Amid the blossoms.
Readiscover the world of words and ideas.

Aadrit Banerjee

Aadrit Banerjee’s poetry has been published by the Kolkata Centre for Creativity, DoubleSpeak Magazine, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, The Blacksheep and other literary platforms. Born and raised in Kolkata, and currently based out of Delhi, he has been a research fellow with Wikimedia Foundation and The Heritage Lab and Nazariya Foundation, working in the field of community-oriented heritage conservation from an intersectional gender and sexualities studies discipline. A regular in the slam poetry circuit, his spoken word performances have been featured by PoemsIndia. He is currently pursuing a Master’s in English Literature from St. Stephen’s College, University of Delhi.

Attending Session

January 25, 2025 ● 11:30 am
Language Is A Queer Thing : Aadrit Banerjee, Abu Leila, Parth Rahatekar, Ray Vincent-Mills and Sara Haque in conversation with Maniza Khalid

Abir Chatterjee

Abir Chatterjee is an Indian actor who mainly works in Bengali cinema. He started his career with television and made his big-screen debut in 2009 with the film Cross Connection. Well-known for appearing as the detective Byomkesh Bakshi in a series of films, his work in Shah Jahan Regency, Alaap and Babli also gained popularity. He won Best Villain Award for Kanamachi at Zee Bangla Gaurav Awards 2014 and Best Romantic Hero of the Year for Alaap at Tele Cine Awards 2024. He has starred in the National Award-winning film Bishorjan (2017). He has also been a part of Durgeshgorer Guptodhon (2019) and Bohurupi (2024), which are among the highest grossing Bengali films of all time.

Attending Session

January 26, 2025 ● 11:30 am
Putul Nacher Iti Katha : Abir Chatterjee, Dhritiman Chatterjee, Jaya Ahsan and Suman Mukhopadhyay discuss the film adaptation of Manik Bandyopadhyay’s classic. In conversation with Tanmoy Chakraborty

Abraham Verghese

Abraham Verghese, MD, MACP, is Professor and Linda R. Meier and Joan F. Lane Provostial Professor and Vice Chair for the Theory and Practice of Medicine at the School of Medicine at Stanford University. Originally from Kerala, he is also a best-selling author and a physician with a reputation for his focus on healing in an era where technology often overwhelms the human side of medicine. He received the Heinz Award in 2014 and was awarded the National Humanities Medal, presented by President Barack Obama, in 2015. His early years as an orderly, his care of terminal AIDS patients and the insights he gained from the deep relationships he formed and the suffering he witnessed were transformative. These were the cumulative experiences around which his first book, My Own Country: A Doctor’s Story (1994), is centered. It was chosen as one of the Best Books of the Year by TIME and later filmed for Showtime as My Own Country directed by Mira Nair. As his interest in writing grew, he took time off from medicine to study at the Iowa Writers Workshop where he earned an MFA in 1991. Since then, his work has appeared in various prestigious magazines. His latest book, the bestselling Covenant of Water (2003), has gained global acclaim and was chosen by Oprah Winfrey for her Book Club.

Attending Sessions

January 22, 2025 ● 4:50 pm
Maps and Stethoscopes : Abraham Verghese on the influences that shaped his writing. In conversation with Sandip Roy

January 23, 2025 ● 3:45 pm
The Covenant of Water : Abraham Verghese discusses his best-selling epic with Malavika Banerjee

Abu Leila

Abu Leila is a queer Arab writer and community organiser, interested in the role of literature in social movements. They are a Barbican Young Poet and one of the winners of the 2019 Spread the Word London Writers Awards. Their work, preserving histories of anti-imperialist resistance in South Lebanon, has been shortlisted for the 2024 Wasafiri new writing prize. They have written theatre shows preserving oral family histories of war for the Camden People’s Theatre and the North Wall. They have been commissioned by Poet in the City and anthologised in Bad Betty Press’ field notes on survival and the other side of hope. They are currently writing their first novel, an extract from which won the Bridport Prize’s Peggy Chapman-Andrews First Novel Award 2022. They hope to see the fall of capitalism and imperialism in their lifetime

Attending Session

January 25, 2025 ● 11:30 am
Language Is A Queer Thing : Aadrit Banerjee, Abu Leila, Parth Rahatekar, Ray Vincent-Mills and Sara Haque in conversation with Maniza Khalid

Agnijit Sen

Agnijit Sen, popularly known as Mirchi Agni, is a content creator with Radio Mirchi and Revsportz Bangla. He currently acts and directs the audiobook series, Sunday Suspense and is also the Head of Content, Revsportz Bangla. He has also been one of the lead actors of the first Bangla social media viral series O Maa Go. He is a perfect combination of wit and a sense of humor. He is a prolific on-stage host and has moderated several large-scale events.

Attending Sessions

January 24, 2025 ● 1:00 pm
Saradindu @ 125: Byomkesh in Bengal and Beyond : Rajit Kapur and Gaurav Chakrabarty in conversation with Agnijit Sen

January 26, 2025 ● 1:10 pm
Company Limited : Arunava Sinha, Barun Chanda and Agnijit Sen discuss the timeless appeal of Sankar’s classic. In conversation with Debnita Chakravarti

Alka Saraogi

Alka Saraogi is a Hindi author from Kolkata belonging to the Marwari diaspora. Her first novel Kalikatha via Bypass, won the Sahitya Akedemi award in 2001; she being the youngest writer to win the award in Hindi so far. She has also received K.. Birla Foundation Bihari award, Indu Sharma Katha International award, Kalinga Litfest Award, Valley of Words award, Stree Shakti Award, Fakirmohan Senapati Award and Premchand Smriti Katha Samman. She has been knighted ‘Cavalier’ by the Govt of Italy. She has published seven more novels, the last being Gandhi and Sarladevi Chaudhrani: the twelve chapters and has two collections of short stories. Her works have been translated into many European languages like German, French , Italian and Spanish and many regional languages of India.

Attending Session

January 24, 2025 ● 3:45 pm
Gandhivaad to Gandhigiri : Alka Saraogi, Rajit Kapur, Rudrangshu Mukherjee, and Sudhir Chandra on the enduring yet fast-changing way we engage with the Mahatma in the 21st century. In conversation with Sujaan Mukherjee

Amol Palekar

Amol Palekar is an Indian actor, director and producer primarily in Hindi and Marathi cinema. Although he trained in fine arts, he is better known as a stage and film actor. His contribution to modern Indian theatre is often overshadowed by his popularity as a lead actor in Hindi films like Rajnigandha, Chhoti Si Baat, Gol Maal, Gharonda and Baaton Baaton Mein. His performances in regional language films in Marathi, Bengali, Malayalam and Kannada fetched him critical acclaim as well. As a film actor, he was most prominent in the 1970s. He received three Filmfare Awards and six State awards as Best Actor. As a director, he is known for the sensitive portrayal of women, selection of classic stories from Indian literature and perceptive handling of progressive issues. He has also directed several television serials on the national network. His memoirs, Viewfinder, was published in 2024.

Attending Session

January 25, 2025 ● 4:50 pm
Chhoti Si Baat : Amol Palekar and Sandhya Gokhale discusses his memoir Viewfinder. In conversation with Ratnottama Sengupta

Ananda Lal

Ananda Lal, an international authority on Tagore, theatre and translation, retired as Professor of English, Jadavpur University. He directs Writers Workshop, India’s oldest continuing publisher of Indian creative writing in English, succeeding his father P. Lal in 2010. He also runs kolkatatheatre.com, a guide to theatre in Kolkata. His most important publications include Rabindranath Tagore: Three Plays, The Oxford Companion to Indian Theatre, Indian Drama in English: The Beginnings, Utpal Dutt’s Barricade (translated with an introduction), and the research-based CD The Voice of Rabindranath Tagore. He was theatre critic of The Telegraph from 1986 to 2018 and of The Times of India from 2018 to 2020, reviewing over 3000 productions. Once a DJ for Yuvavani (All India Radio), he has written on the interface between popular Western and Indian music and was a regular columnist on rock and jazz for The Statesman and The Telegraph. He directed theatre productions, including 25 at Jadavpur University where he made it a credit course, and advised such international successes as Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream for the British Council. He has a 50-year-old portfolio in television and film as an award-winning scriptwriter, researcher, commentator, narrator and subtitler.

Attending Session

January 25, 2025 ● 2:10 pm
Michael Madhusudhan @ 201 - Rizia, Empress of Inde : Ananda Lal discusses the rare English play with Sujaan Mukherjee. Readings by Anubha Fatehpuria

Angela Saini

Angela Saini is a journalist and author based in New York. She teaches science writing at MIT and is a Moynihan Public Scholar at the City College of New York. Her work appears regularly in National Geographic, Science and Foreign Policy. Her 2019 book, Superior: The Return of Race Science, was a finalist for the LA Times Book Prize and her latest, The Patriarchs: How Men Came to Rule, was a finalist for the Orwell Prize for Political Writing. She has a Masters in Engineering from the University of Oxford.

Attending Sessions

January 22, 2025 ● 3:10 pm
Patriarchs : Angela Saini on how men came to rule the world. In conversation with Sumona Chakravarty

January 23, 2025 ● 5:15 pm
The Science in Literature and the Literature in Science Writing : Angela Saini, Ruchir Joshi, Srijato and Venki Ramakrishnan in conversation with Malavika Banerjee

Anindya Paulchaudhuri

Anindya Paulchaudhuri is a seasoned Banking and Wealth Management Professional. After working for two decades in senior leadership positions across different MNC Banks (ABN AMRO, Standard Chartered and DBS), he is now partner and Group CEO of WealthApp as an entrepreneur. He is an RK Mission pass-out and did his Executive Management course from IIM Kolkata and IIM Bangalore.

Attending Session

January 23, 2025 ● 11:15 am
Medal Mantra : Deepa Malik discusses elusive Olympic and Paralympic Golds and ways to win them. In conversation with Anindya Paulchaudhuri  

Anirudha Bhattacharjee

A winner of the National Award twice for best book on cinema, Anirudha Bhattacharjee is a distinguished alumnus awardee of IIT Kharagpur, a business consultant by profession and the author of six books including biographies of R. D. Burman, Kishore Kumar, Basu Chatterji and S. D. Burman. His latest book is Lata Mangeshkar: My Favourites, Volume 2 (London, Bloomsbury UK).

Attending Session

January 25, 2025 ● 3:00 pm
The Swinging 70s : Anirudha Bhattacharjee, Nirupama Kotru, Ratnottama Sengupta and Shantanu Ray Chaudhuri in conversation with Balaji Vittal

Ankita Mukherjii

Ankita Mukherji is an independent media consultant. In her two decades as a broadcast journalist, she was the anchor of several shows on NDTV including Politically Incorrect and The 10 PM News. She produced India’s first literary tv show, Just Books, and has also worked in publishing.

Attending Sessions

January 22, 2025 ● 4:00 pm
Acts of God : Kanan Gill discusses his debut book. In conversation with Ankita Mukherji

January 26, 2025 ● 2:10 pm
Poor Economics for Kids : Esther Duflo and Cheyenne Olivier in conversation with Ankita Mukerji

Antara Datta

Antara Datta is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of English at Janki Devi Memorial College, University of Delhi, India. She has been awarded the prestigious Charles Wallace Fellowship from the Charles Wallace India Trust (CWIT) twice, in 2001 and 2006. Her academic interests include contemporary travel writing, postcolonial fiction and politics.

Attending Session

January 23, 2025 ● 5:00 pm
Destiny’s Daughters : Defne Suman and Saras Manickam discuss how secrets and shadows of history define the women in their stories. In conversation with Antara Datta

Anu Kumar Lazurus

Anu Kumar Lazarus is a playwright and doctor living in London. She has written several plays that have been performed in theatres in the capital and beyond. She is a B3 Media Talent Lab Finalist. She was shortlisted for the Indie Novella Prize for her first novel The Blue Monkey. She is also the writer-producer of A London Lark Rising and is director of her arts company, Sensorinet.

Attending Session

January 25, 2025 ● 4:40 pm
The Raj Duet: London, Calcutta and the East India Company : Anu Kumar Lazarus and Lisa Honan in conversation with Payal Mohanka

Anubha Fatehpuria

Anubha Fatehpuria is an actor and practicing architect. She is a recipient of the Sangeet Natak Akademi’s prestigious Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puruskar 2013-14, The Telegraph SHE Awards 2019 and Shyamal Sen Smriti Puraskar 2007 for her theatre acting. She recently received the Best Supporting Actress Award for the film Ramprasad Ki Tehrvi. She is an actor with Padatik Theatre Kolkata since 2002 and is currently Director-Programmes there. She has also trained in fine arts, Hindustani classical vocal, Bharatanatyam and Manipuri. She has worked with a host of nationally and internationally renowned directors both on stage and screen. She has been a visiting faculty for Design at the Architecture Department at Jadavpur University. She runs her own design studio and is currently working on projects in various cities.

Attending Session

January 25, 2025 ● 2:10 pm
Michael Madhusudhan @ 201 - Rizia, Empress of Inde : Ananda Lal discusses the rare English play with Sujaan Mukherjee. Readings by Anubha Fatehpuria

Anuja Chauhan

Anuja Chauhan worked in advertising for over 17 years and is credited with many popular campaigns including PepsiCo’s Nothing Official About It, Yeh Dil Maange More, Mera Number Kab Aayega, Oye Bubbly and Darr ke Aage Jeet Hai. She is the author of several bestselling novels such as The Zoya Factor, Battle for Bittora, Those Pricey Thakur Girls, The House that BJ Built, Baaz and Club You to Death, the screen rights for all of which have been acquired by major Bombay studios. Her seventh novel, The Fast and the Dead, came out in 2023.

Attending Sessions

January 25, 2025 ● 1:00 pm
He Said, She Said : Anuja Chauhan, Durjoy Datta, Novoneel Chakraborty and Swati Hegde on the love stories men write and the love stories women write. In conversation with Poorna Banerjee

January 26, 2025 ● 12:20 pm
The Writing Gene : Anuja Chauhan and Nayantara Violet Alva discuss how inheritance and influence work in families that write. In conversation with Debanjan Chakrabarti

Anupam Roy

Anupam Roy is a well-known and popular Indian singer-songwriter and music director. He has composed, written lyrics and sung for many Bengali films. In 2015, he made his Bollywood debut with the film Piku for which he won a Filmfare Award for best background score. Winner of four Filmfare Awards, he has also received a National Film Award for Best Lyrics for the song Tumi Jake Bhalobasho from the film Praktan. He is also a prolific writer and has been published in various online and print magazines and newspapers.

Attending Session

January 23, 2025 ● 2:10 pm
Samay Kothay Je Choley Gelo : Writing in different ages and stages of one's life. Readings and reflections by Anupam Roy and Srijato. In conversation with Roopsha Dasguupta

Anusha Vishwanathan

Anusha Viswanathan is an actor, born and brought up in Calcutta, with a love of books. She has a Masters in English Literature from Jadavpur University. Her filmography includes Aparajito directed by Anik Dutta, a film on the making of Pather Panchali where she played the character of Durga. She has worked with directors like Mainak Bhaumik, Parambrata Chattopadhyay and Srijit Mukherji and is also well known for her work on Bengali television.

Attending Session

January 25, 2025 ● 2:15 am
Modern Love : Prayaag Akbar and Sheena Patel discuss the presence of the personal device in love, obsession and everything in between. In conversation with Anusha Viswanathan

Aparajita Dasgupta

Aparajita Dasgupta is an academician who has taught in various government colleges in West Bengal. She has also been a Fulbright Visiting Professor at St Mary’s University, USA. Her creative writing in Bengali includes novels, autobiographical vignettes, a book of short stories, a collection of essays and a children’s book. She has also edited and annotated her grandmother Mina Dasgupta’s autobiography Rita’r Jiban.

