Andaleeb Wajid

Andaleeb Wajid is a hybrid author, having published 23 novels of which the last five have been self-published on Amazon, all in 2019. Andaleeb enjoys writing in a number of different genres such as Young Adult, Romance and Horror. A full-time author, Andaleeb also teaches creative writing in schools and colleges sometimes. Her YA novel When She Went Away was shortlisted for the Hindu Young World Goodbooks Award in 2017.

Attending Session

January 21, 2020 ● 3:00 pm
Sparks, Flames, Embers - The life of a love story. Mridula Garg, Andaleeb Wajid and Devapriya Roy in conversation with Sukanya Das

January 21, 2020 ● 4:00 pm
Beyond The Veil - Hem Borker and Andaleeb Wajid on stereotypes and pre-conceived notions about the world around us. In conversation with Sandip Roy

Anuj Lugun

Anuj Lugun is a poet, short-story writer, song composer, novelist, playwright and essayist, but he is best known for his poems. His political and social justice has earned him the title of tribal poet. Lugun’s writings expore themes such as love, freedom, revolution, and opposition to all types of bigotry. He received the Bharat bhudshan agarwal Award for his poem Aghoshit Ulgunan (Undeclared Uprising), the Rashtriya Muktibodh Puraskara and the Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar. 

Attending Session

Ashutosh Chaturvedi

Ashutosh Chaturvedi is the Editor-in-Chief of Prabhat Khabar. He has 30 years of experience in journalism and was associated with the BBC for eight years. Chaturvedi started his career as a trainee journalist in Maya and then moved to India Today, Sunday Observer, Dainik Jagran, followed by the BBC. He was also a key member of the launch team of the BBC Hindi website. Prior to moving to Prabhat Khabar, Chaturvedi was editor of Amar Ujala, overseeing the entire news operation of the group.

Attending Session

Avik Chanda

Avik Chanda is an author, business advisor, entrepreneur, trainer and speaker. Chanda has published two poetry collections, Jokhon Bideshe, in Bengali and Footnotes, besides a novel, Anchor. His acclaimed business book, From Command To Empathy: Using EQ in the Age of Disruption, co-authored with Suman Ghose, was featured in 2018 in Amazon India’s Best Reads, under ‘Business, Strategy and Management’. His latest book, Dara Shukoh, is a non-fictional account of Shah Jahan’s favourite son. Chanda holds degrees in economics from Kolkata’s Presidency College and the Delhi School of Economics. A global soul, Avik divides his time peripatetically between the Middle Ages and the twenty-first century.

Attending Session

January 21, 2020 ● 11:30 am
Itihas ka Agar Magar - Kya Dara Shukoh Mughal itihas badal sakta tha? Avik Chanda with Hussain Haidry

Devapriya Roy

Devapriya Roy is an Indian author best known for her books, Friends from College, Indira and The Heat and Dust Project.  Roy was born in Calcutta and studied in Calcutta Girl’s High School.She earned her bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in English literature from Presidency College and Jawaharlal Nehru University respectively. She obtained a PhD on Bharata’s Natyashastra from Jawaharlal Nehru University under the supervision of award-winning poet and playwright H.S. Shivaprakash, and her co-supervisor was Prof Katia Legeret of the University of Paris VIII. Roy began her career with The Vague Woman’s Handbook, a quirky novel that was published by HarperCollins in March 2011 and subsequently appeared on the India Today Bestseller List. Her second book was The Weight Loss Club: The Curious Experiments of Nancy Housing Cooperative, yet another quirky novel. Her 2015 book, The Heat and Dust Project (written along with husband Saurav Jha) chronicles the story of travelling through India on local buses “on a very very tight budget” which debuted at no.1 on the Hindustan Times-AC Nielsen list and also got excellent reviews. The Heat and Dust Project is also a first-of-its-kind dynamic book as the couple used Facebook to document their journey even as it was underway. She lives in New Delhi with her husband and cat.

Attending Session

January 21, 2020 ● 3:00 pm
Sparks, Flames, Embers - The life of a love story. Mridula Garg, Andaleeb Wajid and Devapriya Roy in conversation with Sukanya Das

Gourahari Das

Dr. Gourahari Das is an Odia story writer, novelist, and columnist. He has published over 45 works, including 5 novels, 16 short-story collections, 7 vignettes, 5 collection of essays, 2 plays, 1 collection of poems, translations and travelogues. He has translated autobiographies of Kuldip Nayar, Ruskin Bond, and Malayalam writer Benyamin’s Goat Days. He received the Sahitya Akademi Award for the short story collection Kanta O’ Anyanya Galpa. Das works as the Features Editor of Sambad, Editor of the monthly Katha and as Principal of Sambad School of Media and Culture. 

