Abhijeet Gogoi
Abhijeet Gogoi is an Asamiya poet with two poetry collections, Music Chair (2022) and Anya Ata Dinor Babe (2024). He has also published in leading magazines like Gariyoshi, Satsori, and Prakash. His poems have been translated into other Indian languages and featured in Sahitya Akademi’s journals like Indian Literature and Samakalin Bharatiya Sahitya and Bharatiya Jnanpith’s magazine Naya Gyanodaya. He received the Sahitya Akademi Young Authors Travel Grant 2024 and the Asam Sahitya Sabha Yuva Award (Kabyashree Hazarika Trust Award 2023-2025). He participated in several literary festivals, including the Festival of Letters 2025, Asia's largest literature festival, organized by Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi.
Amita Talwar
Amita Talwar is the founding editor and publisher of Channel 6, Hyderabad’s first monthly magazine. A course in filmmaking at New York University led to a documentary on Kaifi Azmi. Her photographs were exhibited in India and at the Wendt Gallery in New York, and published as a book, Forms of the Formless (2010). ‘Veils and Palimpsests: Kashmir 2025’, an exhibition of her work, is currently on at the Gandhi Memorial Centre in Bethesda, Washington DC. She founded Art For Causes (2014), which launched Shabd Shala in collaboration with the Kabir Project (2023). Her current initiative is ‘Main Pal Do Pal Ka Shayar Hoon', a play on Sahir Ludhianvi. Year: 2019
Anand Neelakantan
Anand Neelakantan is the author of the popular Bahubali trilogy, the prequel to S. S. Rajamouli's movie. He is also the author of Asura: Tale of the Vanquished (2012), a retelling of the Ramayana from Ravana's point of view, and the Ajaya series, which told the Mahabharata from Duryodhana's perspective. Vanara (2018), Valmiki's Women (2021), Nala Damayanti (2023), The Tale of the Flying Mountains (2023), and the latest Many Ramayanas, Many Lessons (2025) are his other popular works. His books have been translated into more than fifteen languages, including Indonesian and Burmese. He has also written scripts and screenplays for TV and columns for newspapers.
Anjal Prakash
Anjal Prakash is a Clinical Associate Professor (Research) and Research Director at the Bharti Institute of Public Policy (BIPP), Indian School of Business (ISB). An experienced researcher and academic, his work primarily focuses on water and climate change, urban resilience, gender, and social inclusion in South Asia. He is an IPCC author and contributes to their report.
Anuradha S. Naik
Anuradha S. Naik is a UNESCO award-winning conservation architect, award-winning author, and Principal at Anuradha Naik Associates, Hyderabad. She studied at the Edinburgh College of Art and the Bartlett, University College London. She is a chartered member of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), the Royal Incorporation of Architects of Scotland (RIAS), a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA), and the Royal Asiatic Society (FRAS). Her work combines conservation, retrofitting, design, and curation of galleries. She has worked on major projects in the UK and in India, including the Laxmi Niwas Palace, Bikaner, the Chowmahalla Palace, the Taj Falaknuma Palace, the Domakonda Fort, and Purani Haveli. Speaker @ HLF 2023
Anusha Ramanathan
Anusha Ramanathan is the author of The Little Book of Indian Dogs (2025) and Sarayu’s Museum Adventure (2025). She is a fourth-generation lawyer and a collector of picture books and antique jewellery. She inherited a love of dogs from her cynophile father, who was an encyclopaedia of various dog breeds, both Indian and foreign.
Asad R. Rahmani
Asad R. Rahmani was the Director of Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), Executive Editor of Journal of BNHS, and Editor of BNHS magazines Hornbill, Mistnet, and Buceros. He is a Scientific Consultant to The Corbett Foundation and Hem Chandra Mahindra Trust, served various MoEF committees, and was awarded Member of Honour by BirdLife International, UK. He has guided 11 PhDs, published 26 books, nearly 160 peer-reviewed scientific papers, 90 book reviews, nearly 75 editorials, and more than 350 popular articles on nature conservation. He was the Global Council member of BirdLife International, UK (2006-2013), and Chairman, BirdLife Asia Council (2006-2013). Living with Birds (2024) is his latest book.