Attending Session

January 25, 2025 ● 12:10 pm
Saradindu @ 125: Itihasher Satyanweshi : Biswajit Ray and Pracheta Gupta on the historical fiction of Saradindu Bandyopadhyay. In conversation with Aparajita Dasgupta

Arunava Sinha

Arunava Sinha translates classic, modern and contemporary fiction, non-fiction and poetry from Bengali and Hindi into English. He also translates fiction and poetry from English and Hindi into Bengali. Over 90 of his translations have been published so far in India, the UK, the USA and Australia. He teaches at Ashoka University, where he is also the co-director of the Ashoka Centre for Translation. He is the Books Editor at Scroll.in.

Attending Sessions

January 23, 2025 ● 1:00 pm
Tumi, Ma : Jayasri Burman and Arunava Sinha speak about her book and tryst with art. In conversation with Sujoy Prasad Chatterjee with an introduction by Sunaina Anand

January 26, 2025 ● 1:10 pm
Company Limited : Arunava Sinha, Barun Chanda and Agnijit Sen discuss the timeless appeal of Sankar’s classic. In conversation with Debnita Chakravarti

January 26, 2025 ● 5:20 pm
English, August Three Decades Later : Upamanyu Chatterjee and Rahul Bose in conversation with Arunava Sinha

Ashoke Mukhopadhyay

Ashoke Mukhopadhyay, an MBA and a corporate communications professional, forayed into literature with a host of startling researched-based articles and insightful documentations including Terrorism:A Colonial Construct, The Naxalites: Through the Eyes of Calcutta Police, Tegarter Andaman Diary (an assessment of militant nationalists based on an inquiry of Charles Tegart) and Prothom Diner Robi (on Rabindranath Tagore’s first attempt at drawing). His penchant for research and finer details are reflected in his docu-novels – Agnipurush (bio-fiction based on the not-so-known militant nationalist of 1906, Ullaskar Dutt) and Atta N’tar Surya (The Morning Sun) that portrays the Naxalite Movement in the 1970s. He has also written the novel Abiram Jwarer Roopkatha (translated by Arunava Sinha). His book, A Ballad of Remittent Fever,was long-listed in the JCB Award 2020. The Dreamer Rebel, An Authentic Biography of Charu Majumdar is a well-researched book on the legendary rebel of 1970. Based on the lives of food delivery riders, his latest novel, Ek Nombor Akashganga, is all set for its English rendition.

Attending Session

January 24, 2025 ● 5:15 pm
Ek Nombor Akashganga : Ashoke Mukhopadhyay discusses his book with Somshankar Ray

Avanti Patel

Avanti Patel is a versatile artist based out of Mumbai. A Hindustani classical vocalist, playback singer, composer and innovator, her musical journey started at the age of five as she started her formal music lessons from her Guru,Smt Varsha Bhave. Under her guidance she completed her Sangeet Visharad and stood first in her MA exam (Hindustani Classical Vocals).During this time she also had the opportunity to learn from Smt Archana Kanhere and SmtRajashri Pathak. She is currently the disciple of Vidushi Ashwini Bhide Deshpande of the Jaipur Atrauli Gharana. Her areas of passion include thumri and ghazal gayki, as well as production and arrangement using a vocal dominant style. Her social media projects include #ShamSessions, where she collaborated with several vocalists and presented acapella covers recorded live and #CoversInASaree, a project featuring small homegrown saree brands (especially those affected by the pandemic) as a part of her cover song series. Among her most recent projects is O Gaanewali, a show based on the lives and music of tawaifs and women performers of India.

Attending Session

January 25, 2025 ● 7:15 pm
O Gaanewali ( By Invitation Only ) : An evening celebrating the women of Thumri, Dadra and Ghazal. Presented by Avanti Patel and team

Bahata Ansumali

A software technologist by profession and a researcher of the Indus Script and a poet by addiction, Bahata Ansumali has already published four books of poems – Ṭhung Śabda Halei Kabitā (Aihik Prakaśanī, 2020), Hṛidiśabda Rui Mane Paḍe (Sristiisukh Prakashan, 2022), Rakta Abdi Gaḍate Pāre Nā (Shabda Kalkata Publishing House, 2024), and Megher Kono Pāpabodh Nei (Sristiisukh Prakashan, 2024). She has also been featured in an anthology of Bengali poems translated into Hindi, recognizing significant female poets of the 21st century millennial West Bengal and has represented South Asian contemporary poets on the international platform, Poesia World, in 2021. In the area of Indus Script and Indus Valley civilization’s languages, her fundamental works have been published in an internationally famous Nature Group journal and in proceedings of several national and international seminars and have been acclaimed by renowned linguists, epigraphists and archaeologists.

Attending Session

January 24, 2025 ● 7:10 pm
Decoding the Harappan Script : Bahata Ansumali and Devdutt Pattanaik on new ways of looking at the Indus Valley seals. In conversation with Priyadarshinee Guha

Balaji Vittal

Balaji Vittal is a National Award-winning and MAMI Award-winning author of Bollywood books, a columnist, podcaster, a TEDx speaker and a Bollywood commentator. He can be reached on X (formerly Twitter) at @vittalbalaji and his website is www.balajivittal.com

Attending Session

January 25, 2025 ● 3:00 pm
The Swinging 70s : Anirudha Bhattacharjee, Nirupama Kotru, Ratnottama Sengupta and Shantanu Ray Chaudhuri in conversation with Balaji Vittal

Barun Chanda

A Bengali actor and author based in Kolkata, Barun Chanda is mostly remembered for his role in Satyajit Ray’s Seemabaddha. After a hiatus of 20 years, he acted in Rituparno Ghosh’s debut film Hirer Angti (1992). His role as the zamindar in the Hindi film Lootera was much-appreciated. In 2019, he starred in an independent psychological thriller Rakkhosh that gained critical acclaim. His other notable roles have been in films like Chotushkone, Roy, Mishawr Rawhoshyo, Bela Sheshe and Dil Bechara. His books include Robibar, Coke, Murder in the Monastery, Kidnap and Satyajit Ray: The Man Who Knew Too Much that documents his experience of working with the master filmmaker.

Attending Sessions

January 22, 2025 ● 4:30 pm
Y : A reading of Avik Chanda’s play by Barun Chanda and Vinay Sharma

January 26, 2025 ● 1:10 pm
Company Limited : Arunava Sinha, Barun Chanda and Agnijit Sen discuss the timeless appeal of Sankar’s classic. In conversation with Debnita Chakravarti

Bernardine Evaristo

Bernardine Evaristo won the Booker Prize 2019 with her eighth book, Girl, Woman, Other, the first black woman and black British person to win it. It has sold over a million copies in the English language and been a bestseller in many other languages. The author of essays, journalism, literary criticism, poetry and drama, her other books include the novels Mr Loverman, Blonde Roots, Lara and The Emperor’s Babe and two non-fiction books Manifesto: On Never Giving Up and Look Again: Feminism. Her books have been translated into over 40 languages. She has also set up many inclusion programmes for writers and, since 2020, been the curator of Black Britain: Writing Back for Penguin Random House, re-publishing books from the past. She is the current Literature Mentor for the Rolex Mentor & Protégé Initiative. She has received nearly 80 awards, honours and nominations. She is Professor of Creative Writing at Brunel University London; an Honorary Fellow of St Anne’s College, University of Oxford; an International Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences; President of the Royal Society of Literature and the current President of Rose Bruford College of Theatre and Performance.

Attending Sessions

January 21, 2025 ● 4:00 pm
Inauguration by the Guest of Honor, Bernardine Evaristo : (Winner of the 2019 Booker Prize for her novel: Girl, Woman, Other)

January 23, 2025 ● 12:10 pm
The Evaristo Manifesto : Bernardine Evaristo’s guidelines for a life in literature. In conversation with Shahana Chatterjee

January 24, 2025 ● 5:35 pm
Girl, Woman, Other : Bernardine Evaristo on her Booker Prize-winning novel. In conversation with Sandip Roy

Biswajit Ray

Biswajit Ray is an Associate Professor of Bengali from Visva-Bharati, Shantiniketan. His publications on Rabindranath Tagore include Sachalatar Gan, Rabindranath O Vivekananda: Swadeshe Samakale and Rabindranath and His Times (Cambridge Companion to Rabindranath Tagore). A well-known columnist, he writes regularly for Anandabazar Patrika about various socio-cultural aspects of Bengali life. He received the Rupali Sahitya Samman in 2017 and the Nilanjana Sen Smriti Puraskar in 2019.

Attending Sessions

January 25, 2025 ● 12:10 pm
Saradindu @ 125: Itihasher Satyanweshi : Biswajit Ray and Pracheta Gupta on the historical fiction of Saradindu Bandyopadhyay. In conversation with Aparajita Dasgupta

January 26, 2025 ● 4:00 pm
Tambuli Akkhyan : Biswajit Ray discusses his new novel with Semanti Ghosh

Chaitanya Srivastava

Chaitanya Srivastava is a 24-year-old communications and PR professional who heads publicity and marketing for Penguin Random House Southeast Asia. With a career spanning South and East Asia, he is dedicated to bringing the best of literature to the world through innovative, multi-channel marketing strategies. His work earned him the prestigious Best Marketing Award from the Singapore Book Publishers Association for the bestselling novel The American Boyfriend by Ivy Ngeow. When he’s not crafting campaigns, he creates engaging content for his Instagram community of over 18,000 book enthusiasts or pens thought-provoking pieces for publications like The Telegraph, The Federal and Eksentrika. An experienced speaker and advocate for books, marketing, and PR, he has shared his insights at platforms such as the Ubud Writers & Readers Festival and the Singapore Book Council, among others.

Attending Session

January 24, 2025 ● 2:10 pm
Melting Woks : Claire Betita de Guzman, Ong Chin Huat and Saras Manickam on their stories of cultural assimilation in Southeast Asia. In conversation with Chaitanya Srivastava

Chandril Bhattacharya

Chandril Bhattacharya is a popular Bengali columnist, lyricist, poet, singer and director. He is one of the main lyricists of the Bengali band Chandrabindoo and occasionally sings for them. He has written 13 books and directed four short films. Together with Anindya Chatterjee, he won the 2010 National Film Award for Best Lyrics for the song Pherari Mon from the film Antaheen. His Uttam Madhyam columns for Anandabazar Patrika were compiled in a book. Later, he began to air his views in the weekly Robbar Pratidin in a column titled Du Chhokka Pnaach. His satirical perspective addresses cultural phenomena, national and international current affairs, human psychology and social norms. He coins peculiar idioms, playful jargon, spoonerisms and reconstructs colloquial Bengali phrases and expressions to formulate absurdist humorous puns in most of his articles

Attending Session

January 26, 2025 ● 2:40 pm
Tarashankerer Upakatha : Chandril Bhattacharya explores Tarashankar Bandyopadhyay’s body of work.

Cheyenne Olivier

Cheyenne Olivier is a French illustrator. She graduated from the Estienne Arts and Design School in Paris and from the Decorative Arts School in Strasbourg where she holds an MFA in Illustration. Her images, playfully geometric, address social and environmental issues. She illustrated the series of picturebooks on poverty, Poor Economics for Kids, with Nobel Prize-winning economist Esther Duflo and she illustrated two cookbooks by Nobel Prize winner Abhijit Banerjee, Cooking to Save your Life and Chhaunk. They collaborate on a monthly column on food and economics in Times Of India. She received the Young Talent Award at the International Comics Festival in Angoulême as well as the regional Avenir Prize by the French National Crafts Institute. She is pursuing a Ph.D in children’s literature at the University of Tours and the Design School in Orléans.

Attending Session

January 26, 2025 ● 2:10 pm
Poor Economics for Kids : Esther Duflo and Cheyenne Olivier in conversation with Ankita Mukerji

Chinmoy Guha

Chinmoy Guha is Professor of English and Former Head, Department of English, at the University of Calcutta. He has also been the Vice-Chancellor of Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata, and the Director of Publications, Embassy of France in India in New Delhi. A leading essayist in Bengali and a distinguished translator of French literature, he was the editor of book reviews of the Bengali literary magazines, Desh and Boier Desh. His latest works include two new collections of essays in Bengali (Chilekothhar Unmadini and Garho Shankher Khonje), The Tower and the Sea, Romain Rolland-Kalidas Nag Correspondence and two new anthologies of 20th century French poetry. He is the recipient of several prestigious awards including the Knighthood of Academic Palms from France. 

Attending Sessions

January 22, 2025 ● 3:00 pm
At The Breakfast Table : Defne Suman discusses her novel and a muse called Istanbul. In conversation with Chinmoy Guha

January 24, 2025 ● 2:10 pm
Broken Mirror : Chinmoy Guha discusses his book on his conversations with artists and thinkers with Krishnan Srinivasan. In conversation with Paroma Roy Chowdhury

Claire Betita De Guzman

Claire Betita de Guzman is a Filipina writer based in Singapore and author of four novels – Miss Makeover,Budget is the New Black,Girl Meets Worldand No Boyfriend Since Birth, which was adapted into a TV series in the Philippines. A former journalist, she started out as a lifestyle reporter for the broadsheet TODAY before working as a lifestyle editor for international and local magazines, including Cosmopolitan Philippines and Harper’s Bazaar Singapore. Having travelled extensively to 51 countries, she founded Words and Wanderlust, a series of creative writing retreats held in beautiful, inspiring locations around the world. She has led talks, workshops and panels at literary events in Southeast Asia including the Singapore Writers Festival and Poetry Festival Singapore. She is co-author of a poetry collection, Dreaming of the Divine Downstairs and co-editor of Get Luckier, an anthology of Philippine-Singapore writings. Her latest novel, Sudden Superstar, by Penguin Random House SEA, is forthcoming.

Attending Sessions

January 24, 2025 ● 2:10 pm
Melting Woks : Claire Betita de Guzman, Ong Chin Huat and Saras Manickam on their stories of cultural assimilation in Southeast Asia. In conversation with Chaitanya Srivastava

January 24, 2025 ● 3:00 pm
All You Need Is Love : Claire Betita de Guzman and Swati Hegde discuss stories of love and hope penned by millennials. In conversation with Koral Dasgupta

Dan Morrison

Dan Morrison’s writing on science, culture and conflict has appeared in the New York Times, National Geographic and Artforum. He was at Newsday’s New York City edition for seven years covering the bombast of the Rudolph Giuliani era. He later moved to South Asia where his topics ranged from militancy in Pakistan and Afghanistan to the dying art of the hand-painted Bollywood movie poster. He reported from Egypt, Sudan, Uganda and Libya between 2005 and 2008 covering the conflict in Darfur, the looming struggle for oil in southern Sudan, Libya’s bizarre attempt at glasnost and the effects of climate change on the Nile ecosystem. During this time, he traveled down the length of the White Nile, from Lake Victoria to the Mediterranean Sea, through the entirety of Uganda, Sudan and Egypt. That six-month journey was the basis for his first book, The Black Nile. He is also the author of  The Poisoner of Bengal, the true story of a murder by plague in Jazz Age Calcutta

Attending Sessions

January 25, 2025 ● 6:30 pm
The Poisoner of Bengal : Dan Morrison on the remarkable case of the Zamindar of Pakur. In conversation with Vibha Mitra

January 26, 2025 ● 11:00 am
Voting Ink : Dan Morrison, Georgina Godwin and Rajdeep Sardesai in conversation with Prayaag Akbar

Dayanita Singh

Dayanita Singh uses photography to reflect and expand on the ways in which we relate to images. Stemming from her interest in the archive, the museums present her photographs as interconnected bodies of work that are replete with both poetic and narrative possibilities. She has continued to reconceptualise architecture in a new series of Montages, which seamlessly splice together images from diverse spaces to create phantastic yet plausible settings. Publishing is also a significant part of the artist’s practice which is often published without text. She says, ‘the book is at the heart of my work. To me, the exhibition is the catalogue of the works in the book’.

