowledge Systems.
Born and spent growing years in Palakkad, Kerala. Lived in Dallas, Texas for a few years. Residing in Bangalore for the past two decades. Worked as a Lecturer in Dept of English, Kristu Jayanti University, Bangalore and as Hindi translator in Ministry of Defence, India. Author of the poetry collection “UnBridled” published by Authorspress, 2025. Poems in this collection reflect love, longing, nostalgia, relationships, coming of age, temples, traditions, technology, etc based on the experiences of living in different geographies as well as imaginary scenarios.
Recipient of Certificate of Excellence for Best Poetry Book (English) as well as Best Debut Poetry Book (English) at Asian Literary Festival, New Delhi 2026. Selected poems have featured in various online platforms like The Significant League, The Wise Owl Magazine, Asian Literary Society, Quotidian Quills, The Writer Monk, etc. Featured in Asian Literary Annual Anthology 2025. Also featured in the Toshali Anthology of Poetry 2026 which was released in Odisha at the 4th Toshali Literature Festival 2026 and actively participated as a Panelist at TLF-2026. Actively participated and successfully completed NaPoWriMo2026 conducted by The Significant League as well as Asian Literary Society. Other passions include photography and acting. As part of experiential learning, attended an acting camp and featured in a short movie which premiered recently at Kochi and will soon be released most likely on OTT.
Doyir Ete Taipodia is the author of The Dance of the Last Leaf, published by RedRiver. The book is a collection of poems deeply rooted in the tribal way of life, its beliefs, and faith systems. Through poetry, the poet narrates the stories of her homeland, Arunachal Pradesh and its people. The collection offers evocative glimpses into ancestral wisdom and oral traditions, alongside the rivers, forests, and mountains that shape the changing landscapes and rhythms of everyday life in the state. She has also co-edited Matrix Anthology, Volumes I and II, published by the North East Writers Forum (NEWF) in 2022 and 2025. In addition, she regularly contributes literary reviews to The Arunachal Times, a leading daily from Arunachal Pradesh. She also a co-author of a feature titled Tribalbookworms in the daily The Arunachal Times. Dr. Doyir Ete Taipodia is an Associate Professor in the Department of English at Rajiv Gandhi University, Arunachal Pradesh, India.
Gauley Bhai (meaning brothers from back home) is a Contemporary Folk-Rock quartet formed in 2017 by Veecheet, Anudwatt, Joe, and Sidhant in Bangalore. Rooted in the shared experiences of growing up in Kalimpong and Calicut and migrating to big cities, their sound merges Nepali folk (inspired by artists like Jhalakman Gandharva), South Indian rhythms, blues, rock, and hip hop. The result is a genre-fluid sound— deeply rooted yet nomadic.
Though they sing in Nepali, Gauley Bhai’s music resonates widely, transcending language through emotional depth and sonic storytelling. Their debut album Joro (2019), meaning “fever” in Nepali, explored themes of love,loss, and displacement. It received critical acclaim for its eclectic sound and powerful live performances, touring extensively across India, Nepal, and even the UK’s Joon Festival.
In 2025, the band returns with their second studio album, marking a shift from their earlier jam-based style to a more produced, textured sound. Integrating sound design and electronic influences, the album traverses folk blues, hip hop, and Afrobeat—evoking a dreamlike, hypnotic energy.
Beyond performance, Gauley Bhai is committed to community work. In 2022, they collaborated with youth from the Teesta highway region, addressing unemployment and addiction through music. This led to the formation of the Teesta Creative Space and the Teesta Troupers, a youth collective whose debut album Sound of the Streets was co-created and produced by the band. Gauley Bhai continues to support grassroots music-making and mentorship for young artists from marginalized regions.
Gopika Jadeja is a bilingual (English & Gujarati) poet and translator. A PEN Presents translation award winner and Charles Wallace Scholar for Creative Writing, she has a PhD in South Asian Studies.She is Coordinating Editor for peer-reviewed journal PR&TA: Practice, Research and Tangential Activities (pratajournal.com) and editor/publisher of ‘Five Issues’, a performance-publishing project.
Her writing appears in publications such as Modern Poetry in Translation, Asymptote, Indian Literature, Vahi, River in an Ocean: Essays on Translation (2023) and A Thousand Cranes for India: Reclaiming Plurality Amid Hatred (2020).
Gopika is currently translating Dalit and Adivasi poetry from Gujarat and completing two poetry collections.
Inakali Assumi is an author, poet, playwright, and an educator. She writes in English and Sütsa. She has a Ph.D. in English literature and has authored books such as- Isü Le: Songs of Ordinary Days, Voices from the Forgotten Village, The Yellow Dress, and a Sümi drama entitled, Niphu lo Athi Kütsüghü Potigha Ighi (The Arrival of Rice Mill in Our Village) A Three Act Drama which is the first drama written in Sütsa dialect and is a part of the Nagaland University undergraduate course for Sütsa. Her works have been a subject of research by young scholars for their cultural relevance. Her short story, “The Yellow Dress” is a part of the Post Graduate course of the Department of English, St. Joseph University, Nagaland. She was awarded the Samvaad Fellowship enabled by Tata Steel Foundation in the year 2022. She has directed and produced a documentary film entitled, “A Documentation of Vanishing Sümi Folksongs,” which showcases a number of ancestral Sümi folksongs almost on the verge of extinction with no folk singers to carry them forth.
Books: Isü Le: Songs of Ordinary Days (Red River Press) | Voices From the Forgotten Village (Penthrill)
Jayshree Misra Tripathi is a writerand former educator.Her most recent work is an anthology of poetry, Morning Twilight (Speaking Tiger, 2026). She conceptualized and curated essays for The Other Sideof Diplomacy (WestlandBooks, 2025), on lived experiences,including in North Korea andZimbabwe. Jayshree’s poetry andshort stories have been reviewed inthe Sahitya Akademi’s Journal of Indian Literature andher poetry featured in the anthology, Silver Years – SeniorContemporary Indian Women’s Poetry, published by SahityaAkademi (2025). She won an Award for Poetry from the Public Diplomacy Forum in March 2025. She was also invited by theFoundation of SAARC Writers and Literature to read herpoems at their 66th Festival. Folk tales from her home state of Odisha were featured in Amar Chitra Katha. Jayshree’s poetry hasalso been published in the Journals of The Poetry Society(India), as well as online on The Punch Magazine, MuseIndia, Madras Courier,Huffington Post India, News18 and Your Story.Her works include: The Sorrow of UnansweredQuestions (International Centre for Ethnic Studies,Sri Lanka, 2001), Trips and Trials: A Selectionof Poems and Songs (Pepperscript, 2018), Uncertain Times(Pepperscript, 2022). Also,The Keeper of Memories (Vidya Publishing, 2024),What Not Words, EmotionsUnboundand Tales inVerse for Children Everywhere(Authorspress, 2025).
Jayshree holds a Master’s Degree in English from Delhi University (1978)and a PG Diploma in Human Rights Law, from the National Law School of India University, Bengaluru,Distance Education (2001). She is a former examiner, English A1 IOC, for the Diploma of the InternationalBaccalaureate; prior to which she worked in the print media, including as a freelance features writer. As the eldest of five daughters,Jayshree includes her maiden surname in her writing.