Attending Session

January 21, 2020 ● 3:10 pm
Sahitya ke pankh, Anuvad - Gourahari Das, Mahadev Toppo Session in Hindi

Hem Borker

Hem Borker is Assistant Professor at the Centre for Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policy, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi. She earned her DPhil (PhD) in Education from the University of Oxford on the Clarendon Scholarship. Her research interests include education, social exclusion, gender and youth. She also holds a MA in Social Work from the University of Delhi and BA in History from St. Stephen’s College, University of Delhi. Her ethnographic monograph Madrasas and the Making of Islamic Womanhood (2018) has been published by Oxford University Press.

Attending Session

January 21, 2020 ● 4:00 pm
Beyond The Veil - Hem Borker and Andaleeb Wajid on stereotypes and pre-conceived notions about the world around us. In conversation with Sandip Roy

Hussain Haidry

After his corporate stint in finance and accounts for about five years, Hussain Haidry moved to Mumbai almost two years ago to pursue writing, and now works as a performance poet, lyricist and screenwriter. He writes poems and songs in Hindi-Urdu and on his observations on life and people around him. He has written lyrics for the recently released films Qarib Qarib Singlle and Mukkabaaz. His spoken word poems,Hindustani Musalmaan and Lat, were among the first Hindi-Urdu poems to be appreciated in the spoken word arena. He also co-wrote the web series Laakhon Mein Ek Season 2 on Amazon Prime. 

Attending Session

January 21, 2020 ● 11:30 am
Itihas ka Agar Magar - Kya Dara Shukoh Mughal itihas badal sakta tha? Avik Chanda with Hussain Haidry

January 21, 2020 ● 4:00 pm
Kavita Cascade - Vandana Tete, Raga D’Silva, and Hussain Haidry Session in Hindi

Mahadev Toppo

Mahadev Toppo is a retired banker, well known tribal thinker and poet and actor from Jharkhand. The anguish of tribals and the problems confronting them have been articulated through a collection of 44 poems tiled Jungle Pahaad ke Paath.

Attending Session

January 21, 2020 ● 3:10 pm
Sahitya ke pankh, Anuvad - Gourahari Das, Mahadev Toppo Session in Hindi

Mridula Garg

Equally proficient in Hindi and English, MridulaGarg has written in almost every genre in Hindi: novels, plays, essays, a memoir, a travel account and ninety short stories. Her novel, Kathgulab was awarded the Vyas Samman in 2004 and Miljul Mann, the Sahitya Akademi Award in 2013. She received the Hellman-Hammet Grant from The Human Rights Watch, New York, in 2001. Four of her novels, Chittacobra, Anitya, Kathgulab and Main Aur Main, have been translated into several Indian and foreign languages. Her essays have been published by leading journals in Hindi and English, in India and abroad. 

Attending Session

January 21, 2020 ● 11:00 am
Inauguration - Mridula Garg inaugurates the third edition of Tata Steel Jharkhand Literary Meet, in association with Prabhat Khabar

January 21, 2020 ● 11:30 am
Kalam Ki Dhaar Par - Mridula Garg on a lifetime of writing fearlessly. In conversation with Sujata, the Chokher Bali blogger Session in Hindi

January 21, 2020 ● 3:00 pm
Sparks, Flames, Embers - The life of a love story. Mridula Garg, Andaleeb Wajid and Devapriya Roy in conversation with Sukanya Das

Nemat Sadat

Nemat Sadat is the author of The Carpet Weaver, which was published by Penguin India in June 2019. Sadat’s novel opened to wide critical acclaim in the Indian national press and was India’s most written about debut fiction last year. Sadat was also profiled in many publications such as Grazia India, The Sunday Guardian, and VOGUE India. 

Sadat is the first native from Afghanistan to have publicly come out as gay and campaign for LGBTQIA rights in Muslim communities worldwide. While teaching at the American University of Afghanistan, he secretly mobilized a gay movement off campus but was then persecuted by the Afghan authorities and deemed a national security threat for allegedly subverting Islam. Sadat has previously worked as a journalist at ABC News’s Nightline, CNN’s Fareed Zakaria GPS and the UN Chronicle, and has earned six university degrees, including graduate degrees from Harvard, Columbia, and Oxford. He is working on his second novel while touring the Indian Subcontinent to promote The Carpet Weaver. 