Bakhtiar K Dadabhoy
Bakhtiar K Dadabhoy is the author of 10 books, including Jeh: A Life of JRD Tata (2005), Sugar in Milk: Lives of Eminent Parsis (2008), Barons of Banking (2013), Zubin Mehta: A Musical Journey (2016), The Magnificent Diwan (2019), and Homi J. Bhabha: A Life (2023), and Honest John: A Life of John Matthai (2025). He has also written the script for Nani: The Crusader (2015), a documentary on the legal luminary Nani A. Palkhivala. In 2024, he became the first non-scientist to deliver the annual Dr. K.S. Krishnan Memorial Lecture on the 125th birth anniversary of the physicist at NPL, New Delhi.
Bharath Guniganti
Bharath Guniganti is Head, Operations & Fact-checking Projects at Factly. He leads a team of fact-checkers dedicated to debunking viral misinformation across social media platforms. Additionally, he collaborates in formulating business strategy and policies and manages activities across departments, including finance, IT, and regulatory compliance. He is passionate about financial literacy and tries to educate people to protect themselves from falling prey to mis-selling in various financial products.
Bodhi
Bodhi is an artist, musician, and teacher whose work blends the boldness of ancient wisdom with a fiercely innovative approach to self-realization. His teachings, grounded in silence, self-inquiry, and deep emotional processes, challenge the conditioned mind and expose the illusions of ego. Founder of Urvi, a forest community dedicated to conscious living, his approach is uncompromising and authentic. His recent book, Killing Buddha (2025), dismantles spiritual dogma and challenges the very pursuit of enlightenment, inviting seekers into a space of raw presence and honest self-reflection.
Daneesh Majid
Daneesh Majid concentrates on South Asian culture, security, and Urdu literature. He has worked for Siasat.com, the online English edition of the prominent Urdu daily. His writing has been featured in numerous South Asian media outlets, including Mint Lounge, The Hindu Business Line, Express Tribune, The New Indian Express, The Wire, The News Minute, The Print, Madras Courier, DailyO, The Nation (Pakistan), and Dhaka Tribune. He is an alumnus of Franklin and Marshall College, Pennsylvania, and the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London. The Hyderabadis: From 1947 to the Present Day (2025) is his first book.
Deepa Padmanaban
Deepa Padmanaban is an independent journalist and author, writing on science, environment, biodiversity, wildlife conservation, public health, and climate change. Her stories have been published in The Guardian, Harvard Public Health Magazine, Discover magazine, Scientific American, National Geographic, Mongabay, among others. She was a South Asia Speaks Fellow and Kiplinger Climate Fellow (USA) in 2022. She was awarded a special mention in the Environmental Impact category by the One World Media Awards (UK) in 2023. She worked as a biochemistry researcher at the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, and Harvard University, USA. Invisible Housemates (2025) and Rewilding India (2025) are her recent publications.
Gopalkrishna Gandhi
Gopalkrishna Gandhi studied English literature at St Stephen’s College, Delhi. A former administrator and diplomat, he has translated The Tirukkural (2015) from Tamil into English, Vikram Seth’s novel A Suitable Boy into Hindi as कोई अच्छा सा लड़का (Koi Achchha-Sa Ladka, 1998), authored a novel, Refuge (1989), and a play in English verse, Dara Shukoh (1993). He is currently a Distinguished Professor at Ashoka University.
Gopika Jadeja
Gopika Jadeja is a poet and translator working in English and Gujarati, and Coordinating Editor for PR&TA. A 2022 PEN Presents translation award winner, her new poetry collection is What Parvati Does Not Say (2025). Speaker @ HLF 2023
Kavita Kané
Kavita Kané is the author of nine novels based on lesser-known women in Indian mythology: Karna’s Wife (2013), Sita’s Sister (2014), Menaka’s Choice (2015), Lanka’s Princess (2016), The Fisher Queen’s Dynasty (2017), Ahalya’s Awakening (2019), Sarasvati’s Gift (2021), Tara’s Truce (2023), and the latest, Bhima’s Wife (2025). She has postgraduate degrees from the University of Pune in English Literature and Mass Communication and Journalism. After two decades with Magna Publishing and DNA, she became a full-time author.