Attending Session

January 22, 2025 ● 6:30 pm
The Zakir Hussain Maquette : Dayanita Singh talks about her book, the art and how they segue into each other. Presentation followed by conversation with Malavika Banerjee

Debanjan Chakrabarti

Debanjan Chakrabarti is the Director of British Council, East and Northeast India. He has over 20 years of experience in leading education, development and cultural collaboration programmes. A triple gold medallist in English literature from Jadavpur University, he was awarded the prestigious Felix Scholarship from India for his Ph.D in literature and media studies from the University of Reading, UK. In his substantive role as the Area Director for East and Northeast India, he leads on all of the British Council’s education and cultural relations work in East and Northeast India covering 13 states and Bhutan. He is a Trustee of the International Language and Development Conference and sits on the education and heritage committees of the Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Attending Session

January 26, 2025 ● 12:20 pm
The Writing Gene : Anuja Chauhan and Nayantara Violet Alva discuss how inheritance and influence work in families that write. In conversation with Debanjan Chakrabarti

Debarati Mukhopadhyay

Debarati Mukhopadhyay is a celebrated author of contemporary Bengali literature and an eloquent TEDx speaker. She has over 30 bestselling novels to her name, published by leading houses in India and abroad. Along with her Government Officer profession, her contributions to literature have earned her prestigious accolades,including the Indian Express Devi Award, Shailajananda Puraskar and Tagore Samman. Several of her novels like Shikhandi, Shastri, Swastik Sanket and Troilokko have been adapted for cinema and OTT platforms. She also contributes to Bengal’s foremost literary magazines and journals. Beyond her literary achievements, her journey is a story of resilience and inspiration. Born and raised in rural India, she has risen to prominence through sheer determination and talent. Her life took a challenging turn when she battled Guillain-Barré Syndrome, a life-threatening neuro disease that left her on ventilation for weeks. Yet, her strength and indomitable spirit saw her overcome the odds, making her journey all the more remarkable.

Attending Session

January 25, 2025 ● 6:30 pm
Krishnasinduki : Debarati Mukhopadhyay in conversation with Kunal Sarkar

Debnita Chakravarti

Debnita Chakravarti is Associate Professor of English at Shri Shikshayatan College where she tries to get students who are reading to learn, to learn to read as well. She has been a Charles Wallace scholar with a visiting fellowship at the University of Southampton. She has taught at Presidency College and Calcutta University and has also taught French to management students. Alongside presenting and publishing academic papers, she enjoys freelancing as a creative writer.

Attending Sessions

January 26, 2025 ● 1:10 pm
Company Limited : Arunava Sinha, Barun Chanda and Agnijit Sen discuss the timeless appeal of Sankar’s classic. In conversation with Debnita Chakravarti

January 26, 2025 ● 4:50 pm
Deviants : Santanu Bhattacharya discussed his book with Sandip Roy. In conversation with Debnita Chakravarti

Deepa Malik

Deepa Malik has been braving below the chest paralysis for the last 25 years and is India’s first paraplegic woman biker, swimmer and rallyist. She is also the first Indian woman to win a Paralympic medal. She is a recipient of numerous honours including the Padma Shri, the Arjuna Award and the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award. She is the South Asian sub-region representative of the Asian Paralympic Committee, a member of the Disability Advisory Committee, Government of Uttar Pradesh and former President of the Paralympic Committee of India. She holds a Limca World Record in Adventure Sports. She has been conferred three honorary Ph.Ds. As a social activist, she has been working tirelessly to empower and enable underprivileged persons with disabilities through her foundation ‘Wheeling Happiness’.

Attending Session

January 23, 2025 ● 11:15 am
Medal Mantra : Deepa Malik discusses elusive Olympic and Paralympic Golds and ways to win them. In conversation with Anindya Paulchaudhuri  

Defne Suman

Defne Suman was born in Istanbul and grew up on Büyükada. She gained a Masters in Sociology from the Boğaziçi University and then worked as a teacher in Thailand and Laos, where she studied Hatha Yoga and stayed in Buddhist monasteries. She later continued her studies in Oregon, USA, and now lives in Athens with her husband. Her novels and award-winning short stories have been translated into many languages including English and are available all around the world.

Attending Sessions

January 22, 2025 ● 3:00 pm
At The Breakfast Table : Defne Suman discusses her novel and a muse called Istanbul. In conversation with Chinmoy Guha

January 23, 2025 ● 5:00 pm
Destiny’s Daughters : Defne Suman and Saras Manickam discuss how secrets and shadows of history define the women in their stories. In conversation with Antara Datta

Devdutt Pattanaik

Devdutt Pattanaik is a much sought after speaker and culture consultant who uses mythology as a toolkit to make sense of work, life, business and entrepreneurship. He has written over 50 books on the relevance of Indian and World mythology in modern times. These include the bestselling Jaya, Sita, Olympus, Eden, Shikhandi, Sati Savitri, My Gita, Business Sutra, Faith, Shiva to Shankara, Seven Secrets of Hindu Calendar Art and Fun in Devlok. He has written over 1000 newspaper columns that appear regularly in reputed English and Hindi journals. His TV shows Business Sutra and Devlok have been seen as pathbreaking. He has single-handedly mainstreamed mythology in India over the last 30 years. Trained in medicine, he worked in the pharma and healthcare industry for 15 years before plunging full-time into the world of stories, symbols and rituals.

Attending Sessions

January 24, 2025 ● 7:10 pm
Decoding the Harappan Script : Bahata Ansumali and Devdutt Pattanaik on new ways of looking at the Indus Valley seals. In conversation with Priyadarshinee Guha

January 25, 2025 ● 11:15 am
Sati Savitri : Devdutt Pattanaik discusses his new book with Shruti Mohta

Dhritiman Chatterjee

Dhritiman Chatterjee began his acting career in 1970 as the protagonist of Satyajit Ray’s Pratidwandi (The Adversary). Most of his work has been in India’s independent cinema with filmmakers like Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen and Aparna Sen, among others. In recent years, he has worked in films with directors as diverse as Deepa Mehta, Jane Campion, Sanjay Leela Bhanali and Mani Ratnam. He has received several acting awards in India and been on the jury of the Indian National Film Awards committee. He has also been active in English theatre in Chennai and pursued a parallel career in advertising, social communications and documentary filmmaking. 

Attending Session

January 26, 2025 ● 11:30 am
Putul Nacher Iti Katha : Abir Chatterjee, Dhritiman Chatterjee, Jaya Ahsan and Suman Mukhopadhyay discuss the film adaptation of Manik Bandyopadhyay’s classic. In conversation with Tanmoy Chakraborty

Durjoy Datta

Durjoy Datta is the author of 21 bestselling romance novels. Born in New Delhi, he completed a degree in engineering and business management before embarking on a writing career. His first book, Of Course I Love You…., was published when he was 21 years old and was an instant bestseller. His successive novels – Till the Last Breath, Hold My Hand, When Only Love Remains, World’s Worst Best Boyfriend, The Girl of My Dreams, The Boy Who Loved, The Boy with a Broken Heart and The Perfect Us – have also found prominence on various bestseller lists, making him one of the highest-selling authors in India. He also has to his credit 11 television shows, for which he has written over 1000 episodes. For more updates, you can follow him on www.instagram.com/durjoydatta.

Attending Sessions

January 25, 2025 ● 1:00 pm
He Said, She Said : Anuja Chauhan, Durjoy Datta, Novoneel Chakraborty and Swati Hegde on the love stories men write and the love stories women write. In conversation with Poorna Banerjee

January 26, 2025 ● 3:00 pm
World’s Best Ex-Girlfriend : Durjoy Datta and why literature will always need a love story. In conversation with Ranjini Ghosh

Esther Duflo

Esther Duflo is the Abdul Latif Jameel Professor of Poverty Alleviation and Development Economics in the Department of Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, co-founder and co-director of the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) and Chaire, Pauvreté et Politiques Publiques at the Collège de France. In her research, she seeks to understand the economic lives of the poor, with the aim to help design and evaluate social policies. She has worked on health, education, financial inclusion, environment and governance. She has received numerous academic honors and prizes including the 2019 Nobel Prize in Economics (with co-laureates Abhijit Banerjee and Michael Kremer). With Abhijit Banerjee, she wrote Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way to Fight Global Poverty, which won the Financial Times and Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award in 2011 and has been translated into more than 17 languages and Good Economics for Hard Times. She has also written Poor Economics for Kids with Cheyenne Olivier. She is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and a Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy.

Attending Sessions

January 26, 2025 ● 2:10 pm
Poor Economics for Kids : Esther Duflo and Cheyenne Olivier in conversation with Ankita Mukerji

January 26, 2025 ● 6:10 pm
Climate Change and the Moral Debt : Esther Duflo in conversation with Rudra Chatterjee

Francesc Miralles

Francesc Miralles is an award-winning and internationally bestselling author of books about how to live well, together with the novels Love in Small Letter and Wabi-Sabi. Alongside Hector Garcia, he was welcomed to Okinawa in Japan where the inhabitants live for longer than in any other place in the world. There they had the chance to interview more than a hundred villagers about their philosophy for a long and happy life. This led to co-authoring the multimillion-copy international bestseller Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life as well as The Book of Ichigo Ichie: The Art of Making the Most of Every Moment, the Japanese Way. Their latest book is The Four-Way Path: A Guide to Purushartha and India’s Spiritual Traditions for a Life of Happiness, Success, and Purpose. Their books have been published in more than sixty languages. 

Attending Sessions

January 21, 2025 ● 5:00 pm
Ikigai : Francesc Miralles on his iconic book, Ikigai, and why it resonates with the youth across the globe. In conversation with Ruchira Das

January 23, 2025 ● 3:00 pm
The Four Purusharthas : Francesc Miralles discusses his new book. In conversation with Mitakshara Kumari

G.M. Kapur

G. M. Kapur is a Member of the Institution of Engineers as well as a Chartered Engineer. He is currently Chairman of the IIMC Alumni Association, Calcutta Chapter and the recipient of the Distinguished Alumnus Award of IIM Calcutta. He chairs the archives committee of IIM Calcutta. Professionally, he is an independent management consultant and Advisor, Trade and Commerce to the Royal Norwegian Consulate in Kolkata. He is also a Representative for Piql As, a leading Norwegian archival solutions company. He is President of the Calcutta Management Association and a Council Member of AIMA, the apex Management Association in the country. He chairs the heritage committee of the Bengal Chamber of Commerce & Industry. He has been a member of the National Governing Council and Executive Committee and State Convenor of the West Bengal and Calcutta Regional Chapters of The Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) and has also served on its Central Finance, Membership and Chapters Committees. He currently chairs INTACH’s Visioning Committee which is preparing its strategic plan for the next 15 years. As Advisor, he continues to direct the operations of the INTACH Conservation Institute in Kolkata, the first such institution in this part of the country to take up conservation of Art and Material Heritage for collections in the private domain.

Attending Session

January 24, 2025 ● 1:00 pm
Flush Forward : Jack Sim, G.M. Kapur and Mudar Patherya discuss how nations define themselves through public facilities and conveniences. In conversation with Poorna Banerjee

Gaurav Chakrabarty

Gaurav Chakrabarty is a celebrated actor whose journey in the entertainment industry has been marked by impactful performances across mediums. He made his television debut with the iconic Gaaner Oparey, curated by Rituparno Ghosh and Prosenjit Chatterjee, and stepped onto the big screen with Kaushik Ganguly’s Rang Milanti. He is widely recognized for his portrayal of Byomkesh Bakshi on television, a role that earned him immense popularity and critical acclaim. Beyond the screen, Gaurav has captivated audiences through his work on Sunday Suspense, where his renditions of The Count of Monte Cristo, Ben Hur, The Man in the Iron Mask and Byomkesh stories for Radio Mirchi have been lauded for their depth and brilliance. His portrayal of Byomkesh, both on screen and in audio, has solidified his connection with audiences and his contribution to keeping the legendary detective alive in the hearts of fans.

Attending Session

January 24, 2025 ● 1:00 pm
Saradindu @ 125: Byomkesh in Bengal and Beyond : Rajit Kapur and Gaurav Chakrabarty in conversation with Agnijit Sen

Georgina Godwin

Georgina Godwin is an honorary fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. She is a broadcast journalist and presents the author interview programme ‘Meet the Writers’ and the current affairs show ‘The Globalist’ on Monocle Radio. She’s also Books Editor for the station and chairs literary events worldwide. She was a founder member of Zimbabwe’s first independent radio station before being declared an ‘Enemy of the State’ and exiled to London. She is on the board of the charity English PEN.  

Attending Sessions

January 24, 2025 ● 3:00 pm
Exit Wounds : Peter Godwin discusses his memoirs and the life of a ‘perpetual emigre’ with Georgina Godwin

January 26, 2025 ● 11:00 am
Voting Ink : Dan Morrison, Georgina Godwin and Rajdeep Sardesai in conversation with Prayaag Akbar

Harpreet

Harpreet is a versatile artiste, who sings original musical compositions in Hindi as well as in regional Indian languages and dialects such as Punjabi, Bengali, Assamese, Rajasthani and Haryanvi. He is best known for creating musical scores to epic works of humanist poets like Kabir and Bulleh Shah. Credited for taking celebrated poets to the masses, he has also composed popular hummable tunes to words of poets such as Pash (Avtar Singh Sandhu), Faiz Ahmad Faiz and Nirala (Suryakant Tripathi). The rhythmic blend of soulful poetry to the pulsating sound of guitar and percussion are at once unique and innovative, familiar and foreign. He has performed at many prestigious festivals across India and abroad.

Attending Session

January 22, 2025 ● 7:30 pm
Bullhe Shah’s Sufiyana - A Murty Classics Presentation : A Musical Performance by Harpreet based on Bullhe Shah's Sufi lyrics from Murty Classical Library of India

Ida Jo Pajunen

Ida Jo Pajunen is a writer and artist. She completed her Master’s degree in Gender Studies from the University of Cambridge and another Master’s degree in traditions of yoga and meditation from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London. She was awarded the title of Yoga Acharya by the Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centre. She is the co-author of several Ghosh Yoga Practice Manuals and has edited and published historic manuscripts. She makes her home in Minnesota, USA but travels all over the world to teach practical yoga, history and philosophy and to perform music. She is a lifelong and award-winning violinist and vocalist. 

Attending Session

January 25, 2025 ● 12:20 pm
Forgotten Foremothers - Rukhmabai and Reba Rakshit : Ida Jo Pajunen and Sudhir Chandra in conversation with Vikram Iyengar

Inakshi Sobti

Inakshi Sobti is the Chief Executive Officer of Asia Society India Centre, a prominent global non-profit educational organization operating across Asia, Australia, Europe, and the United States. Founded in 1956, Asia Society aims to enhance understanding of Asia through an interdisciplinary approach that encompasses geopolitics, geoeconomics, technology, climate and the arts. As the sole Asia Society centre in South Asia, the India Centre highlights contemporary South Asian perspectives and its global interactions. As an institution builder and cultural catalyst, she has held diverse roles, including seven years at Harvard Business School’s India Research Centre, where she collaborated with the board and advisory teams to shape the school’s strategy and engagement in South Asia. Previously, she spent over 15 years at Citigroup India in corporate and investment banking. An avid reader with a passion for art and aesthetics, she is also deeply committed to inclusion and social enterprise as vehicles for transformation. She mentors for Katalyst and has supported initiatives like Ummeed and the Akanksha Foundation.

Attending Sessions

January 25, 2025 ● 5:40 pm
The Golden Road : William Dalrymple discusses his new book on India's global role over millennia. In conversation with Inakshi Sobti with an introduction by Hitendra Dave

January 26, 2025 ● 11:50 am
Who Is Equal? : Saurabh Kirpal in conversation with Inakshi Sobti

Jack Sim

Jack Sim is the founder of the Restroom Association of Singapore, the World Toilet Organization, the World Toilet Day initiative and Bottom of the Pyramid Hub. Formerly from the construction industry, he decided to devote the rest of his life to social work after attaining financial independence at the age of 40. Born in a slum in Singapore in 1957, he learned entrepreneurship and gumption from his uneducated mother who started a series of small businesses. In 2001, he received the Schwab Foundation award for Social Entrepreneur of the Year. In 2007, he was elected a Fellow of Ashoka: Innovators for the Public and also became one of the key members to convene the Sustainable Sanitation Alliance composed of key players in the sanitation space. He was also named one of the Heroes of the Environment for 2008 by Time magazine. His book The Gumption of Mr Toilet: Mobilizing the World to Effect Change was published by Penguin in August 2024.