JEET THAYIL is a poet, novelist, musician and publisher. He was born near the Muvattupuzha River in Kerala, India. As a boy he travelled through much of the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia with his father, T.J.S. George, a writer and editor. He worked as a journalist for twenty-one years in Bombay, Bangalore, Hong Kong and New York City. In 2005 he began to write fiction. The first instalment of his Bombay Trilogy, Narcopolis, was shortlisted for the Booker Prize, won the DSC Prize, and became an unlikely bestseller. His book of poems These Errors are Correct won the Sahitya Akademi Award (India's National Academy of Letters). His musical collaborations include the opera Babur in London. His essays, poetry and short fiction have appeared in The New York Review of Books, Granta, TLS, Esquire, The London Magazine, The Times, The Guardian and The Paris Review, among other venues. He is the founder of Thayil Editions, an imprint devoted to experimental Indian fiction and poetry.Jeet Thayil's latest collection of poetry is I'll Have it Here, winner of the Sarojini Naidu Award and the Kalinga Literary Award.His new novel isThe Elsewhereans.
Kanji Patel is a Gujarati poet, fiction writer,educator and cultural activist. His poetry and fiction centre round Adivasi, Denotified Tribes and communities(DNTs) and rural life.
He has authored
He has been the Editor of ‘Vahi’, a journal of poetry, ritual and multilingual expression of society.
Has edited the Gujarat volume of People's Linguistic Survey of India.
Has traveled
He has read from his writings at more than 20 national and International Festivals, including Commonwealth Literature Festival, Vak Poetry Festival, Unmesh-International Literature Festival by Sahitya Akademi at Shimla.
Delivered keynote speeches at more than 30 national and international literary meets, seminars on Adivasi Literature, languages and culture.
Has participated and read at
His works have been translated into Bangla, Hindi, Kannada, Marathi, Malayalam including English, Irish, Swedish, Slovak.
Has curated contemporary Adivasi poetry of 400 poets from 140 adivasi communities and their languages, many in their original scripts alongwith with Hindi and English translations.
Poems in their original scripts with Hindi translation in two volumes published by Setu Prakashan, in 2025 titled
अनुत्तरित लोग:
भारतीय समकालीन आदिवासी कविता
and
An Unanswered People:
Contemporary Adivasi Poetry from India
Has been honoured with the national level Katha award 1996 and the Dhumketu prize, Uma-Snehrahmi prize from Gujarati Sahitya Parishad for his short stories and poetry.
Umashankar Joshi prize for novel.
Recently awarded Satchidanand Prize of 2025 for literature and social work in Gujarati.
Karishma Ahuja is an artiste trained in Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra Style of Odissi Dance. She is a graded artiste of Doordarshan. She is presently undergoing advanced training in Odissi under the guidance of Guru Ratikant Mohapatra and Guru Rajashree Praharaj. She has also learnt under the guidance of Guru Smt Barnalee Sarkar and Guru Sharmila Mukerjee. She has performed at various dance festivals, private, corporate and public events across India and Internationally Abroad, both as part of group presentations and also as a Solo Artiste. Karishma has won several accolades for her work. In 2025, she was awarded ‘Guru Dayanidhi Samman’ for her valuable contributions in the field of Odissi at the Global and National level through performances, productions, choreography and training. In 2021, she was recognised among Top 100 Iconic Artists and Educators of the year by the Rhythms Group, Mumbai. In 2024, she was recognised and awarded by the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, for her exemplary performances, teaching and her commitment to the field of arts. Karishma has established the Kadambari School of Odissi Dance which imparts quality training in Odissi. The school has branches in Bangalore and Chennai. She also curates two annual Dance and Music Festivals, ‘Kadambari Utsav’ and ‘Aikyam’, that provide a platform for upcoming as well as senior artists. She has performed solo at prestigious platforms such as Indian Classical Music and Dance Festival (Taiwan), Chidambaram Natyanjali (Chidambaram), Taj Mahotsav (Agra), etc and group performances at G20 India Energy Week (Bangalore), Mamallapuram Indian Dance Festival (Shore Temple, Mahabalipuram), Mysore Dasara (Mysore Palace), Soorya Dance Festival (Trivandrum), National Classical Dance Festival (Chandigarh) and many more. As a performer, Karishma has been much appreciated for her grace, poise and stage presence. Karishma is an MBA in HR and had worked in the corporate world as an HR professional for 8 years before she stepped into the world of Dance. She has completed Nritya Vibhakar (BA) in Odissi Dance. She is also a certified Yoga Instructor. She firmly believes that Dance heals and intends to use it as a medium to touch lives.
Krishna Kashyap is a violinist with over 15 years of training under the tutelage of Vidushi Prema Vivek, hailing from a musically enriched family. He has performed at several reputed platforms in India and internationally including All India Radio, Doordarshan, Bangalore Gayana Samaja and Narada Gana Sabha, Chennai.
He is known for his performances both as a soloist and as an accompanist to renowned Carnatic musicians and Bharatanatyam artistes. Krishna has also collaborated on various recordings and has contributed to projects in the Kannada film industry.
Alongside his musical pursuits, Krishna is a practicing Advocate in the Hon’ble High Court of Karnataka.
Kunjana Parashar is a poet, a freelance editor, and a poetry mentor from Mumbai. Her debut poetry book They Gather Around Me, the Animals, selected by Diane Seuss, won the 2024 Barbara Stevens Poetry Book Award. She is the recipient of the Toto Funds the Arts Award and the Deepankar Khiwani Memorial Prize. Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Copper Nickel, Poetry Northwest, Sixth Finch, The Adroit Journal, and elsewhere. Besides this, she is actively trying to build an online poetry community for women called The Coven.
Kyoumars Freeman was born in Tehran, Iran, in 1968, into a family where poetry was part of everyday life. Instead of bedtime stories, he grew up listening to the works of the great Persian poets—Rudaki, Omar Khayyam, Saadi, Hafez, Jalal al-Din Balkhi(Rumi)—as well as many modern Persian poets. His introduction to Rumi began when he was seven years old. As he grew older, he became increasingly interested in the depth of his poetry, his philosophy, and the ideas behind his work. Over the years, that childhood fascination became a lifelong study of his writings in their original Persian. Kyoumars noticed that Rumi’s poetry had become enormously popular, especially online. Yet much of what was being shared was disconnected from the original Persian texts and often overlooked the richness of his thought. He was inspired to create a series of musical presentations based directly on his original works. The performances are presented in Persian, accompanied by carefully crafted English translations that remain faithful to both the meaning and the poetic character of the originals.
Shri Mahesh Garg is a prolific writer, innovator, and a successful technocrat. After completing Masters from IIT Delhi, at the age of 21, he joined 1987 batch of Indian Railway Service.
He is a Fellow of Institution of Engineers, India. Shri Garg has introduced many innovations in Railways including Design Patent of Coach Toilet System, a version of Bio-toilet System in trains.
Besides professional achievements, he is an accomplished Hindi Poet, with pen name “Bedhadak”. He has participated in over a thousand Kavi Sammelans including from Red Fort,Delhi, Taj Mahotsava at Agra, besides programmes on Radio, TV Channels, Sahitya Akademi etc.