Attending Session

January 21, 2020 ● 2:15 pm
The Rainbow In The Closet - Nemat Sadat, Sandip Roy and Raga D'Silva in conversation with Sukanya Das

Pankaj Kapur

Pankaj Kapur is a theatre, television and film actor. He has appeared in several television serials and films and became a household name after his titular role in the television series Karamchand. His works include Ek Doctor Ki Maut, Roja, JaaneBhi do Yaaro, Maqbool, Khamosh, Matru Ki BijleekaMandola, Shaandaar, and Toba Tek Singh. He has received a Filmfare award, two Screen awards, two Indian Telly awards, and three National Film Awards for his work.

Attending Session

January 21, 2020 ● 5:00 pm
Badalte Screen, Yaadgar Kirdar - Pankaj Kapur, Supriya Pathak Kapur aur unka filmi safar Session in Hindi

January 21, 2020 ● 6:45 pm
Afterwords: Dopehri - Dramatic reading by Pankaj Kapur. Produced by Supriya Pathak Kapur Session in Hindi

Raga Olga D’Silva

Raga Olga D’ Silva is an advertising professional, poet and author. With over 25 years of experience in the creative field, Raga has worked in senior positions in advertising in India and New Zealand and has been the recipient of several prestigious awards. Globally acknowledged as an expert on corporate speakers and B2B content curation, Raga herself is a sought-after speaker on the subjects of Diversity, LGBT, Building a Personal Brand and Doing Business in India. As the South Asian Ambassador for Diabetes UK and a social influencer she has appeared on BBC, Sky TV, Channel 4, ITV and TVNZ to share her personal story and views to help prevent Diabetes. She has been on several boards over the years and was the first woman to be elected on the board of the India New Zealand Business Council. She is currently a trustee on the board of CRY UK.  Raga is a mother of twins and divides her time between London, Mumbai and New Zealand and considers all three her home.

Attending Session

January 21, 2020 ● 2:15 pm
The Rainbow In The Closet - Nemat Sadat, Sandip Roy and Raga D'Silva in conversation with Sukanya Das

January 21, 2020 ● 4:00 pm
Kavita Cascade - Vandana Tete, Raga D’Silva, and Hussain Haidry Session in Hindi

Ruskin Bond

Ruskin Bond is an award-winning Indian author of British descent, much renowned for his role in promoting children’s literature in India. He has written over 500 short stories, essays and novellas and more than 50 books for children. His first novel, The Room on the Roof, written at 17, received the John Llewellyn Rhys Memorial Prize in 1957. His latest work, The Little Book of Comfort, will be available from January 2019. He has received the Sahitya Akademi Award, the Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan, and the Sahitya Akademi’s Bal Sahitya Puraskar.

Attending Session

January 21, 2020 ● 12:30 pm
Rusty Rewind - Ruskin Bond on the joys of writing Rusty. In conversation with Pratiti Ganatra

January 21, 2020 ● 12:30 pm
Once Upon A Crime - How murder mysteries reflect their times. Ruskin Bond in conversation with Malavika Banerjee

Sandip Roy

Sandip Roy is a novelist and journalist currently living in Kolkata. His first novel Don’t Let Him Know won the honour title for the Asian Pacific American Literature Awards in the US and the Likho Award in India and was listed for other awards including the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature and the Green Carnation Prize. He is a columnist for Mint Lounge and The Hindu and the host of the Sandip Roy Show on Audio Express and a weekly radio dispatch for San Francisco public radio.He has been a senior editor with Firstpost.com and his journalism has appeared in the New York Times, The Guardian, The Times of India, BBC, Economic Times, San Francisco Chronicle and other outlets.

Attending Session

January 21, 2020 ● 4:00 pm
Beyond The Veil - Hem Borker and Andaleeb Wajid on stereotypes and pre-conceived notions about the world around us. In conversation with Sandip Roy

January 21, 2020 ● 2:15 pm
The Rainbow In The Closet - Nemat Sadat, Sandip Roy and Raga D'Silva in conversation with Sukanya Das

Sonam Kalra

Multiple award-winning singer and composer Sonam Kalra has been trained in both Indian and Western traditions of music and is equally adept at both. Her beautiful, powerful voice with its honest sensitivity has taken her to prestigious stages across the world including The Sydney Opera House and MTV Coke Studio. Sonam’s unique brainchild, ‘Sonam Kalra & the Sufi Gospel Project’ which blends the many voices of faith through poetry, prayer and music to create one universal voice of faith, has earned her international critical acclaim in over 30 countries at prestigious festivals and venues around the world. Sonam has been felicitated for her work in music with many awards, including the Femina Woman of Worth Award, the Indian Express Devi Award and the Global WIN Award for inspiring women worldwide and has been invited to share her music and work on Secularism through Music at various TED talks and WIN Conferences globally.