Kazim Ali
Kazim Ali is the author of numerous books of poetry, fiction, essays, and cross-genre work. Sukun: New and Selected Poems (2023) is his recent poetry book, Indian Winter (2024), his recent novel, and Black Buffalo Woman: An Introduction to the Poetry and Poetics of Lucille Clifton (2024), which won the Poetry Foundation’s Pegagus Award for Criticism, his recent book of nonfiction. He co-founded Nightboat Books in 2004 and served as the press's first publisher. He currently serves as Professor of Comparative Literature and Literary Arts, and Associate Director of the Institute for Arts and Humanities at the University of California, San Diego.
Lalgudi GJR Krishnan
Lalgudi GJR Krishnan. In 1965, an Italian violin arrived at our home when I was five. That marked the beginning of a lifelong fascination with sound and craftsmanship. That same year, my father and Guru brought home the legendary Papa Venkatramiah’s violin, repaired in London. Years later, I met master luthier James Wimmer and invited him to India for a 21-day workshop through the Lalgudi Trust. Despite initial hesitation, we trained local craftsmen, gifted tools, and instilled precision and passion. By 2019, four Stradivarius replicas were created. Today, these luthiers, including India’s first woman luthier, serve top professionals, leaving a growing legacy for India and beyond.
Laura Spinney
Laura Spinney is a writer and science journalist. Her writing on science has appeared in The Guardian, The Economist, Nature, and National Geographic, among others. She is the author of two novels, The Doctor (2001) and The Quick (2007), and a collection of oral history, Rue Centrale (2013). Her bestselling non-fiction account of the 1918 flu pandemic, Pale Rider: The Spanish Flu of 1918 and How it Changed the World (2017), was translated into more than 20 languages. Her latest book, Proto: How Once Ancient Language Went Global (2025) is the story of the Indo-European languages. She lives in Paris.
Mani Rao
Mani Rao is the author of 13 poetry books, including So That You Know (2025). Her translations from Sanskrit include Kalidasa: Selected Poetry and Drama (2025), Bhagavad Gita (2023), and Saundarya Lahari (2022), and from Hindi of Anamika's poetry Slow Down, River (2025). Living Mantra: Mantra, Deities and Visionary Experience Today (2018) is her research into mantras. She worked as an advertising and television professional for two decades in Mumbai, New Zealand, and Hong Kong, did an MFA from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, USA, and a PhD in Religious Studies from Duke University, USA. Since 2017, she has been living in Puttaparthi and Bangalore. Speaker @ HLF 2023
Manjiri Prabhu
Manjiri Prabhu is an award-winning international author of 23 books, a short-film-maker, and the Curator and Founder/Director of Pune International Literary Festival and International Festival of Spiritual India (for Humanity & Wisdom). The first female mystery author to be published outside India, she has completed 52 years in the world of writing. Her book The Rampur Raza Mystery: A Sassy Library Thriller (2023) was launched by the Hon. President of India, Smt. Droupadi Murmu. She has been invited to many reputed international literature festivals like The Oxford Literary Festival, Frankfurt Book Fair, and Jaipur Literature Festival. Year: 2017
Onir
Onir (Anirban Dhar) is an Indian filmmaker, producer, screenwriter, and editor. His film My Brother… Nikhil (2005) was among the first to deal with AIDS and same-sex relationships. His film I Am (2011) was adjudged Best Film (Hindi) at the Indian National Film Awards. Its sequel is his latest film, We Are Faheem and Karun (2024). It is the first Kashmiri-language Queer film shot entirely in Kashmir. He received the Rainbow Warrior award for his film Pine Cone (2023). His biography, I Am Onir And I Am Gay (2022), received the Likho award for “Outstanding Book”.