Attending Session

January 24, 2025 ● 1:00 pm
Flush Forward : Jack Sim, G.M. Kapur and Mudar Patherya discuss how nations define themselves through public facilities and conveniences. In conversation with Poorna Banerjee

Jashodhara Chakraborti

Jashodhara Chakraborti is an alumna of Lady Shri Ram College and IIM Calcutta. She writes, translates and teaches a course on storytelling. She is the author of two books of The Wordkeepers Trilogy – The Wordkeepers and Skyserpents – the first, a bestseller on debut. She has been a columnist on Scroll.in. In 2019, she created a concept and Bible for a web series with Disney+ Hotstar. She has serialized a translation of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore’s opera, The Illusion Game, on the digital platform, Scrollstack. Her translation of Hemendra Kumar Roy’s iconic adventure, Jawker Dhawn, was published as The Treasure Of The Khasi Hills by Talking Cub Books in 2023.

Attending Session

January 25, 2025 ● 4:00 pm
Lorenzo Searches For The Meaning Of Life : Upamanyu Chatterjee discusses his award-winning novel. In conversation with Jashodhara Chakraborti

Jaya Ahsan

Jaya Ahsan is a film actress, model, producer and playback singer from Bangladesh. She has worked mostly in Bangladeshi and Indian films in the Bengali language. In Bangladesh, she has won the National Film Award for Best Actress six times for the films Guerrilla, Chorabali, Zero Degree, Debi, Alatchakra and Beauty Circus. In 2013, she acted in the Indian Bangla film titled Aborto for which she received the Filmfare Awards (East) for Best Debut. In 2015, she received recognition for her role in Rajkahini based on the Partition. In 2023, she made her critically-acclaimed debut in Hindi cinema with Kadak Singh, a thriller by Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury.

Attending Session

January 26, 2025 ● 11:30 am
Putul Nacher Iti Katha : Abir Chatterjee, Dhritiman Chatterjee, Jaya Ahsan and Suman Mukhopadhyay discuss the film adaptation of Manik Bandyopadhyay’s classic. In conversation with Tanmoy Chakraborty

Jayanta Sengupta

Jayanta Sengupta is the Director of the Alipore Museum in Kolkata and the former Director of Victoria Memorial Hall, Kolkata. He taught History at Jadavpur University and previously at the University of Notre Dame. He is the author of At the Margins: Discourses of Development, Democracy and Regionalism in Orissa (2015), Those Noble Edifices: The Raj Bhavans of Bengal (Victoria Memorial Hall, 2019) and two books in Bengali named Itihas o Samosomoy: Samaj, Sanskriti, Rajniti (2022) and Hensheldarpan: Bangalir Hanrir Khobor (2023). He has also co-edited The Long History of Partition in Bengal: Event, Memory, Representations (2024).

Attending Session

January 26, 2025 ● 12:40 pm
Past Masters : Jayanta Sengupta, Tasneem Mehta, Kunal Basu and William Dalrymple on how history writing, museums, podcasts and OTT can work towards authentic representations of the past. In conversation with Sandip Roy

Jayasri Burman

Jayasri Burman received her initial training from Kala Bhawan, Shantiniketan. Later, she trained under the French print-maker Monsieur Ceizerzi in Paris and attended workshops on graphic art conducted by Paul Lingren in India. Her work engages with rich cultural dialogues on nature, matrilineality, infancy, mythologies, spiritualism and environment. She has been showcased in several group shows around the world. Also, her works have been shown through various solo exhibitions in all major cities of India and in countries like the USA, UK, France, Germany, Japan and China. Currently, she holds a pivotal role in contemporary arts and has been listed as one of the major influences on South Asian art practices. Ink, watercolour, oil, acrylic, charcoal, pencil on canvas or paper have all been important mediums for her. Her sculptures engage with details of materiality and techniques. She holds a critically acclaimed position in exploring iconography and cultural practices. She has been a recipient of many awards and accolades around the globe. She is actively involved in several non-profit projects and organisations for women and children. She played a defining role in the Ananya Festival organised by the Ministry of Women and Child Development in 2007 where she designed stamps that were inaugurated by the Honorable Vice-President of India.

Attending Session

January 23, 2025 ● 1:00 pm
Tumi, Ma : Jayasri Burman and Arunava Sinha speak about her book and tryst with art. In conversation with Sujoy Prasad Chatterjee with an introduction by Sunaina Anand

Kanan Gill

Kanan Gill is an author, comedian and actor from Bangalore, India. One of the founders of the Indian comedy scene, his notable works include Yours Sincerely (Netflix), Keep It Real (Prime Video), Comicstaan (Prime Video), Achaar & Co (Prime Video), Christmas as Usual (Netflix) and Is This It? His debut novel Acts Of God was published in India in January 2024 and is a national bestseller with over 40,000 copies sold.

Attending Session

January 22, 2025 ● 4:00 pm
Acts of God : Kanan Gill discusses his debut book. In conversation with Ankita Mukherji

Kathakali Jana

Kathakali is the head of administration and events at the ITC Sangeet Research Academy. Besides her day job, she also works as a reviewer and dance writer for The Telegraph and other publications. A former journalist and a life-long student of literature, she also dabbles in literary translation.

Attending Session

January 26, 2025 ● 4:35 pm
Requiem in Raag Janki : Neelum Saran Gaur discusses her award- winning book with Kathakali Jana

Koral Dasgupta

Koral Dasgupta is an accomplished author and content curator with over 20 years of experience. Her diverse work spans academic non-fiction to relationship dramas, focusing on gender narratives and complex human emotions. She founded www.tellmeyourstory.biz, a platform that uses literature to inspire social engagement and drive behavioral change for inclusion and diversity. She designs and executes learning programs, conducts writing workshops and curates content for events focused on gender and mythology. She has also been an advisory member of the Central Board for Film Certification. She has released her five-bookSati series – a retelling of the stories of the Pancha Kanya from Indian mythology. Her notable achievements include being shortlisted for the Sahitya Academy Awards in 2023, securing a five-book contract with Pan Macmillan and cataloging her books in prestigious libraries including the University of Harvard and Columbia University.

Attending Sessions

January 23, 2025 ● 12:10 pm
Tara and Devadasi : Koral Dasgupta and Sangeeta Bahadur discuss the women of myth and fantasy. In conversation with Paroma Roy Chowdhury

January 24, 2025 ● 3:00 pm
All You Need Is Love : Claire Betita de Guzman and Swati Hegde discuss stories of love and hope penned by millennials. In conversation with Koral Dasgupta

Kunal Basu

Kunal Basu is an Indian author of English fiction who has written seven novels – The Opium Clerk, The Miniaturist, Racists, The Yellow Emperor’s Cure, Kalkatta, Sarojini’s Mother and In an Ideal World. He has also written a collection of short stories, The Japanese Wife (2008), the title story of which has been made into a film by the Indian filmmaker Aparna Sen. He has worked in advertising, in freelance journalism, dabbled in filmmaking and taught at Jadavpur University for a brief period of 16 months. He has taught at McGill University, Montreal, Canada, from 1986–1999. His 13 years at McGill were interrupted only by a brief stint at the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta in 1989. Since 1999, he has been teaching at Oxford University’s Saïd Business School. He has also written financial pieces for business publications such as Fast Company and MIT Sloan Management Review.

Attending Session

January 26, 2025 ● 12:40 pm
Past Masters : Jayanta Sengupta, Tasneem Mehta, Kunal Basu and William Dalrymple on how history writing, museums, podcasts and OTT can work towards authentic representations of the past. In conversation with Sandip Roy

Kunal Sarkar

A passionate debater, orator and writer, Dr Kunal Sarkar is the President of the Calcutta Debating Circle (CDC) and chaired the largest live debate in India during Calcutta’s Festival of the Spoken Word. He is one of India’s most respected cardiologists and is known for not mincing his words, on or off the stage.

Attending Session

January 25, 2025 ● 6:30 pm
Krishnasinduki : Debarati Mukhopadhyay in conversation with Kunal Sarkar

Lee Durrell

American-born Lee Durrell received a PhD in Zoology from Duke University. She married Gerald Durrell in 1979 and spent 15 years with him writing and making television programmes about natural history and conservation. She became involved with the conservation work of the Durrel Wildlife Conservation Trust, of which she is the Honorary Director, and was instrumental in re-opening Madagascar to western scientists during the early 1980’s. Her first book, The State of the Ark, was a comprehensive review of species conservation published in 1986. She maintains a deep interest in her late husband’s legacy, receiving the MBE for services to conservation in 2011. This year marks the centenary of Gerald Durrell. 

Attending Session

January 26, 2025 ● 3:50 pm
Durrell’s World : Lee Durrell discusses the magical books and their message on his centenary. In conversation with Vikram Iyengar

Lisa Honan

Lisa Honan is a speaker, writer and policy contributor and former Governor of St Helena, Ascension, Tristan da Cunha (2016-19). She is a curator specialising in the British Empire and the History of Tea. From 2019-21, she was Ambassador (acting) & Head of Development in Nepal. She was the Head of Development in Kenya from 2013-16. She has spent over 40 years as a global diplomat and development leader, living and working overseas and in the UK. She was awarded a CBE for championing women and girls.

Attending Session

January 25, 2025 ● 4:40 pm
The Raj Duet: London, Calcutta and the East India Company : Anu Kumar Lazarus and Lisa Honan in conversation with Payal Mohanka

Malavika Banerjee

Attending Sessions

January 22, 2025 ● 6:30 pm
The Zakir Hussain Maquette : Dayanita Singh talks about her book, the art and how they segue into each other. Presentation followed by conversation with Malavika Banerjee

January 23, 2025 ● 3:45 pm
The Covenant of Water : Abraham Verghese discusses his best-selling epic with Malavika Banerjee

January 23, 2025 ● 5:15 pm
The Science in Literature and the Literature in Science Writing : Angela Saini, Ruchir Joshi, Srijato and Venki Ramakrishnan in conversation with Malavika Banerjee

Maniza Khalid

Maniza Khalid leads Programs and Innovations at The Queer Muslim Project, an award-winning cultural platform and Asia’s leading digital network for queer, Muslim and diverse voices. Leading on TQMP’s literature profile, they hope to continue building and expanding nebulous networks of storytellers in this world and beyond.

Attending Session

January 25, 2025 ● 11:30 am
Language Is A Queer Thing : Aadrit Banerjee, Abu Leila, Parth Rahatekar, Ray Vincent-Mills and Sara Haque in conversation with Maniza Khalid

Manu S Pillai

Manu S Pillai is a historian and the author of five books, most recently Gods, Guns & Missionaries: The Making of the Modern Hindu Identity. His debut book, The Ivory Throne: Chronicles of the House of Travancore, earned him the Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar. His second work, Rebel Sultans, narrates the story of the late medieval Deccan over four centuries. The Courtesan, the Mahatma and the Italian Brahmin, published in 2019, is a collection of his historical anecdotes originally published as columns in various newspapers. He is currently a columnist at Mint Lounge. He holds a PhD in History from King’s College London.

Attending Session

January 23, 2025 ● 1:00 pm
Gods, Guns and Missionaries : Manu S. Pillai on his new book. In conversation with Sujaan Mukherjee

Meenakshi Ahamed

Meenakshi Ahamed is a freelance journalist and the author of A Matter of Trust: U.S.-India Relations from Truman to Trump, a sweeping narrative history of the turbulent seventy-year relationship between the two countries. Her writing has been published in the New York Times, Washington Post, The Atlantic, CNN, Wall Street Journal, Seminar, and Asian Age. She has worked at the World Bank in Washington, D.C. and for New Delhi Television. She has also served on the boards of Doctors Without Borders, Drugs for Neglected Diseases and Vellore Christian Medical College Foundation. She was born in Calcutta and received an M.A. from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. She divides her time between New York, Los Angeles and New Delhi. Her new book, Indian Genius- The Meteoric Rise of Indians in America, was published in 2024.

Attending Session

January 25, 2025 ● 3:15 pm
Indian Genius : Meenakshi Ahamed discusses her deep dive into the success stories of Indians in the USA. In conversation with Sandeep Batra

Mitakshara Kumari

Mitakshara Kumari is an Education Policy specialist. Over the last 20 years, she has worked at both the national and state level with governments and non profits. Her focus has been on building state capacity to drive systemic changes in government schools in order to improve learning opportunities for the vast majority of our children. In her last role as Adviser – Education with the State Planning Commission, Government of Chhattisgarh, she led the state’s flagship project to improve the quality of education and learning outcomes, aligned with the New Education Policy (NEP 2020). She sits on the Boards of education trusts that invest in not for profit education in underserved areas in North Bengal and Assam. In the past she has worked with the National Knowledge Commission and the National Innovation Council, both key federal think tanks on education and public policy. She graduated reading International Education Policy at Harvard University and English Literature at St Stephen’s College.

Attending Session

January 23, 2025 ● 3:00 pm
The Four Purusharthas : Francesc Miralles discusses his new book. In conversation with Mitakshara Kumari

Mrityunjay Singh

Mrityunjay Kumar Singh is a multifaceted cultural personality who has successfully traversed the paths of creative writing, literature, music and theatre. He is a retired IPS officer of the 1987 batch. He has two collections of poems in Hindi and a transcreation of Meghdoot of Kalidas to his credit. He also penned a Bhojpuri novel Ganga Ratan Bidesi and its Hindi translation. His latest long narrative poem, Draupadi, published by Vani Prakashan, has attracted high praise. As a playwright, he scripted the Bhojpuri musical dance drama Bidesiya in 2007 and staged Shikandini at the Festival of India in Indonesia and Dev-Sabha, a satire on the Council of Gods. He travelled to Guyana and Mauritius with his Bhojpuri folk music as part of ICCR, Ministry of External Affairs and also Ministry of Culture, Government of India. He contributed lyrics to Rituparno Ghosh’s Chokher Bali, among other films.

Attending Session

January 23, 2025 ● 11:15 am
Khaki Lines and Steel Frames : Rajesh Patil and Veena Raman discuss chronicles of police and bureaucratic life. In conversation with Mrityunjay Singh

Mudar Patherya

Mudar Patherya is a businessman, garbage picker, Urdu lover, butterfly-chaser, stock picker, social activist and writer. He runs Trisys, India’s oldest agency in the area of corporate financial communications. He is also a prominent activist in Kolkata, responsible for cleaning urban water bodies including the famed Santragacchi Jheel twice over and the turnaround of the famed Rabindra Sarobar. He inspired the creation of a philanthropic NGO called Kolkata Gives that mobilized nearly Rs 100 mn during the pandemic in cash and kind. He kickstarted the trend of painting electricity boxes around eminent Kolkata personalities and masterminded and organised Live in Lakes musical event inside Rabindra Sarobar. He also initiated the clean-up of Vivekananda Park, Lily Pool, Avenue Sammilani lighting, water sprinklers inside Rabindra Sarobar and the open-air gallery inside Rabindra Sarobar. He helped replant 149 fallen trees in Rabindra/Subhas Sarobar in 2020.

Attending Session

January 24, 2025 ● 1:00 pm
Flush Forward : Jack Sim, G.M. Kapur and Mudar Patherya discuss how nations define themselves through public facilities and conveniences. In conversation with Poorna Banerjee

Nayantara Violet Alva

Nayantara Violet Alva graduated from Ashoka University with a Bachelors in Political Science in 2019. Since then she’s worked in the television and OTT space as a creative producer in Mumbai. At Disney-Star she was a Senior Producer on several primetime Star Plus shows, including the massive hit Anupama for its first 850 episodes. Currently she works at Viacom18, producing and developing original web series for JioCinema across genres. The TV and AVOD formats attract her for their unprecedented wide reach and accessibility and she draws from her experience with it heavily in her snappy writing. Inspired by events during her own college life, her debut novel, Liberal Hearts,was published by Penguin in October 2024 and dives deep into the angst and anxieties of GenZ in India through witty and accessible form.