Mahesh Garg Bedhadak has won several literary awards, including Maithili Sharan Gupt Puraskar, Kaka Hathrasi Samman, and Hindi Academy Puruskar. He has 3 books of poetry to his credit.
Mahua Sen is a Hyderabad-based poet, editor, and translator.
Her poetry collection Nostalgia Crafting a Home Within (Red River) became an Amazon No. 1 bestseller in Asian Literature, received the Maharshi Ved Vyas Poetry Award, and was Shortlisted for the Banaras Lit Fest Book Awards. Her poems have appeared in numerous literary journals, newspapers, and over seventy anthologies.
Mahua’s translation The Dead Fish (Rupa Publications), an English rendering of Machhli Mari Hui by Rajkamal Chaudhary, has been widely read, reviewed and is longlisted for the VOW Book Awards 2026. The book was also listed among the Best ten books of 2025 (translation) by Sahitya Tak/Aaj Tak.
Mahua is a recipient of Reuel International poetry Prize, Poesis award for excellence in literature, and the Akshara Award from Toshali Literature Trust, presented to a young woman writer in recognition of her literary contributions, among others.
Her upcoming publications include an English translation of an award-winning Hindi novel and a poetry anthology, both of which are scheduled to be released in the coming months.
I, Mainaosri Daimary, am a research scholar in the Department of Economics at Bodoland University and also work as a Bodo Language Expert at the Digital India Bhashini Division, Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology, Government of India. I was born on 27-09-1997 in Kachubil, Udalguri district, Assam, India.
I have authored two books titled Daoha Mwnse Khungnanggou Dong (2019) and Som, Jiu, Arw… (2022). I have been honoured with several awards, including the Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar (2023), Asom Bhasa Gaurov Asoni (2020), Young Bodo Literary Award (2021), and Sahitya Akademi Travel Grant (2019). I have also worked on translation projects such as NCERT Economics textbooks and Project Vachana and participated in various literary and cultural programmes organized by Sahitya Akademi, National Book Trust India, Bodo Sahitya Sabha, and All India Radio. I hereby declare that the above information is true and correct to the best of my knowledge.
Maitreyee B Chowdhury is a poet and writer. She has authored- Uttam Kumar and Suchitra Sen: Bengali Cinema's First Couple, Where Even The Present is Ancient: Benaras, One Dozen-Hasan Azizul Huq(Trans), The Hungryalists and I Walk Instead. Bengali Cinema's First Couple was shortlisted for the Crossword Awards(Non Fiction). Maitreyee is the editor of the literary journal The Bangalore Review. Her forthcoming work is around poet Binoy Majumdar and Ritwik Ghatak. She has been widely published in national and international journals.
Professor Mamta Sagar is a poet, a transdisciplinary artist, writer, academic and translator from Bengaluru. Her writings focus on identity politics, feminism, issues around linguistic and cultural diversities.
She has six collections of poems, four plays, an anthology of column writing, a collection of critical essays. Beyond Barriers: Slovenian-Kannada Literature Interactions (Translation) edited by Dr Sagar is published by Centre for Slovenian Literature, Ljubljana 2011. She has a set of three poetry films and a book of collaborative poetry activities titled as INTERVERSIONS (2018). Her translation of Elif Shafak’s ‘Forty Rules of Love’ into Kannada (2017) was conferred with Bhasha Bharathi Translation award. She is honoured with the ‘The World Literary Prize 2024’ a prestigious international award to her credit and ‘Sahithya Shree 2024’, conferred by the Karnataka Sahithya Academy. She has been the Charles Wallace Fellow at the University of East Anglia, Norwich UK (2015). She is involved with international poetry translation projects. Art-Poetry installation project developed and co-curated by Mamta was exhibited at the Piccolo Museo della Poesia, Italy (2020). On an yearlong IFA project (2022-23), she has documented the city of Bengaluru through poetry. Mamta curates Kaavya Sanje, a community poetry engagement since 2013. Mamta Sagar has presented her poems and facilitated poetry and translation workshops in the UK, USA, Europe, African, Asian and Latin American countries. She has represented India in several International poetry and literature festivals.
Dr. Sagar has worked with Hyderabad Central University and Bangalore University where she has taught Comparative Literature, Translation Studies, Kannada Literature, Feminism, Postcolonial and Cultural Studies. Mamta is the founder director of Kaavya Sanje, a community poetry initiative. Presently, Professor Sagar leads the Translation and Literary Studies Lab at the Srishti Manipal Institute (SMI) and teaches MA, Contemporary Art Practice at the SMI, of Manipal University Bengaluru.
An academic, translator and creative writer, Dr. Nabanita Sengupta is an Assistant Professor of English at Sarsuna College, Kolkata. She has translated two full length books of nonfiction, A Bengali Lady in England, and Chambal Revisited and a Poetry anthology from Bengali, Open your door, Library. With a proficiency in three languages, she translates from Bengali and Hindi into English. Several short stories, folk tales and poems translated by her have been published in Sahitya Akademi journal and anthologies. Her research papers have been published in various peer reviewed journals. She has guest-edited two issues on Translation and gender in SETU e-magazine and Litinfinite journal. Her poetry publications are a collaborative anthology by three women poets, Three Witches’ Songs, and her solo anthology In-between Selves. She has also co-edited the first IPPL poetry anthology Voices and Vision and 2 volumes of critical essays - Understanding Women’s Experiences of Displacement and Female Narratives of Protest published from the Routledge. Her latest publication is a co-edited anthology of English translations of Indian short stories written by women on mental health, titled Bandaged Moments, published by Niyogi books, Delhi. She has been invited to various workshops and seminars on translation in Kolkata and beyond.
Namratha Varadharajan is a Best of the Net nominated poet who writes to clear her lens in a world of excess. Her work has been published in Rattle, Only Poems, The Yearbook of Indian Poetry, Usawa Literary Review, among others. She is the co-founder of Alt Poetry and runs a newsletter named ‘Poetic Adventures with Namy’.
Born in 1939, Naresh Saxena is a Hindi poet well-known across all generations. He has authored three poetry collections: ‘Samudra par ho rahi hai Baarish’, ‘Suno Charushila’, and ‘Ek Anaam Patti ka Smarak’. A retired engineer, Saxena has also worked actively across various domains such as film, theatre, and music. He has produced short films, serials, and documentary films, and received a National Award for film direction. In his work, one finds a rare confluence of science and art. His poems are included in curricula, from the first grade up to the university level, in Kerala, Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, Maharashtra, and other states. He has also been honoured with numerous awards, including the Pahal Samman.