Pamela Philipose
Pamela Philipose, presently the ombudsperson of the New Delhi-based news portal, The Wire.in, has served as editor-in-chief of Women's Feature Service. Earlier, she was the senior associate editor, The Indian Express. She has served as advisor to the Media Task Force of the Government of India’s High Level Status of Women Committee Report. She is the author of Media’s Shifting Terrain: Five Years that Transformed the Way India Communicates (2019), A Boundless Fear Gripped Me: How the Other Half Lived in the Pandemic’s Shadow (2023), and Framing the Media: Government Policies, Law and Freedom of the Press in India (2025).
Paromita Vohra
Paromita Vohra is a filmmaker and writer whose films, online videos, art installations, and television programming explore feminism, gender, desire, urban life, and popular culture. She has directed several documentaries, including Unlimited Girls (2022), Q2P (2006), Where’s Sandra? (2005), Morality TV and the Loving Jehad (2007), Partners in Crime (2011), and Working Girls (2025). She has written the film Khamosh Pani/Silent Waters (2003), the comic Priya’s Mirror (2016), and the play Ishqiya Dharavi Ishtyle. In 2015, she founded Agents of Ishq, a pioneering digital platform which has transformed conversations on sex, love, and desire in India. Her weekly column in Sunday Midday is currently in its 15th year. Year: 2020, 2026
Pawan Toppo
Pawan Toppo is Assistant Professor of English at Sukanta Mahavidyalaya, West Bengal. His doctoral work is on the Oraon/Kurukh festivals of the Dooars region. His research interests include Adivasi Studies, Folk Studies, New Critical Humanities, and Film Studies. His documentary Becoming Adivasi: Oraon/Kurukh Festivals of the Dooars Region (2024) explores the rearticulation of Adivasi identity through cultural performances. The film was screened at the 6th Baripada National Indigenous Short Film Festival 2024.
Peggy Mohan
Peggy Mohan was born in Trinidad, West Indies, studied linguistics at the University of the West Indies, and completed her PhD in linguistics from the University of Michigan (1978). She has taught linguistics at Howard University, Washington D.C., Jawaharlal Nehru University, and Ashoka University, and mass communications at Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi. She is the author of three novels, Jahajin (2008), The Youngest Suspect (2012), and Walk in C Minor (2015), and the non-fiction books Wanderers, Kings, Merchants (2021), which won the Mathrubhumi Book of the Year Award, and Father Tongue, Motherland (2025). She lives in New Delhi.
Pratima Jaidev
Pratima Jaidev is a writer, filmmaker, and CEO of Tarangini Media Works, a legacy production company founded by her father. With over two decades of experience across media, corporate, and education sectors in India and the U.S., she has created 100+ films spanning documentaries, commercials, and short stories. Her anthology True Spirit (2025) marks her literary debut. She also co-founded Creative Aspirations, an overseas education consultancy firm guiding students into global creative careers.
Rochelle Potkar
Rochelle Potkar is a prize-winning poet, author, and screenwriter. Her books include Four Degrees of Separation (2016), Paper Asylum (2018, shortlisted for the Rabindranath Tagore Literary Prize 2020), Bombay Hangovers (2021), and Coins in Rivers (2024, shortlisted for The Wise Owl Literary Award 2025). Alumna of Iowa’s International Writing Program, USA, and a Charles Wallace Fellow, University of Stirling, she has served as a creative-writing mentor at the Iowa International Writing Program and teaches poetry at the Himalayan Writing Retreat. Her writing has been translated into multiple languages, and her short film Salad (Shezari) was released in November 2025. The D’Costa Family (2025) is her debut novel. Year: 2026, 2019, 2018
Ruchir Joshi
Ruchir Joshi is the author of The Last Jet-Engine Laugh (2000), a novel, and Poriborton! (2011), a book about the 2011 state elections in West Bengal. His latest book, The Great Eastern Hotel (2025), is a work of historical fiction set in Calcutta during World War II. He has been a columnist for The Telegraph, The Hindu, The Economic Times, and other newspapers, and has contributed to Granta, India Magazine, Man's World, Seminar, E-Flux, Wittede Witt Review, and The Indian Quarterly. He has also directed documentaries and essay films, including the award-winning Tales from Planet Kolkata (1993).