Attending Session

January 26, 2025 ● 12:20 pm
The Writing Gene : Anuja Chauhan and Nayantara Violet Alva discuss how inheritance and influence work in families that write. In conversation with Debanjan Chakrabarti

Neelum Saran Gour

Neelum Saran Gour is a well-known writer of Indian fiction in English. She has authored six novels, four short story collections and two books of non-fiction. She has also been a columnist and book reviewer. She has translated her work into Hindi. Her creative work has been published by Penguin, Harper Collins, Rupa and Marg Publications and her critical work has been published by Routledge, Sahitya Akademi, Pencraft and other prestigious publishing houses. Many research articles on her work have appeared in journals of foreign and Indian institutions. She has been on writers’ fellowships in England, Scotland and Spain. Her most recent novel, Requiem In Raga Janki, based on the life of the famous Allahabad singer, Janki Bai, won the coveted Hindu Fiction Prize for 2018 and subsequently the Sahitya Akademi Award 2023. Her major contribution is the exploration of the culture, history and character of the city of Allahabad. She taught English Literature at the University of Allahabad for 44 years. Presently, after retiring, she continues to work on her newest project, a novel.

Attending Session

January 26, 2025 ● 4:35 pm
Requiem in Raag Janki : Neelum Saran Gaur discusses her award- winning book with Kathakali Jana

Nirupama Kotru

Nirupama Kotru is an officer of the Indian Revenue Service(Income Tax) of the  1992 batch.She has worked in various roles in the Income Tax Department at Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Pune which include the International Taxation wing and also the Income Tax Tribunal and Settlement Commission. She was on deputation to the Central Government from October 2009 to January 2012 in the Ministry of Corporate Affairs where she was responsible for various e-governance initiatives of the Corporate Affairs Ministry including the award winning MCA21 corporate filing portal. She was part of the team that set up the Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs at Manesar and helped develop competition policy as well as guidelines for corporate governance and corporate social responsibility. From February 2012 to January 2015, she was posted as Director (Films) in the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Government of India, where she looked after the administration of media units such as NFDC, Films Division and Children’s Film Society of India, promoted Indian films at film festivals in India and abroad, administered film institutes at Pune (FTII) and Kolkata (SRFTI) and shaped film censorship and archival policy. She also drove initiatives such as setting up of a single window clearance for film shooting as well as an institute of excellence in gaming, animation and VFX. From May 2018 to May 2021, she was posted as Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Culture, Government of India, where she nurtured prestigious national academies of literature, music, dance and drama such as Sahitya Akademi, National School of Drama, Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, Sangeet Natak Akademi and Lalit Kala Akademi and iconic museums such as Victoria Memorial and Indian Museum at Kolkata and National Museum, National Gallery of Modern Art at Delhi. She also looked after Gandhi Smriti & Darshan Society, UNESCO matters, International Cultural Relations, Commemorations & Cultural Mapping. She is presently posted in the Ministry of Coal as Joint Secretary & Financial Advisor with additional charges of Ministry of Mines and Minority Affairs. Her interests include writing short stories and poems in English and Hindi and articles on cinema, parenting and other topics. She is also a singer. She has co-edited an anthology on Hindi cinema of the 1970s called The Swinging Seventies.

Attending Session

January 25, 2025 ● 3:00 pm
The Swinging 70s : Anirudha Bhattacharjee, Nirupama Kotru, Ratnottama Sengupta and Shantanu Ray Chaudhuri in conversation with Balaji Vittal

Novoneel Chakraborty

Novoneel Chakraborty is the bestselling author of 14 thriller novels and one short story collection titled Cheaters. His Forever series was in the bestseller list for ten weeks straight after its release with Forever Is A Lie featuring in the highest selling books on Flipkart for 2017. Forever Is True made it to Amazon’s Memorable Books of 2017 and Times of India’s Most Stunning Books of 2017. Known for his twists, dark plots and strong female protagonists, he has been called the Sidney Sheldon of India by his readers. His immensely popular thriller series, The Stranger Trilogy, has been translated into six Indian languages and adapted into a web series, Hello Mini. His erotic thriller novel, Black Suits You, has been adapted into the hit Bekaaboo, while his exclusive digital novella, Red Suits You, is also being adapted into a web series. Apart from novels, he has written and developed several TV and web shows for premiere channels and platforms.

Attending Session

January 25, 2025 ● 1:00 pm
He Said, She Said : Anuja Chauhan, Durjoy Datta, Novoneel Chakraborty and Swati Hegde on the love stories men write and the love stories women write. In conversation with Poorna Banerjee

Ong Chin Huat

After graduating from the London School of Economics with a law degree and later called to the Bar in the UK and Malaysia, Ong Chin Huat studied History of Art at the British Institute of Florence, Italy. He became the first Chinese person to work in the editorial department at Hong Kong Tatler as the Social Editor. He started his own PR consultancy specializing in fashion and luxury goods. Currently, he is a freelance writer, fashion stylist, and TV host. He has met and interviewed everyone from movie stars and business tycoons to politicians and world-class athletes.  

Attending Session

January 24, 2025 ● 2:10 pm
Melting Woks : Claire Betita de Guzman, Ong Chin Huat and Saras Manickam on their stories of cultural assimilation in Southeast Asia. In conversation with Chaitanya Srivastava

Pandit Omkar Dadarkar

Omkar Dadarkar is a brilliant vocalist in the realm of Hindustani classical music and a Guru of the ITC Sangeet Research Academy. He started training under his aunt Vidushi Manik Verma and has also learnt from Pandit Yashwantbua Joshi. He became a Scholar at the ITC Sangeet Research Academy under Padma Shri Pandit Ulhas Kashalkar in 1999 and also learnt from Padma Bhushan Vidushi Girija Devi in the Academy. He has received many prestigious awards including the Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar from the Sangeet Natak Academy and the Sangeet Shiromani Award. He travels across the globe presenting his music alongside teaching his unique style to students of Hindustani classical music.

Attending Session

January 26, 2025 ● 7:30 pm
The Kolkata Literary Meet Finale : Hindustani vocals by Pandit Omkar Dadarkar (Presented by Sangeet Research Academy)

Paroma Roy Chowdhury

Paroma Roy Chowdhury is a communication, advocacy and public affairs professional with more than two decades of experience across global organizations. She has held leadership positions in companies like GE, Hewlett Packard, Airtel and Google. Currently, she is Advisor, Outreach to the Board and Vice Chancellor’s office at Ashoka University, India’s best-known private university. Till recently, she was a Professor of Practice, School of Management & Entrepreneurship, Shiv Nadar University, teaching Business Communications and Personal Branding for the MBA and online MBA programmes. She also serves on the board of CXXO, India’s only female founder fund. She is deeply interested in social responsibility especially in corporate philanthropy, diversity efforts, education for the under-privileged and conservation of the environment. She loves literature, contemporary Indian art, music and films and is a keen observer of politics.

Attending Sessions

January 23, 2025 ● 12:10 pm
Tara and Devadasi : Koral Dasgupta and Sangeeta Bahadur discuss the women of myth and fantasy. In conversation with Paroma Roy Chowdhury

January 24, 2025 ● 2:10 pm
Broken Mirror : Chinmoy Guha discusses his book on his conversations with artists and thinkers with Krishnan Srinivasan. In conversation with Paroma Roy Chowdhury

Parth Rahatekar

Parth Rahatekar is a poet and writer from Pune, currently based in Melbourne. Their work interrogates systems of violence and creates worlds of vibrancy, love and healing. His poems have featured across stages, galleries and publications in India and the world including the ISCP, New York, The narrm ngarrgu Library, The Brighton Centre of Contemporary Art, Vogue India and ASAP Art, amongst others. Their debut collection, Midnights, Parth’s Version, toured across venues in India and Melbourne. Currently, they are tinkering with various revelations while pursuing a Master’s in publishing.

Attending Session

January 25, 2025 ● 11:30 am
Language Is A Queer Thing : Aadrit Banerjee, Abu Leila, Parth Rahatekar, Ray Vincent-Mills and Sara Haque in conversation with Maniza Khalid

Payal Mohanka

Payal Mohanka started her career as a journalist with the Illustrated Weekly of India and spent over a decade with the magazine covering a wide range of subjects. In 1995, she was selected for the prestigious Press Fellowship at Wolfson College, Cambridge. She then moved to TV18, where she reported for India Business Report telecast weekly on BBC World and CNBC India for almost eight years. In 2002, she made a documentary on Chandernagor, a former French colony, titled Little France on the Hooghly and in 2003, she made a documentary on Mother Teresa, From Saint to Sainthood, which was screened at the Nehru Centre in London and telecast on CNN-IBN and Doordarshan International. In 2007, her book In the Shadows: Unknown Craftsmen of Bengal was published. Her article in the British think tank magazine The Round Table titled Religion and Conflict in India: A Sikh Perspective is part of the course work at the South Asia Institute of Harvard University.

Attending Session

January 25, 2025 ● 4:40 pm
The Raj Duet: London, Calcutta and the East India Company : Anu Kumar Lazarus and Lisa Honan in conversation with Payal Mohanka

Peter Godwin 

Peter Godwin was born and raised in Zimbabwe. After working as a human rights lawyer and a foreign correspondent for the Sunday Times and the BBC, he has authored six non-fiction books including Mukiwa, which won the George Orwell Prize and the Esquire-Apple-Waterstones Award, and When a Crocodile Eats the Sun, which won the Borders Original Voices Award. His book, The Fear, was selected by the New Yorker as a Best Book of the Year. He has taught writing at Wesleyan and Columbia and served as President of the PEN American Center. His latest book is Exit Wounds: A Story of Love, Loss and Occasional Wars.

Attending Session

January 24, 2025 ● 3:00 pm
Exit Wounds : Peter Godwin discusses his memoirs and the life of a ‘perpetual emigre’ with Georgina Godwin

Poorna Banerjee

Poorna Banerjee writes about food, films and music and owns Presented by P Consultancy that provides restaurant consultations, social media strategies as well as PR and Digital Marketing solutions to restaurants and hotels. Considered to be one of the pioneer bloggers of Kolkata, she deleted her long-standing food blog Presented by P in 2024 after watching a food vlogger call Gariahat’s Campari restaurant a ‘hiddengem’. She currently writes for several publications (including The Times of India and Conde Nast India) and is deeply interested in understanding various aspects of pop culture and trends and how it affects various social media platforms.

Attending Sessions

January 24, 2025 ● 1:00 pm
Flush Forward : Jack Sim, G.M. Kapur and Mudar Patherya discuss how nations define themselves through public facilities and conveniences. In conversation with Poorna Banerjee

January 25, 2025 ● 1:00 pm
He Said, She Said : Anuja Chauhan, Durjoy Datta, Novoneel Chakraborty and Swati Hegde on the love stories men write and the love stories women write. In conversation with Poorna Banerjee

Poulami Chatterjee Bose

Poulami Chatterjee Bose is an actor, theatre director, dancer, choreographer and the Artistic Director of her theatre group Mukhomukhi. She started her acting career under Utpal Dutt and has worked in many plays under the direction of her father, Late Soumitra Chatterjee. She has also worked with other directors including Suman Mukhopadhyay, Biplab Bandyopadhyay, Abanti Chakraborty and Dwijen Banerjee. She has choreographed, directed, and performed in a dance-theatre production Kaalmrigaya. She also directed and acted as the lead in Phera, which was selected for the 8th Theatre Olympics hosted by NSD in 2018. Her other acting and directorial credits include Ghotok Bidaii, Duti Kapurusher Katha, Andha Yug and Typist. She directed and performed a solo piece in English called Of Mothers and Sons in 2022. In 2023, she directed Janmantar written by her father. She also runs her own dance institute Aanarto. She received the Rama Prasad Banik Purashkar and Shyamal Sen Smriti Purashkar for the play Supari Killer.

Attending Session

January 23, 2025 ● 2:30 pm
Soumitra Chatterjee and His World : Sanghamitra Chakraborty discusses her book on the thespian with Poulami Chatterjee Bose. In conversation with Priyadarshinee Guha

Pracheta Gupta

Pracheta Gupta’s first piece of writing was published in Anandamela when he was only twelve years ago. Although he kept writing intermittently, his career as a writer only began when he reached 40. Since then, he has been writing regularly for both children and adults. He has more than 70 books to his credit and his works have been translated into several languages including English, Hindi, Urdu, Marathi, Malayalam and Telegu. He continues to write for many leading newspapers, journals and little magazines in West Bengal. Several well-known directors, including Tarun Majumdar, have made films based on his narratives. His novels and stories have inspired many tele-films and theatrical productions. His notable accolades include the Kolkata Boimela Samman, Bibhutibhushan Smriti Purashkar, Rammohan Library Sahitya Samman, Tarashankar Smriti Purashkar, Sahitya Akademi Kishore Purashkar and ABP Ananda Sera Bangali.

Attending Session

January 25, 2025 ● 12:10 pm
Saradindu @ 125: Itihasher Satyanweshi : Biswajit Ray and Pracheta Gupta on the historical fiction of Saradindu Bandyopadhyay. In conversation with Aparajita Dasgupta

Prayaag Akbar

Prayaag Akbar is a novelist and journalist. He has written for publications including The Indian Express and Caravan, covering issues of caste, class, and politics. He is the author of the novels Mother India (2024) and Leila (2017). Leila won the Crossword Jury Prize and the Tata Literature First Book Award. The book was translated into multiple languages and was the basis of a popular Netflix series. He teaches creative writing at Krea University.

Attending Sessions

January 25, 2025 ● 2:15 am
Modern Love : Prayaag Akbar and Sheena Patel discuss the presence of the personal device in love, obsession and everything in between. In conversation with Anusha Viswanathan

January 26, 2025 ● 11:00 am
Voting Ink : Dan Morrison, Georgina Godwin and Rajdeep Sardesai in conversation with Prayaag Akbar

Priyadarshinee Guha

An alumna of Loreto House, La Martiniere for Girls and Presidency College, Priyadarshinee Guha is a Masters in Modern History and a gold medallist from Calcutta University. Passionate about teaching she chose to make this her life force. She has been teaching History and English for the last 28 years in reputed schools of Kolkata, namely Modern High School for Girls and The Heritage School. As a teacher of History, she has conducted several workshops for students and for training of teachers in using novel and creative approaches in the classroom. A trained Rabindra Sangeet singer, she has worked for several years in a reputed Bengali theatre group in Calcutta. Theatre was carried into the classroom which led her to mount several award-winning productions under her direction. She has also directed water ballets set to Tagorean themes. Presently the Vice-President at the Kolkata Centre for Creativity, she is carrying on her mission of marrying the arts with education.

Attending Sessions

January 23, 2025 ● 2:30 pm
Soumitra Chatterjee and His World : Sanghamitra Chakraborty discusses her book on the thespian with Poulami Chatterjee Bose. In conversation with Priyadarshinee Guha

January 24, 2025 ● 7:10 pm
Decoding the Harappan Script : Bahata Ansumali and Devdutt Pattanaik on new ways of looking at the Indus Valley seals. In conversation with Priyadarshinee Guha

Priyanka Roy

When not immersed in writing about the worlds of Hollywood, Bollywood and streaming, Priyanka Roy will be found planning a holiday or dreaming of a spa day. Assistant Editor (Films) with The Telegraph t2, she loves a good conversation on cinema and enjoys critiquing films, good, bad and ugly.