1939 में जन्मे नरेश सक्सेना सभी पीढ़ियों के बीच लोकप्रिय कवि हैं। उनके तीन कविता-संग्रह प्रकाशित हैं: 'समुद्र पर हो रही है बारिश', 'सुनो चारुशीला' और 'एक अनाम पत्ती का स्मारक'। एक इंजीनियर के रूप में रिटायर्ड नरेश जी ने फ़िल्म, रंगमंच और संगीत जैसे विविध क्षेत्रों में सक्रिय रूप से काम किया है। उन्होंने लघु फ़िल्में, धारावाहिक और डॉक्यूमेंट्री बनाए हैं, और उन्हें फ़िल्म निर्देशन के लिए राष्ट्रीय पुरस्कार प्राप्त है। उनके काम में विज्ञान और कला का एक दुर्लभ संगम देखने को मिलता है। उनकी कविताएँ केरल, जम्मू-कश्मीर, पंजाब, महाराष्ट्र और अन्य राज्यों में पहली कक्षा से लेकर विश्वविद्यालय स्तर तक के पाठ्यक्रमों में शामिल हैं। उन्हें अनेक पुरस्कारों से भी सम्मानित किया गया है, जिनमें पहल सम्मान, कबीर सम्मान, जनकवि नागार्जुन सम्मान, भवभूति अलंकरण, परसाई सम्मान, भारतीय भाषा परिषद सम्मान और कविता कोश सम्मान शामिल हैं।
Natasha Badhwar is an author, film-maker, teacher and writing coach..
Natasha Badhwar is the author of the non-fiction books, “My Daughters’ Mum” and “Immortal For A Moment” that focus on essential subjects, from parenting and marriage, to faith and selfhood in an increasingly fractured world. Along with Harsh Mander and John Dayal, she has co-edited “Reconciliation – Karwan e Mohabbat’s journey of solidarity through a wounded India”. She has also co-edited “When The Mask Came Off: Lockdown 2020” with Harsh Mander and Anirban Bhattacharya.
As a columnist, Natasha is best known for her 10 year long series of personal-political essays published in Mint Lounge. She has also written columns for The Morning Context, Indian Express, The Hindu, Outlook and The Tribune.
As an independent film-maker and writer, she has won the Laadli Media Award for gender sensitivity in 2016 and 2022 in the reporting and documentary categories. Natasha has worked with NDTV for 13 years and rose through the ranks to become Vice President, Training and Development.
Natasha Badhwar is a writing coach and facilitates creative writing workshops that ignite the love of writing and promote self-expression as a tool towards living a more intentional and agentic life. She has nurtured the Ochre Sky Stories writing community on Substack and edits a weekly newsletter that features the best writing from the community.
She teaches Media Studies and Creative Writing at Ashoka University and is currently writing a new book on how to make love stay in a world leaning towards estrangement.
Neal Hall, M.D. is a graduate of Cornell and Harvard Universities. An award-winning human rights poet, he has performed readings throughout the U.S. and internationally.
Hall has published eight books, including Appalling Silence and his award-winning The System We Caste, both written and published in India. His work has been translated into seven languages, including Telugu, Urdu, and Kannada.
Hailed as the “Malcolm X of International Poetry,” Hall is a poet of intellectual passion and artistic significance, championing equality and human dignity. His poetry reveals the human costs of othering, division, and subjugation by race, creed, religion, and gender for socioeconomic gain. It communicates profound pain while illuminating possibilities for change.
Professor Laoutaris of Stratford-upon-Avon's Shakespeare Institute wrote: “Once in a generation, a voice pierces through the injustices, inequities, and horrors of the age... Hall is a master wordsmith... There is a profound and brooding kinetic reflexivity to his style which makes even the smallest of his words thunder from the page and into the heart.”
Professor Cornel West called Hall “a warrior of the spirit, a warrior of the mind, an activist, a poet,” adding that he shares the “hypersensitivity to suffering” found in Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, and Jesus.
India's revered Vasanth Kannabiran wrote, “All in all, he is a poet. And unquestionably one of the most significant voices of the century.”
A few of Hall's notable achievements include guest readings at the Shakespeare Institute and the historic 1824 Shakespeare Club's 996th meeting; serving as Poet/Scholar-in-Residence for the Council for Social Development, which translated Appalling Silence into Telugu and Urdu; reading with Indian poets Makhdoom winner Jameela Nishat and Sahitya Akademi winners Volga, and Dr. S. Sarkar; speaking at Manthan, India's premier forum for global thought leaders; and winning the Wingword International Poetry Prize in Delhi.
Date of birth - 23-10-1960
Retired as an English Teacher in junior college.
Books published – total 20 and 4 in pipeline
Thijalelya Kalache Avashesh
Received 30 Awards including six Maharashtra state government awards, Master Dinanath Mangeshkar ‘Vagvilasini’ Award, Maharashtra Sahitya Sanskrit Mandal's Yashavantrao Chavan Award, Kavi Keshavsut Award, Late Shahir Annabhau Sathe Award, Lokmat Sahitya Award, Gomant Vidyaniketan’s Kavivarya Damodar Achchut Kare Smruti Gomantdevi Award, Kathakar G. A. Kulkarni Award.
Participated in many Kavisammelans, literary programs and seminars conducted by various organizations including Sahitya Akademi (Mumbai, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Guwahati, Shillong etc.) and different universities as speaker or president.
Papers on poetry, women's writing, feminism etc. are published in different literary magazines. Wrote columns in Marathi newspapers. Most poems and short stories are included in university syllabi.
Many students have completed and some are pursuing M.Phil and PhD on her books.
Some poems and short stories are translated into Indian languages including English, Hindi, Gujarati, Malayalam, Odia.
Short story collection Oal Haravaleli Mati, translated into Kannada by Mr. Chandrakant Pokale, has been published in 2025.
Nirmala Putul (b. 1972), a Santal poet and activist from Kurwa village in the Dumka district of Jharkhand, is widely regarded as a landmark voice in Adivasi literature. Raised in the hills of Santal Parganas after her farmer father's early death, she trained as a nurse and earned a degree in Political Science from IGNOU before working with grassroots NGOs, where the lives of trafficked, displaced, and dispossessed Adivasi women drew her toward poetry. Writing in both Santali and Hindi, she has published collections including Apne Ghar Ki Talash Mein and Nagade Ki Tarah Bajte Shabd, whose Punjabi translation won the Sahitya Akademi Award. Her poems—musical, folkloric, and unflinching—counterpose the tribal world against the machinery of "development," confronting patriarchy, witch-hunting, deforestation, and the slow erasure of Santal life. She has been translated into English, Marathi, Russian, and Korean, and honoured with the Rashtriya Yuva Samman among other awards; the documentary Buru Gaara chronicles her life. A lifelong social worker, Putul lives in Dumka and serves as her village panchayat's elected head.
निर्मला पुतुल (जन्म 1972) संताल कवयित्री और सामाजिक कार्यकर्ता हैं, और आदिवासी साहित्य में एक मील का पत्थर मानी जाती हैं। संताल परगना में पली-बढ़ीं पुतुल ने नर्सिंग का प्रशिक्षण लिया और इग्नू से राजनीति विज्ञान में स्नातक की उपाधि प्राप्त की। ज़मीनी स्तर पर एनजीओ के साथ काम करते हुए, मानव तस्करी, विस्थापन और शोषण की शिकार आदिवासी स्त्रियों के जीवन ने उन्हें कविता की ओर मोड़ा। वे संताली और हिंदी दोनों भाषाओं में लिखती हैं। पुतुल के संग्रहों में 'अपने घर की तलाश में' और 'नगाड़े की तरह बजते शब्द' शामिल हैं, जिसके पंजाबी अनुवाद को साहित्य अकादेमी पुरस्कार मिला। इसके अलावा इनका संग्रह 'बेघर सपने' 2014 में प्रकाशित हुआ। उनकी कविताएँ संगीतमय, लोकधर्मी और बेबाक विकास के तंत्र के सामने आदिवासी दुनिया को खड़ा करती हैं, और पितृसत्ता, डायन-प्रथा, वनों के विनाश, तथा संताल जीवन के क्षरण से टकराती हैं। उनका अनुवाद अंग्रेज़ी, मराठी, रूसी और कोरियाई भाषाओं में हुआ है; उन्हें राष्ट्रीय युवा सम्मान सहित कई पुरस्कार मिले हैं, और डाक्यूमेंट्री 'बुरु गारा' उनके जीवन को दर्शाता है। आजीवन समाजसेविका रहीं पुतुल दुमका, झारखंड में निवास करती हैं और अपने ग्राम पंचायत की निर्वाचित मुखिया हैं।
Nivedita is a Hindustani Classical vocalist with a World Music Album, Autumn Ballet, from Saregama India (erstwhile HMV), collaborating with the famous pianist, Stephen Devassy.