Rueben Dass
Rueben Dass is a Malaysian author of two novels: The Number Four (2021) and Ski (2025). His short stories, poetry, and screenplays have appeared on literary platforms such as Anak Sastra and Men Matters Online Journal. His screenplay Mayat was among the Top 10 finalists out of 144 entries in the 3rd Kuman Pictures Screenwriting Contest, organised by Malaysian production house Kuman Pictures. He has also authored more than 60 articles on international security, foreign affairs, and political violence, published in various international media outlets. He has lived in Kuala Lumpur and London and currently works at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.
Sadaf Wani
Sadaf Wani is a Kashmiri writer and senior communications professional. She is the author of City as Memory: A Short Biography of Srinagar (2024). Her fiction and non-fiction have been widely published on platforms such as Himal Southasian, Scroll.in, and Inverse Journal, among others. Her short stories have appeared in notable anthologies, including 100 Indian Stories: A Feast of Remarkable Short Fiction from the 19th, 20th, and 21st Century (2025), The Greatest Indian Stories Ever Told (2023), and A Case of Indian Marvels: Dazzling Stories from the Country’s Finest New Writers (2022).
Salma
Salma, a poet, novelist, and activist who goes by the pen name of Rajathi, is a significant voice in contemporary Tamil literature. Her renowned novel Irandam Jaamangalin Kathai (2004, The Long Hours of the Night) was longlisted for the Man Asia Prize in 2009. Her writing challenges deeply entrenched social and patriarchal norms, particularly within the Tamil Muslim community of her origin. Her poetry collections, Oru Maalaiyum Innoru Maalaiyum (2000) and Pachchai Devathai (2003), are celebrated for their incisive exploration of female experience. Her poetry and fiction have been translated into multiple languages. She was recently nominated to the Rajya Sabha.
Sanjaya Baru
Sanjaya Baru is the author of Secession of the Successful: The Flight Out of New India (2025), India's Power Elite: Class, Caste and A Cultural Revolution (2021), 1991: How P.V. Narasimha Rao Made History (2016), The Accidental Prime Minister: The Making and Unmaking of Manmohan Singh (2014), and Journey of a Nation: 75 Years of the Indian Economy (2022). He served as editor of the Economic Times, the Financial Express, and Business Standard, editorial-page editor of the Times of India, and the Indian Express. He was media adviser to former prime minister Manmohan Singh and director for geo-economics and strategy, International Institute of Strategic Studies, London. He taught at universities in India and abroad.
Sarah Zia
Sarah Zia is the Senior Commissioning Editor at Penguin Select, Penguin Random House India. Since beginning her publishing journey in 2019, she’s been drawn to stories that linger—ones that bridge distances and remind us of our shared humanity. A UCLA graduate in English Literature and Communication Studies, she finds resonance in the quiet brilliance of Samuel Beckett and George Eliot. M.L. Stedman’s The Light Between (2012) remains a story that has stayed with her through the years. At HLF, she represents Letters from Gaza (2025) by Mohammed Al-Zaqzooq and Mahmoud Alshaer.
Siddhartha Gigoo
Siddhartha Gigoo won the 2015 Commonwealth Short Story Prize for “The Umbrella Man.” His publications include A Fistful of Earth and Other Stories (2015); two co-edited anthologies, A Long Dream of Home: The Persecution, Exodus and Exile of Kashmiri Pandits (2015), Once We Had Everything: Literature in Exile (2019); two poetry books, Fall and Other Poems (1994), Reflections (1995); four novels, The Garden of Solitude (2011), Mehr: A Love Story (2018), The Lion of Kashmir (2020), Love in the Time of Quarantine (2020); and a memoir, A Long Season of Ashes (2024). His short films, The Last Day (2013) and Goodbye, Mayfly (2015), have won several awards.