Attending Session

January 22, 2025 ● 2:15 pm
Seeding A New Cinema - The Legacy of Shyam Benegal : Shabana Azmi and Rajit Kapur discuss the impact of the filmmaker on the country’s cinema. In conversation with Priyanka Roy

Rahul Bose

Described as the ‘Indian art house icon’ by TIME magazine, Rahul Bose won the Best Actor award at the Singapore Film Festival for Split Wide Open and the runner-up prize for Best Debut Director for Everybody Says I’m Fine! at the Palm Springs Film Festival. In 2022, he was awarded the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor for his double role in the Netflix film, Bulbul. Elected as President of the Indian Rugby Federation in 2021, last year the KIIT rugby stadium in Bhubaneswar was renamed the Rahul Bose Rugby Stadium in a rare honour. He runs two NGOs – The Foundation, dedicated to the equalisation of development by educating children from India’s most underserved areas and HEAL, dedicated to the prevention of child sexual abuse. He has received innumerable awards including Indian Youth Icon of the Year – Social Justice, the Green Globe Award for Climate Change, NDTV Celebrity Sports Activist of the Year, the Lt. Governor’s Commendation Award for Services to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, the Hakim Khan Sur Award for National Integration and GQ’s Philanthropist of the Year. In 2017, he produced and directed his second award-winning feature film Poorna. A prolific speaker, he has lectured on leadership, gender justice, sport, social activism and cinema at the World Bank, Harvard, Yale, MIT, Oxford and Cambridge Universities

Attending Session

January 26, 2025 ● 5:20 pm
English, August Three Decades Later : Upamanyu Chatterjee and Rahul Bose in conversation with Arunava Sinha

Rajdeep Sardesai

Rajdeep Sardesai is an award-winning senior journalist, author and TV news presenter. Currently the consulting editor and lead news anchor of the India Today Group, he has over three decades of journalistic experience in print and television. He was the founder–editor of the IBN 18 network and before that was the managing editor of NDTV 24X7 and NDTV India. He has won more than 50 awards for journalistic excellence. His previous books on the Indian elections, 2019: How Modi Won India and 2014: The Election That Changed India, have been national bestsellers. He is also the author of Democracy’s XI: The Great Indian Cricket Story. His latest book, 2024: The Election That Surprised India, brings to life the inside story of the recent exciting period in Indian politics and society.

Attending Session

January 26, 2025 ● 11:00 am
Voting Ink : Dan Morrison, Georgina Godwin and Rajdeep Sardesai in conversation with Prayaag Akbar

Rajesh Patil

Rajesh Patil was born to poor farm workers in the backward Khandesh region of Maharashtra. He worked as a child labourer picking cotton, selling bread and doing small jobs. But what set him apart was that, unlike most of his peers, he was driven by an intense desire to improve his life through education. Against great odds, he moved to Nasik for a B.Sc. and then to Pune for an M.Sc. in Statistics, all this with the help of freeships, scholarships and the support of his teachers and well-wishers. By dint of his hard work, he managed to get into the Indian Statistical Service, but the Indian Administrative Service was his goal. Unsuccessful at first, he persisted until eventually he cracked the competitive exams and qualified for the IAS. Maa, I’ve Become a Collector is the inspiring account of his struggles that has been a bestseller in Marathi, Hindi, Gujarati and Odia and motivated thousands of students in India’s hinterlands in their quest for a better life.

Attending Session

January 23, 2025 ● 11:15 am
Khaki Lines and Steel Frames : Rajesh Patil and Veena Raman discuss chronicles of police and bureaucratic life. In conversation with Mrityunjay Singh

Rajit Kapur

Rajit Kapur is a well-known actor, producer and director. He made his debut on stage in 1978. His theatre credits include Love Letters, Class of 84, solo performance of Girish Karnad’s Flowers, A Walk in the Woods, Siddhus of Upper Juhu, Twelve Angry Jurors and recently, Mosambi Narangi. He has donned the Director’s hat for many plays including The Glass Menagerie, Mahua and Naqqaash (Hindi). He is also a Co-founder of Rage Productions. His television breakthrough came with a role in the teleserial Ghar Jamai in 1986. He is currently playing the title role of Sardar Patel on Doorshan in a series named Sardar – The Game Changer. His popularity soared with Basu Chatterjee’s Byomkesh Bakshi in 1991-92. His silver screen debut was in Suraj Ka Satvan Ghoda directed by Shyam Benegal in 1993. His other 75 film credits include Ghulam, Guzaarish, Raazi and Uri. Notable webseries where he has acted are Mithiya 1 & 2 and Rocket Boys. His performance as Mahatma Gandhi in Shyam Benegal’s The Making of the Mahatma fetched him the National Award for Best Actor in 1995.

Attending Sessions

January 22, 2025 ● 2:15 pm
Seeding A New Cinema - The Legacy of Shyam Benegal : Shabana Azmi and Rajit Kapur discuss the impact of the filmmaker on the country’s cinema. In conversation with Priyanka Roy

January 24, 2025 ● 1:00 pm
Saradindu @ 125: Byomkesh in Bengal and Beyond : Rajit Kapur and Gaurav Chakrabarty in conversation with Agnijit Sen

January 24, 2025 ● 3:45 pm
Gandhivaad to Gandhigiri : Alka Saraogi, Rajit Kapur, Rudrangshu Mukherjee, and Sudhir Chandra on the enduring yet fast-changing way we engage with the Mahatma in the 21st century. In conversation with Sujaan Mukherjee

Ranjini Ghosh

Ranjini Ghosh is a versatile young professional actor and a dedicated member of Rangakarmee theatre group. She has performed as the lead in prominent plays such as Maiyyat, Lok Katha, Chandaa Bedni, Pashmina and Abhi Raat Baaki Hai. She also directed the Rangakarmee Study Group production Kaala Teeka. A graduate of St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata, and an alumna of La Martiniere for Girls, she is a trained Kathak dancer and currently a student of Hindustani classical vocal music.

Attending Session

January 26, 2025 ● 3:00 pm
World’s Best Ex-Girlfriend : Durjoy Datta and why literature will always need a love story. In conversation with Ranjini Ghosh

Ratnottama Sengupta

In 2017, Ratnottama Sengupta turned director with And They Made Classics…, a documentary on the unique bonding between screenwriter Nabendu Ghosh and iconic director Bimal Roy. A journalist for 46 years, she writes on cinema, literature and art for newspapers and journals, participates in discussions on the electronic media, teaches Film Appreciation and Mass Communications and curates art exhibitions. She has been a member of CBFC and NFDC Script Committee, served on the National Film Awards and other International juries and won the National Award and a Lifetime Achievement Award at Indywood 2016. She was the editor of an entertainment website, CineBengal.com, and Arts Editor of The Times of India (1987-2015). She has also written columns for Borderless Journal and Silhouette magazine. In 2024, she contributed to the book, The Swinging ’70s, among numerous other publications.

Attending Sessions

January 25, 2025 ● 3:00 pm
The Swinging 70s : Anirudha Bhattacharjee, Nirupama Kotru, Ratnottama Sengupta and Shantanu Ray Chaudhuri in conversation with Balaji Vittal

January 25, 2025 ● 4:50 pm
Chhoti Si Baat : Amol Palekar and Sandhya Gokhale discusses his memoir Viewfinder. In conversation with Ratnottama Sengupta

Ray Vincent-Mills

Ray Vincent-Mills is a poet, performer, facilitator, organiser and eavesdropper based in Birmingham. Black, trans, queer and fortunate he is interested in provoking discomfort in audiences and himself with his work. Themes include identity, the body, food and links between consumption and perception. He has performed in bars, cafes, restaurants, theatres, streets, a bathroom, a barn, a kitchen and once outside a Tesco (express) because a man asked very nicely. It is endlessly inspired by the Birmingham art scene, hip hop, his chosen family and desserts. He is claiming this is the year of being a baby at things which has manifested in papermaking, experiments with performance art and conquering his fear of deep frying. A member of the Roundhouse collective, it is currently working on a participatory performance piece, THE EXAM by THE ARTIST, supported by multiverse Eastside projects.

Attending Session

January 25, 2025 ● 11:30 am
Language Is A Queer Thing : Aadrit Banerjee, Abu Leila, Parth Rahatekar, Ray Vincent-Mills and Sara Haque in conversation with Maniza Khalid

Roopsha Dasguupta

Roopsha Dasguupta is a media professional with over 20 years of experience. As the founder of OOPSroops LLP, she works as a brand and content strategist for a diverse clientele. She has held notable roles in the radio industry including RJ at Radio Mirchi, Regional Head at Red FM and Director at Aamar FM. She also served as a consultant for Spice FM in Bangladesh. Over the years, she has interviewed many renowned personalities. As an anchor, she has hosted over 2,500 events across the globe, earning recognition as a charismatic and versatile presenter. Her voice artistry journey began with dubbing for Radhika Apte in the National Award-winning Bengali film Antaheen, garnering critical acclaim. Since then, she has become a sought-after voice artist for advertisements, OTT platforms like Netflix, Amazon, Hotstar, and numerous podcasts. She is a visiting faculty member at leading institutions and universities as well as a part-time corporate trainer.

Attending Session

January 23, 2025 ● 2:10 pm
Samay Kothay Je Choley Gelo : Writing in different ages and stages of one's life. Readings and reflections by Anupam Roy and Srijato. In conversation with Roopsha Dasguupta

Ruchir Joshi

Ruchir Joshi is the author of the novel The Last Jet-Engine Laugh and of Poriborton! An Election Diary, a road book about the 2011 state elections in West Bengal. He is also the editor of Electric Feather, a collection of Indian erotic fiction. Over the years, he has contributed to Granta, India Magazine, Man’s World, Seminar, E-Flux, Witte de With Review, The Indian Quarterly and other journals. He has also been a columnist for The Telegraph, The Hindu, Economic Times and other major Indian newspapers. As a film-maker, he has directed documentaries and essay films including the award-winning Eleven Miles, Memories of Milk City and Tales from Planet Kolkata.

Attending Session

January 24, 2025 ● 4:40 pm
Great Eastern Hotel : Ruchir Joshi discusses his forthcoming novel with Supriya Chaudhuri

Ruchira Das

Ruchira Das is an arts leader with 25 years of experience in working on projects in India and internationally. Most recently she worked as Artistic Director at Arthshila where she oversaw programming of multi arts centres in locations across India. In 2013, she founded ThinkArts to facilitate high quality, transformative arts events for children and young people. She has also been a tutor of Strategic Planning & Financial Management in short courses organised by ARThink South Asia, where she served as the Deputy Director. She is currently Directors Arts India at the British Council.

Attending Session

January 21, 2025 ● 5:00 pm
Ikigai : Francesc Miralles on his iconic book, Ikigai, and why it resonates with the youth across the globe. In conversation with Ruchira Das

Rudra Chatterjee

Rudra Chatterjee is the MD of Luxmi Group and the Chairman of Obeetee. Luxmi is a tea producer with estates in Assam, West Bengal and Tripura in India and in Rwanda, Africa. Makaibari, acquired by Luxmi in 2013, produces some of the most famous teas in the world. He is also a Director of Luxmi Township that develops vibrant and inclusive urban spaces. Obeetee is India’s largest carpet company that exports carpets to the United States and Europe and has won numerous Indian and International awards for its social accountability, environment stewardship and design leadership. In 2016, he founded Manor and Mews, a UK-based furniture company.

Attending Session

January 26, 2025 ● 6:10 pm
Climate Change and the Moral Debt : Esther Duflo in conversation with Rudra Chatterjee

Rudrangshu Mukherjee

Rudrangshu Mukherjee is the Chancellor and Professor of History at Ashoka University of which he was also the Founding Vice Chancellor. He studied History as an undergraduate at Presidency College, Calcutta and completed his MA in History from Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi. He went up as an Inlaks Scholar to St Edmund Hall, Oxford and was awarded a D.Phil in Modern History by the University of Oxford. He was Reader in the History department of Calcutta University. He held visiting appointments at Princeton University, Manchester University and University of California, Santa Cruz. He was also the Editor, Editorial Pages, The Telegraph. He has written six books on the Revolt of 1857 of which the most notable is Awadh in Revolt 1857-58: A Study of Popular Resistance and of which the latest is A Begum and a Rani: Hazrat Mahal and Lakshmibai in 1857. His other books include Nehru & Bose: Parallel Lives, Twilight Falls on Liberalism, Nehru: A Short Introduction and Tagore & Gandhi: Walking Alone, Walking Together. He has also co-authored A New History of India. He is the editor of The Penguin Gandhi Reader, Great Speeches of Modern India, The Best of Tagore and other volumes.

Attending Session

January 24, 2025 ● 3:45 pm
Gandhivaad to Gandhigiri : Alka Saraogi, Rajit Kapur, Rudrangshu Mukherjee, and Sudhir Chandra on the enduring yet fast-changing way we engage with the Mahatma in the 21st century. In conversation with Sujaan Mukherjee

Saharu Nusaiba Kannanari

Saharu Nusaiba Kannanari is a writer based out of Kerala. His first novel, Chronicle of an Hour and a Half, published earlier in 2024 won the Crossword Book Award and Atta Galatta Bangalore Literature Festival Book Prize in the fiction category. The book was also shortlisted for the JCB Prize for Literature and Godrej-Mumbai Lit Live! Literary Award. His next book, The Menon Investigation, is scheduled for publication in 2025.

Attending Session

January 24, 2025 ● 4:45 pm
Nowtopia : Saharu Nusaiba Kannanari and Sarojesh Mukerjee discuss their debut novels on the new India we live in. In conversation with Monideepa Banerjie

Samuho

Founded in 2019, Samuho is a collective of storytellers, performers, writers, scholars, painters and musicians. It is a congregation of women and queer artists with a few male associates. The collective aims to feature untold and unheard-of marginalized narratives in their work. They emphasize on making theatre accessible for rural and subaltern communities across West Bengal who, otherwise, cannot access theatre due to financial or class barriers. The collective maintains a non-hierarchal functioning model within the group. To develop their skills, creative practice, and political understanding, Samuho runs year-long capacity-building workshops and training programs for its members and interested people. As a women and queer collective, their journey continues to have many challenges. The collective participates in regular awareness campaigning against sexual harassment, gender crime, and domestic violence and for the equity, equality, and inclusivity of all genders. Their production ATHO HIDIMBA KOTHA has been performed all over West Bengal and in many prestigious festivals to great popular and critical acclaim. 

Attending Session

January 23, 2025 ● 7:15 pm
ATHO HIDIMBA KOTHA : A play by Samuho

Sandeep Batra

Sandeep Batra is Head, International Wealth and Premier Banking, HSBC India. As the Head of IWPB, he is responsible for executing the Bank’s strategy for International Wealth and Premier Banking, strongly positioning HSBC as a preferred foreign bank to India’s emerging affluent and globally mobile Indians. Additionally, he supports the ongoing focus on delivering mobile-first digital wealth capabilities and enhancing product offerings to support the financial and wealth needs of onshore clients across the full spectrum of the Bank’s customer base. He brings rich experience in retail and international banking across markets such as Russia, Thailand, Singapore and India.

Attending Session

January 25, 2025 ● 3:15 pm
Indian Genius : Meenakshi Ahamed discusses her deep dive into the success stories of Indians in the USA. In conversation with Sandeep Batra

Sandhya Gokhale

Sandhya Gokhale, a multifaceted force bridging law, art and activism, crafts a world where logic and reason meet soul. A fearless advocate and storyteller, she has redefined conventions with her unique lens. Celebrated for her unwavering conviction and bold stands, her work resonates with deep empathy and quiet strength. Her professional journey as a civil rights advocate in the USA was complemented by her enduring passions for Indian classical music and creative writing. She has authored eight feature film scripts garnering acclaim for their varied themes and powerful women-centric narratives. Paheli (The Riddle) based on Vijaydan ji Detha’s epic story Duvidha was chosen as the Indian official entry to the Oscar Awards in 2006. Directing Bhinna Shadja (Note Extraordinaire), a documentary celebrating Padma Vibhushan Kishori Amonkar’s legacy, remains her most cherished and significant accomplishment. She and her husband Amol Palekar share a commitment to social responsibility striving for a better world through collective action.