Trained under Kirana and Gwalior gharana, Nivedita has been performing live, on TV and radio. As a teacher for three decades, she has professional and National Award-winning musicians among her students.
As an evangelist for Indian music, Nivedita has been conducting Music Workshops across the world.
Prafull Shiledar is a prominent voice in contemporary Marathi poetry. He writes in Marathi and Hindi. He has four Poetry volumes in Marathi and two in Hindi. His poetry is published in national and international literary journals and included in poetry anthologies. His literary essays are collected in a volume called ‘Yerzara’.
His poems are translated into many Indian and foreign languages including Hindi, English, Malayalam, Kannada, Telugu, Manipuri, Gujarati, Nepali, Odia, Punjabi, Dakhani, Slovak, Turkish & German. His translated poetry volumes are published in Kannada, Punjabi and Odia and ‘Scratching the Silence’ is his poetry collection in English translation recently published by Red River.
He is a literary translator honored by Sahitya Akademi translation award in 2018. He has translated Indian, European, American, Latin American poetry into Marathi and Hindi. He has published six translated books and six edited books. He was the editor of ‘Yugvani’ a literary journal in Marathi for eight years and published many important special issues. He is the president of Antar Bharati Anuvad Suvidha Kendra, a translation facilitation center in Mumbai.
He has read poetry across India, Europe, USA and Middle East. He was a fellow writer in the International Writer’s Residency Program by Art Omi, New York, USA during Spring 2025.
Actor-director Prakash Raj is the famous star of Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada and Hindi films. The Bengaluru huduga has bagged many awards, including five National Awards. He penned the poem ‘I Wonder’ in 2017, and has often expressed himself through poetry.
Pushpanjana Karmakar is a poet, short-fiction author and a corporate lawyer who currently lives in Bengaluru. She is a flâneur and a black coffee-lover, writing in the nooks and corners of her house and the city. She examines laughter and the lack of it. She has contributed poems and fiction to Indian Literature (Sahitya Akademi’s bi-monthly journal), The Poetry India: Enchanting Echoes (All India Poetry Competition), The Bombay Review, The Scarlet Review, The Sunflower Collective. One of her short stories has been published in the book “Dry Tongues and Brave Hearts” published by The Red River. Excerpts of her book have been selected for reading at the Tata Literature Festival held in Mumbai, 2022. Her first collection of poems titled “How I Remember You is How the Page flips’ published with Red River has been longlisted in poetry category for The Wise Owl Literary Awards 2025.
Bhumika R teaches English language and communication skills at Model Institute of Engineering and Technology, Kot Bhalwal, Jammu. She writes poetry and short fiction in English and also translates poetry and fiction from Kannada into English and vice versa. Her Kannada translation of Mizo author Malsawmi Jacob’s novel (English), Zorami, was published in June 2025. Her debut poetry collection The Language of Unhealed Wounds was published by Red River Press (New Delhi) in November 2023 and her collection of short stories Night of the red crackers was published by Penprints Publication in January 2026 and launched at the International Kolkata Book Fair 2026. Her English translation of M S Murthy’s novel, Bowl was published by Doshor Publications in January 2026. Her yet to be published translations include N Sandhya Rani’s novel Ishtukaala Ottigiddu (The invisible walls between us), an anthology of Sujatha H R’s kannada poetry into English and Dr. Prasanna Santhekadur’s medical novella Su.
She is the recipient of Karnataka Lekhakiyara Sangha award (2025) under the translation category for her kannada translation of Malsawmi Jacob’s Mizo-English novel entitled Zorami: a redemption song. She is associated with the editorial team of Plato’s Caves Online, a literary e-zine. She lives between Jammu, Bengaluru and Kolkata.
Ragini Tharoor Srinivasan is a scholar of literature and cultural studies at Rice University in Houston, Texas. Her books include Overdetermined: How Indian English Literature Becomes Ethnic, Postcolonial, and Anglophone (Columbia), What is We? (Agenda), and the co-written The End Doesn't Happen All at Once (Aleph).
Rajani Radhakrishnan is the author of three books of poetry: Water to Water, Duplicity and No Way Home. A Pushcart Prize and Best of Net nomimee, she is the co-founder of Alt Poetry, a multi-channel platform for reading, writing and discussing poetry.
Dr. Rajashree Warrier is a multifaceted visionary and one of India’s foremost Bharatanatyam exponents. A dancer, musician, poet, and scholar, she is celebrated for her impeccable abhinaya and innovative choreography. In 2025, she was honoured with the ‘Kerala Prabha’, the state’s second-highest civilian award, for her monumental contributions to the arts. She is a “Top Grade" artist of Doordarshan and holds a PhD in Music from Kerala University.
As the founder of UTTARIKA, Dr. Warrier is a pioneer in expanding the Bharatanatyam repertoire. She has seamlessly integrated Malayalam poetry, folk tales like the Panchatantra, and the satirical works of Kunjan Nambiar into her dance, often incorporating vernacular body idioms to create a unique aesthetic language. A recipient of the Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi Award (2012), her work continues to bridge the gap between classical rigour and regional literary heritage.
Divya Spandana -- Ramya as she is popularly known -- is the Golden Girl of Kannada cinema. Her films include Abhi, Sanju Weds Geetha, Amrithadhare, Swathi Mutthina Male Haniye, Tananam Tananam and many, many more. A much-awarded actor and former MP, Divya has often expressed her love for poetry, especially verse by 12th-century poet-philosopher Basavanna.
Randhir Khare is a national and international award-winning poet, writer, artist, folklorist and teacher. He has forty books to his credit, performed his poetry in twelve concerts, exhibited his art in seven solo shows has inspired the work of photographers, artists and actors, and has collaborated with A.R Rahman who has set his poems to music. Randhir Khare has established and led two poetry-music bands – MYSTIC and AFTER RUMI. As an educationist and arts practitioner for the last fifty years he has brought alive literature for eight to thirty-year-olds through dramatic readings and performances. His novels The Legend of Creaky and The Last Jungle on Earth have been adapted on several occasions for the stage and used for creative workshops for The Gallery of Modern Art in Mumbai and The Prithvi Theatre Summertime workshops. They have also been taught in schools.
As storyteller, he has collected numerous folktales which he has performed for various audiences and collected them in a video titled The World in a Story. More recently he has performed for video a series of his original stories and used them in schools as discussion points and art activities.