Attending Session

January 21, 2020 ● 6:30 pm
Afterwords: Sham-e-sufiyana - Sonam Kalra and troupe Session in Hindi

January 21, 2020 ● 5:00 pm
Usha Uthup – Ullas Ki Naav - Usha Uthup Ki Kahani, Unki Zabani. Biographer Vikas Kumar Jha ke saath. In conversation with Sonam Kalra Session in Hindi

Sujata

Sujata is a poet, author and academic who is known for her deep understanding of feminism, social concerns and the far-reaching impact of the use of inappropriate language as a tool of suppression. From the first community feminist movement to her feminist blog Chokher Bali, her concerns are reflected in her writing. She has received awards and accolades for her poetry anthology Antim Maun ke Beech.  Her book on feminism, Stri Nirmiti and her novel Ek Bata Do is currently gaining a lot of popularity. She has been teaching at Delhi University for the last decade. 

Attending Session

January 21, 2020 ● 11:30 am
Kalam Ki Dhaar Par - Mridula Garg on a lifetime of writing fearlessly. In conversation with Sujata, the Chokher Bali blogger Session in Hindi

Supriya Pathak Kapur

Supriya Pathak Kapur is a film and television actress and stage artist. She has appeared in films and serials like Sarkar, Wake up Sid, Delhi 6, Masoom, The Bengali Night, Goliyon ki Raasleela Ram-Leela, Love per Square Foot, Khichdi, Idhar Udhar, Ek Mahal ho Sapno ka and Mohandas B.A.L.L.B. Pathak has received the Filmfare Awards, Indian Telly Awards, Zee Cine Awards and Apsara Film & Television Producers Guild Awards for her work.

Attending Session

January 21, 2020 ● 5:00 pm
Badalte Screen, Yaadgar Kirdar - Pankaj Kapur, Supriya Pathak Kapur aur unka filmi safar Session in Hindi

January 21, 2020 ● 6:45 pm
Afterwords: Dopehri - Dramatic reading by Pankaj Kapur. Produced by Supriya Pathak Kapur Session in Hindi

Usha Uthup

Usha Uthup is a pop, filmi, jazz, and playback singer who has been singing professionally since the late Sixties. Darling, which she recorded with Rekha Bhardwaj for the film 7 Khoon Maaf, won the Filmfare Award for Best Female Playback Singer in 2012. Uthup also sang for a two-volume collection of children’s rhymes Karadi Rhymes. She appeared as a judge on a singing reality show Bharat Ki Shaan: Singing Star – Season 2 (2012), aired on DD National channel, along with Ismail Darbar. Uthup is much loved for her unique voice and vibrant stage presence. 

Attending Session

January 21, 2020 ● 5:00 pm
Usha Uthup – Ullas Ki Naav - Usha Uthup Ki Kahani, Unki Zabani. Biographer Vikas Kumar Jha ke saath. In conversation with Sonam Kalra Session in Hindi

Vandna Tete

Vandna Tete is an author who writes in Hindi and Khariya. Her stories are published in regional and national publications and she is also a listed artiste on AIR Ranchi for folk songs and the telling of folk stories. Tete is Editor-Publisher of Samakalin Tana Bana and children’s newspaper Patang. She is an editor with Jharkhand Khabar. She started Jharkhand’s first multilingual newspaper Jharkhandi Bhasha Sahitya Sanskriti – Akhada. She also runs a Khariya language monthy Sorinaneed.

Attending Session

January 21, 2020 ● 4:00 pm
Kavita Cascade - Vandana Tete, Raga D’Silva, and Hussain Haidry Session in Hindi

Vikas Kumar Jha

Vikas Kumar Jha is a journalist, columnist, editor, author, biographer and anchor  who has three novels, two biographies, one poetry collection and one essay collection to his credit.  He has been associated with publications such as Outlook, Maya, Ravivaar, New Express, Rashtriya Prasang and channels such as ETV Bihar and ETV Lucknow. He is the recipient of the Katha UK Honour 2011 at the House of Commons for his novel, McCluskieganj.

Attending Session

January 21, 2020 ● 5:00 pm
Usha Uthup – Ullas Ki Naav - Usha Uthup Ki Kahani, Unki Zabani. Biographer Vikas Kumar Jha ke saath. In conversation with Sonam Kalra Session in Hindi