Attending Session

January 25, 2025 ● 4:50 pm
Chhoti Si Baat : Amol Palekar and Sandhya Gokhale discusses his memoir Viewfinder. In conversation with Ratnottama Sengupta

Sandip Roy

Sandip Roy is a podcaster and columnist living in Kolkata. He hosts The Sandip Roy Show for Indian Express. His dispatches air every week on public radio KALW in San Francisco and his columns appear in Mint Lounge, The Hindu and The Times of India. He is the author of the novel Don’t Let Him Know.

Attending Sessions

January 22, 2025 ● 4:50 pm
Maps and Stethoscopes : Abraham Verghese on the influences that shaped his writing. In conversation with Sandip Roy

January 24, 2025 ● 5:35 pm
Girl, Woman, Other : Bernardine Evaristo on her Booker Prize-winning novel. In conversation with Sandip Roy

January 26, 2025 ● 12:40 pm
Past Masters : Jayanta Sengupta, Tasneem Mehta, Kunal Basu and William Dalrymple on how history writing, museums, podcasts and OTT can work towards authentic representations of the past. In conversation with Sandip Roy

January 26, 2025 ● 4:50 pm
Deviants : Santanu Bhattacharya discussed his book with Sandip Roy. In conversation with Debnita Chakravarti

Sangeeta Bahadur

Ambassador Sangeeta Bahadur joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1987. During her 35-year career, she served India in various capacities both at home and abroad. Starting with Spain, she was posted, over the years, in Bulgaria, Mexico, Belgium, UK (as Director of The Nehru Centre) and as Ambassador to Belarus. Her last posting was as High Commissioner to Malta. At HQs, she handled responsibilities across the board including as the Deputy Director General of the ICCR and as resident faculty at the Sushma Swaraj Institute of Foreign Service, New Delhi. She holds prominent positions in various not-for-profit organizations, is a strategic advisor on international business and foreign collaborations and a guest lecturer/mentor at various universities and institutes. She has authored the popular heroic fantasy series, KAAL, which weaves concepts from Indian spiritual traditions and philosophy into the amazing journey of an original Indian superhero. Her latest stand-alone book, Devdasi, has just been published. She has also recently launched her own YouTube channel, ‘Tattle Tales with Sangeeta Bahadur’, for sharing strange and supernatural stories as well as legends, folklore and cultural insights from around the world.

Attending Session

January 23, 2025 ● 12:10 pm
Tara and Devadasi : Koral Dasgupta and Sangeeta Bahadur discuss the women of myth and fantasy. In conversation with Paroma Roy Chowdhury

Sanghamitra Chakraborty

Sanghamitra Chakraborty is a journalist and editor. In a career spanning 30 years, she has been the editor of India Today Group magazines Reader’s Digest, Prevention and Women’s Health, and worked at several other leading publications at the start of her career including the Times of India, Outlook, The Statesman and Sunday, writing on cinema, gender, health and environment, apart from news reporting. She lives and works in New Delhi.

Attending Session

January 23, 2025 ● 2:30 pm
Soumitra Chatterjee and His World : Sanghamitra Chakraborty discusses her book on the thespian with Poulami Chatterjee Bose. In conversation with Priyadarshinee Guha

Santanu Bhattacharya

Santanu Bhattacharya grew up in India and studied at the University of Oxford and the National University of Singapore. He won the Desmond Elliott Prize Residency in 2023 and the Mo Siewcharran and Life Writing prizes in 2021. His first novel, One Small Voice, was an Observer Best Debut Novel of 2023 and was shortlisted for the Authors’ Club Best First Novel Award and the Society of Authors’ Gordon Bowker Volcano Prize. He now lives in London. His latest book,  Deviants: The Queer Family Chronicles,is out now.

Attending Session

January 26, 2025 ● 4:50 pm
Deviants : Santanu Bhattacharya discussed his book with Sandip Roy. In conversation with Debnita Chakravarti

Sara Haque

Sara is a 26-year-old writer-poet from the riverside town of Goalpara, India. Their work centres around queerness, faith, memory, language and geo-political marginalizations via poetry, prose and other artistic mediums and has been published in national-level poetry magazines and books. They have been a spoken word artist since 2017 and also a 2024 fellow of ‘The Queer Writers’ Room’ by The Queer Muslim Project. Most recently, two of their works were published in Riverside Stories, a feminist anthology from Assam, by Zubaan books. Being a literature and film major, they also work with translation and film theory and have had academic publications around the same.

Attending Session

January 25, 2025 ● 11:30 am
Language Is A Queer Thing : Aadrit Banerjee, Abu Leila, Parth Rahatekar, Ray Vincent-Mills and Sara Haque in conversation with Maniza Khalid

Saras Manickam

Saras Manickam worked as a teacher, teacher-trainer, copywriter, Business English trainer, copy editor and writer of textbooks, school workbooks and coffee-table book while writing short stories at night. Her various work experiences enabled insights into characters and life experiences shaped the authenticity that mark her stories. She won the 2017 D. K. Dutt Award for her story Charan. Some of her other stories have appeared in Silverfish and Readings into Readings anthologies, while one was shortlisted in the 2021 Masters Review Summer Short Story Award. She lives and works in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 

Attending Sessions

January 23, 2025 ● 5:00 pm
Destiny’s Daughters : Defne Suman and Saras Manickam discuss how secrets and shadows of history define the women in their stories. In conversation with Antara Datta

January 24, 2025 ● 2:10 pm
Melting Woks : Claire Betita de Guzman, Ong Chin Huat and Saras Manickam on their stories of cultural assimilation in Southeast Asia. In conversation with Chaitanya Srivastava

Sarojesh Mukerjee

Sarojesh Mukerjee teaches Economics and occasionally International History at the Cambridge School, Kolkata, of which he is the founder. He is the author of the well-regarded biography The Life and Times of David Hare: First Secular Educationist of India. He keeps very good company in the form of Pongo the Pointer and Bingo the Boxer.

Attending Session

January 24, 2025 ● 4:45 pm
Nowtopia : Saharu Nusaiba Kannanari and Sarojesh Mukerjee discuss their debut novels on the new India we live in. In conversation with Monideepa Banerjie

Saurabh Kirpal

After studying physics at St. Stephen’s College in Delhi, Saurabh Kirpal read Law at the University of Oxford and did his Masters in Law at the University of Cambridge. Hereturned to Delhi after a brief stint working with the United Nations in Geneva. He has been practicing at the Supreme Court and the Delhi High Court as a Senior Advocate. He has appeared in a range of matters from commercial to constitutional law. He was the counsel for Navtej Johar, Keshav Suri and others in the case that led to the reading down of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code. He also argued the case seeking recognition of same sex marriage before the Supreme Court. A self-described ‘accidental activist’ he is the Managing Trustee of the Naz Foundation, the NGO that first fought for decriminalization of homosexuality in India. He is the editor of Sex and the Supreme Court, an anthology about issues relating to law, gender and sexuality and has also authored Fifteen Judgments: Cases That Shaped India’s Financial Landscape and Who is Equal: The Equality Code of the Constitution.

Attending Session

January 26, 2025 ● 11:50 am
Who Is Equal? : Saurabh Kirpal in conversation with Inakshi Sobti

Semanti Ghosh

Semanti Ghosh is an Associate Editor, and Head, Editorial Department at Anandabazar Patrika, Kolkata, India. A historian by training, she attended Presidency College, Calcutta University and received her Ph.D from Tufts University, USA. Her published books include Different Nationalisms: Bengal 1905-47, Swajati Swadesher Khonje, and Deshbhag: Smriti ar Stabdhata (ed). Her articles have been published in several English and Bengali volumes. She is currently working on a political biography of Deshbandhu C. R. Das. In the field of journalism, she writes regular columns on national and international politics and social issues.

Attending Session

January 26, 2025 ● 4:00 pm
Tambuli Akkhyan : Biswajit Ray discusses his new novel with Semanti Ghosh

Shabana Azmi

Shabana Azmi has been working in cinema for five decades starring in over 140 Hindi films and 12 international productions including Fire, Midnight’s Children, The Reluctant Fundamentalist, It’s A Wonderful Afterlife and In Custody. From her gripping debut in Shyam Benegal’s Ankur to her recent role in Karan Johar’s Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahani, her repertoire is a testament to her incredible diversity. She is the only performer in India to have won five National Awards for Best Actress, among a host of other awards all across the globe. Her artistry extends to the stage with a range of emotive performances in plays like Broken Images, Kaifi Aur Main, Nora in The Dolls House (Singapore Repertory Theatre), The Waiting Room (National Theatre, London) and Tumhari Amrita, which she performed for over 20 years. She believes art should be used as an instrument for social change and is also a committed social activist. She has been nominated to the Rajya Sabha by the President of India and is both a Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan Awardee. She has worked extensively with slum dwellers in Mumbai and was the President of Nivara Hakk, a housing rights NGO. She heads the Mijwan Welfare Society founded by her father that works for the upliftment of rural India with a focus on the girl child and women. She was awarded the Gandhi International Peace Prize at the House of Lords and honoured at the Bicentennial celebrations of International Human Rights in Paris. She holds five Doctorates from renowned National and International universities and has been conferred with the prestigious Martin Luther King, Rosa Park, and Chavez Awards.

Attending Sessions

January 21, 2025 ● 7:00 pm
Broken Images :   A play by Girish Karnad featuring Shabana Azmi. Directed by Alyque Padamsee; Produced by Raell Padamsee's ACE Productions

January 22, 2025 ● 2:15 pm
Seeding A New Cinema - The Legacy of Shyam Benegal : Shabana Azmi and Rajit Kapur discuss the impact of the filmmaker on the country’s cinema. In conversation with Priyanka Roy

Shahana Chatterjee

Attending Sessions

January 23, 2025 ● 12:10 pm
The Evaristo Manifesto : Bernardine Evaristo’s guidelines for a life in literature. In conversation with Shahana Chatterjee

January 23, 2025 ● 4:30 pm
I’m A Fan : Sheena Patel on her award-winning debut novel. In conversation with Shahana Chatterjee

Shantanu Ray Chaudhuri

Shantanu Ray Chaudhuri is either an accidental editor who strayed into publishing from a career in finance and accounts or an accidental finance person who found his calling in publishing. In 2017, he was named Editor of the Year by the apex publishing body, Publishing Next. He writes regularly on books, films and music for a number of platforms. He is also a published author with three books to his credit – Whims -A Book of Poems (published by Writers Workshop), Icons from Bollywood (published by Penguin/Puffin) and The Swinging 70s (Om Books International).

Attending Session

January 25, 2025 ● 3:00 pm
The Swinging 70s : Anirudha Bhattacharjee, Nirupama Kotru, Ratnottama Sengupta and Shantanu Ray Chaudhuri in conversation with Balaji Vittal

Sheena Patel

Sheena Patel is a writer and assistant director for the film and TV industry. She is part of the 4 BROWN GIRLS WHO WRITE collective and her debut novel, I’m a Fan, won a British Book Award in the Discover category, has been longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction, shortlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize and is a finalist for the LA Times Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction.

Attending Sessions

January 23, 2025 ● 4:30 pm
I’m A Fan : Sheena Patel on her award-winning debut novel. In conversation with Shahana Chatterjee

January 25, 2025 ● 2:15 am
Modern Love : Prayaag Akbar and Sheena Patel discuss the presence of the personal device in love, obsession and everything in between. In conversation with Anusha Viswanathan

Shruti Mohta

Shruti Mohta’s mantra is Live Kingsize Die Kingsize. While Live Kingsize is reflected in her
love for nature, books, music and spirituality, she believes that if we can enjoy all the gifts of
life, then at the end, why not become a gift yourself and Die Kingsize too. She is passionate
about the cause of Organ Donation and has been promoting awareness since 2017. She is the
founder of the Live Kingsize Die Kingsize Foundation. She has been a TEDx speaker. Several
prestigious organisations have invited her to give awareness talks including the Chartered
Accountants Institute of India on their Platinum Jubilee, the Rotary in its centenary year and
Kolkata Police. She has spoken several times on radio and television and has also been
promoting the cause through newspapers and social media, receiving thousands of pledges.

Attending Session

January 25, 2025 ● 11:15 am
Sati Savitri : Devdutt Pattanaik discusses his new book with Shruti Mohta

Somak Ghosh

Somak Ghosh is the host of the breakfast show, Kolkata Mosti Company, for 104.8 Ishq FM and one of Kolkata’s leading digital creators. With more than nine years of experience as a radio presenter, he has also worked as a creative communications head at one of the leading media houses in the country, along with being an actor and having featured in The Eken franchise. With over 700K followers on Facebook and 200K followers on Instagram, he excels in creating content that is not only humorous but also relatable. He is an avid contributor to the podcasting and audio-book creation universe as a voice artist and a creator.

Attending Session

January 22, 2025 ● 6:20 pm
Einstein O Indubala : Reading by Somak of Bibhutibhushan Bandyapadhyay’s short story

Somak Raychaudhury

Somak Raychaudhury is currently Vice-Chancellor, Ashoka University. He graduated from Presidency College, University of Calcutta, and went on to read Physics at Trinity College, University of Oxford. He did his Ph.D. in Astrophysics at the University of Cambridge. He then moved to the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, (CfA) at Cambridge, USA, as a Smithsonian Fellow. He stayed on to work in the High Energy Astrophysics division of the CfA, working for a NASA project, as part of the team that built the Chandra X-Ray Observatory, now in orbit. At this time, he was a Fellow of Lowell House, Harvard University. He moved back to India in 2012, to help rebuild Presidency College, Kolkata, into Presidency University, where he was Dean of Science and Professor and Head of Physics till he moved to Pune in September 2015 as the fourth Director of IUCAA. His work involves a wide range of topics in Cosmology and Astrophysics and has made seminal discoveries using observations at radio, optical and X-ray frequencies, from the ground and from Space. He pioneered the study of galaxy superclusters as the largest structures in the Universe and has discovered some of the largest structures of galaxies in the Universe including the ‘Saraswati’ supercluster of galaxies. In the recent past, he has been in leading positions in several of India’s mega-science international projects, including the Thirty Meter Telescope and LIGO-India. He has developed innovative machine-learning algorithms for mining large astronomical datasets and recently co-chaired the committee to compile the Vision document for the Government of India for the next decade of Astronomy research.

Attending Sessions

January 22, 2025 ● 5:40 pm
Why We Die : Venki Ramakrishnan discusses the science and philosophy of man’s quest for immortality. In conversation with Somak Raychaudhury

January 24, 2025 ● 6:20 pm
Passages to India : Stephen P. Huyler on his 50-year tryst with India. In conversation with Somak Raychaudhury

Somshankar Ray

Somshankar Ray, an M.A. and Ph.D from the University of Calcutta, is an Assistant Professor of History at Vidyasagar College for Women, Kolkata. He also taught at Presidency University. He writes regularly for newspapers and journals of wide repute and publishes from India and abroad. He has authored a highly acclaimed historical novel, Debi Mangal, brought out by Dey’s Publishing. He has several literary awards to his credit.

Attending Session

January 24, 2025 ● 5:15 pm
Ek Nombor Akashganga : Ashoke Mukhopadhyay discusses his book with Somshankar Ray

Srijato

Srijato was born in a family steeped in music and literature. His father, Tapan Bandyopadhyay, was a journalist and his mother, Srila Bandyopadhyay, is a classical vocalist. He is the grandson of Sangeetacharya Tarapada Badyopadhyay. His first collection of poetry, Shesh Chithhi, was published in 1999. He won the Ananda Puraskar and the Krittibash Puraskar for his poetry volume Udanta Sawb Joker (2004). His other awards include the Bangla Academy Samman (2014), Pashchimbanga Kabita Academy’s Sunil Gangopadhyay Award (2020) and the Government of West Bengal’s Bangabhushan (2022). He has also written novels, songs and screenplays. He has represented Bengali poetry at many forums, both nationally and internationally, including Iowa University’s International Writers Workshop, Edinburgh International Book Fair and the Hay Festival in Wales. He debuted as a film director in 2023. He has also curated the monsoon-themed festival Kolkata Baarish.