He is the recipient of the Sanskriti Award for Creative Writing, the Sahitya Akademi’s Residency Award, The Palash Award for Lifetime Achievement in Education and Culture, The Pegasus Gold Medal for Poetry awarded by the Union of Bulgarian Writers and a host of other prizes that recognise his contribution to literature and education.
As director of The Rewachand Bhojwani Academy in Pune he has introduced a number of arts and literature programmes including the Library Alive and founded The Centre for Special Education.
His forthcoming books include “The Space Between” (selected poems 1975-2025) and “The Invisibles & Other Stories”.
Born in Pudukkottai, Rathna’s life has been a beautiful map of shifting landscapes. From the bustling energy of New Delhi and Mumbai to the vibrant pulse of New Jersey, she has spent the last eight years calling Bengaluru her home. Holding a Master’s degree in Commerce (M.Com) and a Bachelor’s in Education (B.Ed), Rathna initially dreamed of shaping young minds as a teacher. Life, however, had an alternate, deeply creative blueprint.
As family responsibilities naturally took center stage, her teaching ambitions paused—until a pivotal moment arrived. Metaphorically described as a tiny, persistent finger reaching out to her, she grasped that spark of inspiration and began to write, carving out her unique identity as a poet under the pen name Rathna Venkat. An introvert by nature who thrives in solitude, Rathna finds her closest companionship in books, soulful music, and fine cinema. Her literary foundation is deeply rooted in a passion for Classical Tamil Sangam literature.
Roopa Pai is one of India’s best-known writers for children. This computer engineer-turned-author has written over 35 books, ranging from picture books to chapter books and fiction to non-fiction, on themes as varied as sci-fi fantasy, popular science, maths, history, economics, Indian philosophy, life skills, medicine and memoir. Many of her books are bestsellers and are enjoyed as much by adults as by children.
Her best-known books include the 8-part Taranauts, India’s first fantasy-adventure series for children in English, Ready! 99 Must-Have Skills For The World- Conquering Teenager (And Almost-Teenager), the award-winning national bestseller The Gita For Children, listed by Amazon India as one of ‘100 Indian Books To Read In A Lifetime’, and So You Want To Know About Economics, a fun introduction to the subject for the young. Her most recent books are The Yoga Sutras for Children, Let’s Talk About Trees, published by WWF India, and Krishna Deva Raya, King of Kings.
Roopa is also a popular speaker – she has spoken at a variety of corporate forums, premier literary events like the Jaipur Literature Festival, international cultural organisations like the Asia Society in New York (at the invitation of the Consul General of India), and international Gita conferences. Her TEDx talk ‘Decoding The Gita, India’s Book Of Answers’ - Whatch Here - has received over 2 million views to date. She runs short courses online, on the Gita and other ancient Indian texts, for children and adults in India, the UK, and the USA.
Among her books for adults are an award-winning memoir, Made in India, with Indian fitness evangelist and supermodel Milind Soman, and two books on her hometown - Cubbon Park: The Green Heart of Bengaluru, the first-ever history of the city’s iconic 154-year-old park, and Becoming Bangalore: Stories that shaped a hometown, published in January 2025. Her debut work of translation – Every Day A Celebration – featuring the poems of celebrated Kannada poet K S Nisar Ahmed – has just been released.
When she is not writing, Roopa leads groups of children and young people on history and heritage walks across her beloved Bangalore and Karnataka, as part of her job as director of a company she co-founded, BangaloreWalks (www.bangalorewalks.com). She also curates Bangalore-specific public talks and events at the community space she manages, The Bangalore Room.
Sandhya is a dreamer, globetrotter, and versatile storyteller who expresses her deepest emotions through verse. Spanning four decades, her debut poetry anthology, A Storm in My Soul, beautifully blends her natural free verse with eclectic classical styles such as sonnet, haiku, rondeau, cinquain, and doha.
Sparked by Bookleaf Publishing's 21-day writing challenge, Sandhya dusted off old notebooks and sifted through digital archives to complete a deeply personal collection of poems. She won the Emily Dickenson award for this book. Beyond her solo poetry, her verses have been featured widely across multiple literary anthologies such as “Out of the blue”, “Assorted flowers.” “Safe and brave space”, “Unspoken words,” “Mother-an Eternal soul Vol 1” and even a Hindi poem in “Dil ki baat.” As a multi-genre author, Sandhya bridges the gap between poetry and prose. Her broader literary catalog includes the beautifully illustrated children's book Mia finds a home, the fiction novel If Then Else, and a collaborative project, co-authoring her father’s autobiography, Burma to Bangalore.
Dedicated to building and nurturing creative communities, Sandhya extends her storytelling well beyond the printed page. She connects with global audiences through her blog Between the T(r)opics, hosts engaging author interviews and poetry episodes on her YouTube channel Writing with Sandhya, and hosts the podcast Mentza TBB – Army Adventures with Sandhya. Discover her creative journey, explore her writing, and connect across her platforms via https://linktr.ee/Sandhya.ranganathan She joins the festival lineups to discuss poetic evolution, structural experimentation, and the art of translating a lifetime of global travel into raw, evocative verse.
Sangeeta Mansur is a Sustainability advisor and a Leadership Catalyst by profession, with a Ph.D. from Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru. Sangeeta is the Founder of a boutique consulting and advisory firm Bhairavi Business & Consultancy, and has produced global award-winning work in sustainability reporting for her clients.
As an integration catalyst and as a life& leadership coach, she now offers leadership development programmes to organizations and senior leaders at cusps of reinventions. She has published several global research publications, made contributions to anthologies in the domain of Sustainability, and has designed and taught courses in Sustainability. She led a global forum for Sustainability in Business Education for several years with Centre for Responsible Business.
Sangeeta has been a recipient of the award of Exceptional Leader of Excellence by the Women Economic Forum, Global Annual WEF, (2022). A spiritual seeker, an avid yoga practitioner, and a lover of music, dance and literature for long, she is a closet poet turned debut poet recently. In her poems, Sangeeta traces her internal journey through life, across different stages and experiences, and cusps of seeking and realizations. The lean set of 22 poems in her debut book of poetry, Whispers of The Earth, touches upon themes of love, loss, pain, pursuit of growth, the pull of the spiritual and the refuge it brings.
Nobody knows how or when a poet is born. When I first began to write poetry, it was simply to express my love for, and joy in, the beauty of life. But slowly, poetry began to lead me into a dimension of life I had never known existed.
Raqs, The Dance of Passion is a book of poetry conceived in love, in an intense state of ishq. I am merely a medium through which these poems found their way onto the page.
Born and brought up in Bangalore, I studied English Literature and Journalism. Having been given the freedom to experience life through the many paths that beckoned me, I was fortunate enough to discover the subtle beauty of the rainbow in all its shades.
My parents introduced me to the many forms of art, music, and poetry. Urdu poetry, in particular, was an inseparable part of my growing-up years. The language of love, longing, and surrender found in Sufi poetry has always held my heart.
Sheena Lakshmi is a poet based out of Bangalore. Her poems have appeared in anthologies such as the Year Book of Indian Poetry–2025, What Else is Rain, and Caged Beginnings, apart from literary journals such as Das Literarisch, Riveraine Muse, and Chipmunk, among others. Her debut book of poems, Defiance Came Naturally To Me, was published by RedRiver in 2021. She’s a content designer by profession and loves the outdoors. She also indulges in music, trekking, farming, and biking.