Stanly Johny
Stanly Johny is the International Affairs Editor with The Hindu. A PhD in international studies from the Centre for West Asian Studies, JNU, New Delhi, he anchors the paper’s international coverage, besides writing editorials, Op-Eds, and other reportage. He has also contributed to think tanks in India and abroad. His work includes The ISIS Caliphate: From Syria to the Doorsteps of India (2018), the co-authored The Comrades and the Mullahs: China, Afghanistan and the New Asian Geopolitics (2022), and Original Sin: Israel, Palestine and the Revenge of Old West Asia (2024). He is a Visiting Professor at KREA University and an adjunct faculty at Asian College of Journalism.
Thammika Songkaeo
Thammika Songkaeo is a Thai-born novelist, essayist, and filmmaker whose work cuts into motherhood, marriage, and the cost of selfhood with what Elle Singapore calls “razor-sharp precision.” A lifelong globetrotter, she writes from a third-culture lens that sees both inside and out. Her debut novel Stamford Hospital (2025) was named by Prestige among the 10 must-reads for International Women’s Day 2025, alongside Margaret Atwood and Simone de Beauvoir. A Bread Loaf scholar, National Geographic Storytelling grantee, and trained dancer, Songkaeo blends movement, literature, and silence to explore the hidden layers of the human psyche.
Urmi Bajpai
Urmi Bajpai is Professor, Department of Biomedical Science, Acharya Narendra Dev College, University of Delhi, where she leads the Anti-Mycobacterial Drug Discovery Laboratory. With a focus on the One Health approach, which links human, animal, and environmental health, she advocates for a broader and more integrated response to Anti-Microbial Resistance. She promotes awareness of their potential as “living antibiotics” and biocontrol agents through talks, interactive sessions, writing popular-science articles, and hosting hands-on workshops. Her contributions to science and education have earned her several prestigious awards, including recognition among India’s “35 Vigyan Vidushis” by the Department of Science & Technology, Government of India.
Vasamalli
Vasamalli, a member of the Toda community, has worked towards the development of the tribal people in Nilgiris, with a focus on language, land rights, and cultural preservation. She has contributed to the creation of a Toda Dictionary, a project led by Peri Bhaskararao and Masato Kobayashi, and has co-authored with Karthick Narayanan Maarum Ulagil Maraya Oligal (2017), a translated compilation of songs and stories from the Toda language into Tamil. She is a member of the Sahitya Akademi and the Adi Dravidar Tribal Welfare Committee and Peace Committee in Nilgiris District. She received the SPARROW-R Thyagarajan Literary Award 2024 for her contribution to language and literature.
Virender Singh Sangwan
Virender Singh Sangwan is an internationally renowned ophthalmic surgeon who has made major contributions to translational research involving the use of limbal stem cells to treat ocular surface disorders. He was associated with the LV Prasad Eye Institute for 20 years before moving on to head the Innovations Centre at Dr Shroff’s Charity Eye Hospital, New Delhi. In his early career, he served on board the Flying Eye Hospital of ORBIS International. He has nearly 250 scientific papers, is on the editorial boards of multiple journals, and has received several awards, including the Shanti Swaroop Bhatnagar Award (2006) and the National Technology Award (2007).
Zai Whitaker
Zai Whitaker is one of the founders of the Madras Crocodile Bank, and currently its Managing Trustee. She is the author of 22 books, most of them for children and young people, on environmental themes. They include Kali and the Rat Snake (2000), Andamans Boy (1998), Magic Islands (2012), and Cobra in my Kitchen (2005). Her latest book, Dancing Frogs and Other Creatures in Verse (2025), speaks to animal lovers of all ages. She has also worked in schools for 18 years, as a Principal and teacher. She lives at the Crocodile Bank, which is one of the premier conservation organisations in the country.