Shivaranjani Harish is an acclaimed Bharatanatyam artiste, educator, choreographer and cultural ambassador from Bengaluru, with 36 years of dedicated practice and 26 years of teaching experience. She is India's youngest artiste to receive both the 'A' and 'Top' Grades from Doordarshan and is empanelled with ICCR and SPIC MACAY. A disciple of Karnataka Kalashree Guru Sri Kiran Subramanyam and Smt. Sandhya Kiran, she has mentored over 2,000 students and guided more than 150 Ranga Praveshas. Through performances, workshops, and lecture-demonstrations, she has inspired nearly 3 lakh students across India while presenting Bharatanatyam at prestigious festivals and institutions worldwide.
Shobha Tharoor Srinivasan is an award-winning author, poet, and voice-over artist whose work bridges cultures, generations, and genres. The author of more than a dozen books published in India and the United States, she writes fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and picture books for readers of all ages. Her work has been widely anthologized, translated into Malayalam, excerpted in school curricula, and even performed by Silicon Valley Shakespeare in California.
As a voice artist, Shobha received the Best Narration Award at India’s 68th National Film Awards (2022). Her distinctive voice has enriched documentaries, educational programs, journalistic projects, and audiobooks, including narrations of her own books.
Among her acclaimed titles are Indi-Alphabet, winner of the Purple Dragonfly Award for Cultural Diversity; It’s Time to Rhyme, Publishing Next’s Best Children’s Book of the Year Award (2022); and Prince with a Paintbrush: The Story of Raja Ravi Varma, a Best Book of the Year by “Beyond the Box Kids” and featured as a clue on Kaun Banega Crorepati. Other notable works include Let’s Use Our Words, an inventive exploration of language through prose, poetry, wordplay, and games; Parvati the Elephant’s Very Important Day; Sandalwood’s Story; Look Before You Leap; and the adult nonfiction title Good Innings. Her latest picture book, written entirely in haiku, celebrates the wonder of a child’s everyday experiences. Bird/Dog, her first chapter book, was co-written with her granddaughter, making it a unique intergenerational collaboration.
Before becoming a full-time writer and voice artist, Shobha spent two decades as a nonprofit development professional, advocating and fundraising for people with disabilities. A frequent speaker at literary festivals and conferences, Shobha champions the power of stories to foster empathy and connection. Dividing her time between California and India, she embraces her identity as a global citizen-a perspective that lies at the heart of her work.
Shruti Kulkarni is a documentary filmmaker, photographer and author of Ode to Broken Things published by Red River, 2025. Her poems and artworks have appeared in the anthologies Through the Looking Glass: Reflections on Madness and Chaos Within (Indie Blue Publishing, 2021) and 100 Poems Are Not Enough (Pan Macmillan India, 2018). She works as a film consultant with the World Bank and other organisations involved in the fields of environment and development. Having grown up in Dehradun, she most enjoys taking long walks in the quiet wilderness and looking for birds and fungi. She is currently working on a collection of poems entitled Two Birds Sleeping in My Pocket.
Sri Prithvi Krishna is a Distinguished Mridangam artiste whose musical journey has been shaped under the guidance of illustrious gurus, each contributing profoundly to his artistic evolution He received his foundational training from Vid. Byrappa, further refined his skills under Vid. M. S. Ramaiah and Vid. M. A. Krishnamurthy, and underwent advanced tutelage with the legendary Vid. Mannargudi A. Easwaran. This rich lineage has endowed him with a deep command over laya, refined accompaniment aesthetics and mastery over intricate rhythmic patterns Prithvi Krishna’s playing is characterized by crisp strokes, well-structured and imaginative korvais, and a deep musical sensitivity that elevates the concert experience. Whether accompanying vocal music, instrumental performances, dance recitals, kriti renditions, or energizing swara kalpana, he brings a fine balance of subtlety and strength, maintaining an intuitive and responsive synergy with the lead artiste . An “A-Grade Mridangam Artiste " of All India Radio, Bengaluru, he is a regular performer on AIR and Doordarshan
and has been performing professionally for over 22 years. He has accompanied several eminent musicians including Vid. Rudrapatnam Thyagarajan, Vid. T. V. Ramaprasad, Vid. S. Shankar, Vid. D. Balakrishna, Vid. R. K. Padmanabha, and Vidushi Vijayalakshmi Subramaniam, as well as senior dancers such as Nrithya Kalanidhi Dr. Neena Prasad. He has performed at numerous prestigious sabhas and festivals in India and abroad
Srijani Mitra is a writer based in Bangalore with works published in North Dakota Quarterly, South Seattle Emerald, Indian Literature by Sahitya Akademi and Madras Courier. Her book, Mantras of the Moon, was recently published by Red Rook Press, University of Alabama. She has been a speaker at Mangalore Lit Fest, SRM University lit fest and IIT Guwahati. She has held workshops at colleges.
Srividya Ramanath, disciple of Neyveli Sri Santhanagopalan, Smt T. Mukthamma and Smt Leelavathi Padmanabhan, is an 'A' graded artist of the All India Radio, Bangalore.
Srividya is one of the Directors of the Dept. of Music at Manava Seva Kendra, a care and share organisation founded by Guruji Viswanath.
Dr Srividya Sivakumar is a poet based in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. She is the author of three collections: The Soundtrack of My Life: Side B (Red River Press, 2025), The Heart is an Attic (Hawakal, 2018) — which debuted as the #1 New Release in Indian Literature on Amazon and is cited in The Journal of Commonwealth Literature — and The Blue Note (Writers Workshop, 2012). She is also co-editor of The Shape of a Poem: The Red River Book of Contemporary Erotic Poetry.
She writes desire, intimacy, and domestic life with precision and nerve, turning wit and wordplay loose on love, language, and the expectations placed on women. Tender, sharp, and unafraid, her work finds revelation in the ordinary and voices the silences women inherit and keep. Her poems appear in anthologies and journals, including Best Indian Poetry, the Yearbook of Indian Poetry, Witness, The Kali Project, and Count Every Breath.
A committed advocate for the form, she has written The World in Verse, a monthly poetry column for Deccan Herald, and Running on Poetry, a weekly column for The Hindu MetroPlus. Her work has won the Architectural Poetry Contest (2021), been shortlisted for the WE Kamala Das Poetry Awards (2020) and the Deodar Prize for the short story (2025) and been nominated for Best of the Net (2018).
A teacher of English for close to three decades, she is also an editor and TEDx speaker who has read and spoken at universities, colleges, and conferences across India, and been featured in The Hindu, Scroll, and The Times of India. She has spent these years nurturing a life in language — keeping poetry vibrant, accessible, and alive.
Susha is an award-winning musician, composer, and visual artist whose work bridges South Indian classical traditions, jazz, and contemporary original music. Trained in Carnatic music from the age of five under some of the tradition’s leading gurus, she later earned a Master’s degree in Jazz Performance and Composition from the University of Toronto, developing a musical language that moves fluidly between tradition, improvisation, and contemporary expression
Over the past two decades, Susha has built a multifaceted career as a performer, composer, arranger, and collaborator. She has released more than ten albums across Carnatic, world, and contemporary music, performed at festivals and concert halls across India, North America, Europe, and Southeast Asia, and was the lead vocalist of the pioneering contemporary Indian bands Yodhakaa and Poorvaa.
Alongside her independent work, Susha is an established singer and orchestral arranger in Indian cinema, collaborating with leading composers while also creating original scores for feature films, dance productions, short films, and visual media. Her practice extends beyond music into visual storytelling, where she is drawn to creating immersive experiences that unite sound, space, and design.
At the heart of her work is a deep curiosity about connection - between cultures, disciplines, traditions, and people. She seeks to create work that is emotionally generous, deeply collaborative, and rooted in attentive listening.
Her latest album, Love Language, is a twelve-song cycle exploring the many manifestations of love. Bringing together influences from Carnatic music, jazz, and contemporary songwriting, the album is conceived as a companion to listeners - one they can return to throughout their lives, always finding something new and relevant reflected to them
Sushma Soma is a Karnatik vocalist and singer-songwriter whose work draws on her classical training to explore personal stories and lived experiences through music. Recognised as one of Singapore’s “10 Women Leaders in Music,” she is also a recipient of the Young Artist Award, Singapore’s highest honour for young arts practitioners.
Her acclaimed album HOME, created with American composer and musician Aditya Prakash, explored themes of environment and sustainability. Described as “one of the finest albums about environment and wildlife” in 2022, the album received international recognition, with tracks featured on the BBC, NHK Japan, Rolling Stone India, and Songlines magazine. Songlines editor-in-chief Simon Broughton called it “a powerful statement about what we are doing to our planet and our environment.”
Her most recent release, The Mountain Has the Last Say, is an EP written and composed by Sushma and produced by Aditya Prakash. Created in the aftermath of her husband's passing, Sushma drew on her own Tamil poetry to express her experience of grief, loss, and healing. The EP was praised in 2024 as “the most profoundly moving work to come out of Singapore this year” and described as a “masterpiece.”
Tishani Doshi publishes poetry, fiction, and essays. Her fifth collection of poetry, Egrets, While War, explores the body, violence, and renewal in fractured times. A former lead dancer with the Chandralekha company in Madras, she is the author of multiple award-winning and shortlisted books, a visiting professor at NYU Abu Dhabi, and a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
Trishna Basak , born in 1970, Kolkata, is a notable poet, story writer, novelist and essayist of modern Bengali Literature. A B.E. and M.Tech from Jadavpur University, Trishna left her lucrative career to pursue her passion for literarure. Her 5 year stint with Sahitya Academi (Under Ministry of Culture, Government of India) enabled her to get in close touch with Indian Literature. At present, She is a full time writer, editor and translator. She is also the secretary of Kolkata Translators Forum.
She has around 70 books of poems, short stories, novels, science fiction, essays and translated works to her credit. Ajit Sing banam Ajit Sing (Novel), Chandaboti (Novel), Charer Manush (Novel), Punorujjiban (novel), Atmaramer Notun Khancha (Science Fiction), Tissue Paperer Pansi(Story) Panchasti Galpo (Story), Anuprobesh (Novel), 25ti Galpo (Story), Library Shirt Kholo (Poem), Beral Na Nilghanta (Poem), Je Kothao Phere Na (Poem), Projukti O Nari (Non Fiction) Ushakiran Khaner galpo (Translated from Maithili), Nirbachito Malayalam Galpo (Translated from Malayalam through English), are some of her popular books. Her two anthology of poems have been recently translated into English- Unborn (Virasat Publication), and Open Your Door Library (From Red River). She has also edited a number of books on poetry by Indian women poets, short stories by Indian writers and science fiction by Bengali women writers to name a few. Recipient of several prestigious grants and awards like Sahitya Academi travel grant 2008, Ila chanda Smriti Puraskar, 2013, Somen Chanda Smarak Samman, Paschimbanga Bangla Academi, 2018, Namita Chattopadhyay Sahitya Samman 2020, Ila Purkait Sahitya samman, Ramendra Kumar Acharja Chowdhury Smriti Puraskar 2024, Sera Nari Kalam 2025, Kabi Chandraboti Smriti Samman 2025 to name a few. Trishna loves experimenting with complex themes. Her writings bear the wounds of modern terror stricken world as well as estrangement of technology dominated relationship. She lives in Kolkata. She is married to a Professor of Jadavpur Universiry and has a daughter.
Unborn, anthology of poems translated into English, Virasat, Partho Open Your Door Library, Book of Poems translated into English by Nabanita Sengupta, Red River
Prajukti our Nari, Book of feminist writings translated into Hindi by Shampa Roy, Virasat, Partho
Vinita Agrawal lives in Indore, India. She has authored seven books of poetry and edited two anthologies on climate change. Her latest poetry collection is The Hour of God published by Red River Press. Her poem ‘A Place both Inside and Out’ was shortlisted for poem of the year 2026 by Arc Poetry, Canada. She received the fresh new voice Award from Mulberry Literary Review in May 2026 for her poem ‘Bird of Debt’. She received a prize for her poem ‘The Light Phenomena’ from Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association (SFPA) in 2025. She was the Runner-up for Mānoa poetry prize 2025, runner-up for the Earth Amulet Poetry Prize ( River Paw Press), and was awarded the Jayanta Mahapatra National Award for Literature 2024, the Proverse Prize Hongkong 2021, the Rabindranath Tagore Literary Prize 2018 and the Gayatri GaMarsh Memorial Award for Literary Excellence, USA 2015. She convened the PEN All-India Centre at Prithvi Theatre, Mumbai. She has authored a book of children’s fiction titled Jade and the Harmony Flyers. Her poetry has been published in Gallerie, Global South, Pratik, Mascara Review, Indian Literature, Asian Cha, Voice and Verse, Tiger Moth Review, The Bombay Literary Magazine, Knopf Newsletter, Canary, Tabula Rasa, Poetry Lighthouse, Beaver, Strange Horizons, Madras Courier among others. She is on the advisory board of the Tagore Literary Prize. She is an amateur naturalist, and an amateur bird photographer.
Dr. Zothanchhingi Khiangte is Associate Professor and former Head of the Department of English, Bodoland University, and currently Coordinator of the Centre for Women Studies. A scholar of gender studies, indigenous literatures, oral traditions, folklore, and cultural studies, she has published extensively and spoken at numerous national and international forums, thus bringing indigenous perspectives from Northeast India into wider academic and literary discourse.
She is the author of Orality: The Quest for Meanings (2016), (Un)making Gender: Re-inventing Selves (2022), and Representations of Memory (2023). Her recent work, Voices from the Bodo Heartland: Bodo Women’s Poetry in Translation (Red River, 2025), is a pioneering contribution to indigenous literary studies, bringing the voices of Bodo women poets to a wider readership through translation. The volume foregrounds women's experiences, cultural memory, identity, and the lived realities of the Bodo community, making an important intervention in the documentation and dissemination of indigenous women's writing from Northeast India.
Her recent scholarly publications include research articles in Rupkatha Journal, Journal of International Women’s Studies, Genealogy, and Women’s Studies International Forum addressing themes of indigenous histories, gender, memory, conflict, and cultural traditions.