Attending Sessions

January 23, 2025 ● 2:10 pm
Samay Kothay Je Choley Gelo : Writing in different ages and stages of one's life. Readings and reflections by Anupam Roy and Srijato. In conversation with Roopsha Dasguupta

January 23, 2025 ● 5:15 pm
The Science in Literature and the Literature in Science Writing : Angela Saini, Ruchir Joshi, Srijato and Venki Ramakrishnan in conversation with Malavika Banerjee

Stephen P. Huyler

Stephen P. Huyler is an art historian, cultural anthropologist, photographer and author conducting a lifelong survey of India’s sacred art and crafts and their meanings within rural societies. He has spent an average of four months each year during the last five decades traveling in Indian villages documenting craftsmanship and contemporary traditions. He has served as a consultant and/or guest curator for exhibitions of Indian art including shows at the Smithsonian’s Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, the American Museum of Natural History, the Museum of International Folk Art (Santa Fe), the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, the Houston Museum of Natural Science and Mingei International Museum (San Diego). He is acknowledged as a leading photographer of India with an invaluable and extensive image archive. He has had many solo exhibitions of his images at such venues as the Smithsonian, the Asian Art Museum (San Francisco), the Santa Barbara Museum of Art and the Kodak Center for Creative Imaging. He has published six books – Village India, Painted Prayers: Women’s Art in Village India, Gifts of Earth: Terracottas and Clay Sculptures of India, Meeting God: Elements of Hindu Devotion and Sonabai: Another Way of Seeing.

Attending Session

January 24, 2025 ● 6:20 pm
Passages to India : Stephen P. Huyler on his 50-year tryst with India. In conversation with Somak Raychaudhury

Subodh Sarkar

Subodh Sarkar, born in 1958, is a survivor of a refugee family. He has published 45 books of verse in 50 years. He received the Sahitya Akademi Award in 2013 for the poetry collection titled Dwaipawan Rhader Dhare. He has been invited to read his poems and papers in numerous prestigious international seminars and festivals including the International Writing Programme at the University of Iowa (USA), the Moscow International Book Fair, Charles University at Prague (Czech Republic) and the International Writers Meet at Paros (Greece). He has been conferred an honorary D. Litt from Gour Banga University and Vidya Sagar University of West Bengal. He is a recipient of the Bangabhushan honour from the Government of West Bengal and the Gangadhar Meher National Award from Sambalpur University, Odisha, India. Currently, he is the President of West Bengal Kobita Academy. He taught English at City College under Calcutta University for 35 years and, briefly, postcolonial literature at the University of Iowa, USA.

Attending Session

January 24, 2025 ● 6:00 pm
Belur Theke Basanapur : Recitations by Subodh Sarkar from his new poetry collection to the accompaniment of the Calcutta Symphony Orchestra string quartet

Sudhir Chandra

Sudhir Chandra was formerly Senior Fellow, Centre for Social Studies, Surat, Gujarat and Visiting Professor, Institute for the Study of Languages & Cultures of Asia and Africa, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. He is the author of Gandhi: An Impossible Possibility (2017), Enslaved Daughters: Colonialism, Law and Women’s Rights (2008), Continuing Dilemmas: Understanding Social Consciousness (2002), The Oppressive Present: Literature and Social Consciousness in Colonial India (1992) and Dependence and Disillusionment: Emergence of National Consciousness in Later 19th Century India (1975).

Attending Sessions

January 24, 2025 ● 3:45 pm
Gandhivaad to Gandhigiri : Alka Saraogi, Rajit Kapur, Rudrangshu Mukherjee, and Sudhir Chandra on the enduring yet fast-changing way we engage with the Mahatma in the 21st century. In conversation with Sujaan Mukherjee

January 25, 2025 ● 12:20 pm
Forgotten Foremothers - Rukhmabai and Reba Rakshit : Ida Jo Pajunen and Sudhir Chandra in conversation with Vikram Iyengar

Sujaan Mukherjee

Sujaan Mukherjee is senior curator at the Birla Academy of Art and Culture. He enjoys researching and writing on art, literature and cities. He completed his Ph.D as a SYLFF fellow at Jadavpur University before joining the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences for a two-year stint as Mellon Foundation postdoctoral fellow. He has been associated with numerous museums and archives including DAG’s museums initiative, Victoria Memorial Hall, the School of Cultural Texts and Records at Jadavpur University, the JBMRC at the CSSSC, and the Gurusaday Museum. A two-time India Foundation for the Arts awardee, he is currently researching on Raibenshe, a martial dance form practised in parts of Bengal. He translates from Bangla to English and vice versa, and has published bilingually in academic journals as well as popular platforms. His recent projects includes Dublinnama (2024), a collaborative Bangla translation of James Joyce’s Dubliners, and From the Depth of the Mould (2024), a centenary tribute to Meera Mukherjee, for which he was translator and assistant editor. 

Attending Sessions

January 23, 2025 ● 1:00 pm
Gods, Guns and Missionaries : Manu S. Pillai on his new book. In conversation with Sujaan Mukherjee

January 24, 2025 ● 3:45 pm
Gandhivaad to Gandhigiri : Alka Saraogi, Rajit Kapur, Rudrangshu Mukherjee, and Sudhir Chandra on the enduring yet fast-changing way we engage with the Mahatma in the 21st century. In conversation with Sujaan Mukherjee

January 25, 2025 ● 2:10 pm
Michael Madhusudhan @ 201 - Rizia, Empress of Inde : Ananda Lal discusses the rare English play with Sujaan Mukherjee. Readings by Anubha Fatehpuria

Sujoy Prasad Chatterjee

Sujoy Prasad Chatterjee is an interdisciplinary artist, specializing in spoken words and theatre. He is the founder of SPCkraft, the city’s only interdisciplinary arts collective. He voices his expressions on gender, sexuality, social abuse and humanity through his art. Apart from working in feature films, web films and on stage, he is the Artistic Director of ‘Phreedom 4 Ever Monologues’, India’s only solo arts festival. His solo play Happy Birthday had opened in a queer theatre in Toronto and is now a part of an international book on gender and arts. He has acted in a number of web series for the digital platform Hoichoi. His work in feature films like Bela Sheshe, Bela Shuru, Shah Jahan Regency and Biday Byomkesh (where he played the lead negative character) were highly appreciated by the critics and masses. He debuted as a director for a short film named Home and as a producer for the short film Sorrow Of Love. He has also designed and curated an exquisite brand of unisexual accessories made of ceramics and molten clay and introduced a new line of couture called ‘Windows’, a collection of sarees and kurtas that goes beyond the concept of gender identity, body structure and shape.

Attending Session

January 23, 2025 ● 1:00 pm
Tumi, Ma : Jayasri Burman and Arunava Sinha speak about her book and tryst with art. In conversation with Sujoy Prasad Chatterjee with an introduction by Sunaina Anand

Suman Mukhopadhyay

Suman Mukhopadhyay is an Indian theatre and film director. His debut film Herbert won the National Award for Best Bengali Film. Asamapta premiered in IFFLA, USA, and can be seen on Netflix. His other films include Shesher Kabita, which premiered at the Dubai International Film festival, Kangal Malsat and Mahanagar@Kolkata, which was screened at the Munich, Kerala and New York film festivals. Chaturanga, based on Tagore’s novel, premiered at the Montreal World Film Festival. The film received a Gran Prix award at Bridgefest, Sarajevo, the Best Director award at the Philadelphia Independent Film Festival and the Golden Palm at Mexico International Film Festival. He has also made a Zee5 original feature film Posham Pa and directed five episodes of Parchhayee based on Ruskin Bond’s stories. His latest film Putulnacher Itikatha, based on Manik Bandhopadhyay’s novel, has been selected for the International Film Festival of Rotterdam. His theatre productions range from European drama to major adaptations of Bengali works. Among his many works on stage are Raja Lear, Sunyo Sudhu Sunyo Noy, Bisarjan, Teesta Paarer Brittanto, Samay Asamayer Brittanto and Mephisto.

Attending Session

January 26, 2025 ● 11:30 am
Putul Nacher Iti Katha : Abir Chatterjee, Dhritiman Chatterjee, Jaya Ahsan and Suman Mukhopadhyay discuss the film adaptation of Manik Bandyopadhyay’s classic. In conversation with Tanmoy Chakraborty

Sumona Chakravarty

Sumona Chakravarty heads the Museums Programme at DAG, where she develops education and public engagement projects through the arts. She is also the founder of Hamdasti, a Kolkata-based arts platform for socially engaged arts practices. She is a graduate of the Srishti School of Art Design and Technology, Bangalore, with a Master’s degree from the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University. She has been a Fellow in the ArtThink South Asia Program at Khoj, Delhi and at the Global Cultural Leaders Program, hosted by the European Union.

Attending Session

January 22, 2025 ● 3:10 pm
Patriarchs : Angela Saini on how men came to rule the world. In conversation with Sumona Chakravarty

Sunaina Anand

Sunaina Anand is the founder and director of Art Alive Gallery. Over the last two decades, she has contributed to the development of the art sector. Art Alive Gallery represents well-known Indian artists like S. H. Raza, Sakti Burman, Paresh Maity and Thota Vaikuntam, among many others. To promote Indian art, the gallery under her leadership, has organized shows of Indian art and participated in international art fairs in London, USA, Sydney, South Korea, Singapore, Dubai and Abu Dhabi. In order to increase knowledge and document contemporary Indian Art History, she launched an independent publishing wing in 2004. One of the most recent publications is 20th Century Indian Art, a landmark publication tracing the history of Indian art across the subcontinent and South Asia from the late-19th century to the present day. She is the founding Trustee of The Partition Museum and one of the founding members of Delhi Art Week (DAW). She also writes the monthly column on emerging perspectives on art called ART NOW in The New Indian Express and is an art consultant to several corporate houses and prominent hospitality chains in India.

Attending Session

January 23, 2025 ● 1:00 pm
Tumi, Ma : Jayasri Burman and Arunava Sinha speak about her book and tryst with art. In conversation with Sujoy Prasad Chatterjee with an introduction by Sunaina Anand

Supriya Chaudhuri

Supriya Chaudhuri is Professor of English (Emerita) at Jadavpur University, Kolkata. She was educated at Presidency College and the University of Oxford. Her expertise lies in Renaissance literature and culture, translation, cultural history and modernism and she has published widely in these fields. She also reviews new fiction and has judged fiction and translation awards.

Attending Session

January 24, 2025 ● 4:40 pm
Great Eastern Hotel : Ruchir Joshi discusses his forthcoming novel with Supriya Chaudhuri

Swati Hegde

Swati Hegde is a freelance editor, mindset coach and self-proclaimed coffee shop enthusiast who lives in Bangalore and can often be found at the nearest café with a hot mug of tea. Her debut novel, Match Me If You Can, released in June 2024 with Penguin India. In her free time, she loves curling up on the couch with a good romance novel or singing Taylor Swift songs on stage at karaoke night.

Attending Sessions

January 24, 2025 ● 3:00 pm
All You Need Is Love : Claire Betita de Guzman and Swati Hegde discuss stories of love and hope penned by millennials. In conversation with Koral Dasgupta

January 25, 2025 ● 1:00 pm
He Said, She Said : Anuja Chauhan, Durjoy Datta, Novoneel Chakraborty and Swati Hegde on the love stories men write and the love stories women write. In conversation with Poorna Banerjee

Tanmoy Chakraborty

Tanmoy Chakraborty is a poet, columnist, translator and lyricist. He has 14 volumes of poetry to his credit including translations and editorial contributions. He is a recipient of many prestigious awards like Krittibash Puroshkar, Dwijendralal Roy Padak and Binoy Majumder Smriti Samman. He has been invited to a number of poetry readings and workshops by the Sahitya Akademi, Multicultural NSW (Australia), American Centre Kolkata, Alliance Française du Bengale, Viswa Bharati (Santiniketan), Kolkata Literature Festival, Jatiya Kabita Utsab (Dhaka, Bangladesh) and National Symposium of Poets (All India Radio, Kolkata), among several other places in India and abroad. He is a regular columnist for leading magazines and newspapers in Kolkata. He has also written lyrics for a web series and worked as a screenplay writer and narrator for a poetry-based short film. 

Attending Session

January 26, 2025 ● 11:30 am
Putul Nacher Iti Katha : Abir Chatterjee, Dhritiman Chatterjee, Jaya Ahsan and Suman Mukhopadhyay discuss the film adaptation of Manik Bandyopadhyay’s classic. In conversation with Tanmoy Chakraborty

Tasneem Mehta

Tasneem Mehta, Managing Trustee and Director of Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Mumbai City Museum is an art historian, curator, designer, conservationist, and cultural activist. She is the former Vice Chairman and Mumbai Convenor of Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH). Under her leadership, the Museum initiated India’s first Public-Private Partnership for the restoration and revitalization of its building and collections, a landmark project that earned the UNESCO 2005 Asia Pacific Award of Excellence for Cultural Restoration. She has curated numerous contemporary art exhibitions inspired by the Museum’s rich history and collections. She pioneered the Post Graduate Programme in ‘Modern and Contemporary Indian Art and Curatorial Studies,’ offered at the Museum from 2012 to 2019. She has contributed extensively to articles and books on art and culture. Her most recent book, Mumbai: A City Through Objects – 101 Stories from the Dr Bhau Daji Lad Museum, to commemorate the Museum’s 150th anniversary has received widespread acclaim, including the prestigious Art Book of the Year award.

Attending Session

January 26, 2025 ● 12:40 pm
Past Masters : Jayanta Sengupta, Tasneem Mehta, Kunal Basu and William Dalrymple on how history writing, museums, podcasts and OTT can work towards authentic representations of the past. In conversation with Sandip Roy

Upamanyu Chatterjee

Upamanyu Chatterjee is the author of English, August: An Indian Story (1988), The Last Burden (1993), The Mammaries of the Welfare State (2000), Weight Loss (2006), Way to Go (2011), Fairy Tales at Fifty (2014), and Villainy (2022), all novels; The Revenge of the Non-vegetarian (2018), a novella and The Assassination of Indira Gandhi (2019), a collection of long stories. In 2000, he won the Sahitya Akademi Award and in 2008, he was awarded the Order of Officier des Arts et des Lettres by the French Government for his contribution to literature. His new book, Lorenzo Searches for the Meaning of Life, which has won the JCB Prize for Literature in 2024 is a study of the extraordinary experiences of an ordinary man and of both the majesty and the banality of the spiritual path. This novel marks a new phase in the literary journey of one of India’s finest and most consistently original writers.

Attending Sessions

January 25, 2025 ● 4:00 pm
Lorenzo Searches For The Meaning Of Life : Upamanyu Chatterjee discusses his award-winning novel. In conversation with Jashodhara Chakraborti

January 26, 2025 ● 5:20 pm
English, August Three Decades Later : Upamanyu Chatterjee and Rahul Bose in conversation with Arunava Sinha

Veena Raman

Veena Raman graduated from Nagpur University with a BA degree and also has a diploma in Travel and Tourism Management. She retired as General Manager, Marketing, Madhya Pradesh Tourism after serving 29 years. She has represented the Madhya Pradesh Government, both nationally and internationally, at many travel symposia. She has also represented India in Women’s Hockey in 1975 and been active in table tennis, basketball and athletics. She has been involved with an NGO in Pune working in the sphere of women’s empowerment. Her husband, Late Vijay Raman, was a distinguished member of the IPS winning accolades for bravery, courage and dedication to duty.

Attending Session

January 23, 2025 ● 11:15 am
Khaki Lines and Steel Frames : Rajesh Patil and Veena Raman discuss chronicles of police and bureaucratic life. In conversation with Mrityunjay Singh

Venki Ramakrishnan 

Sir Venki Ramakrishnan shared the 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for uncovering the structure of the ribosome. A member of the National Academy of Sciences, he runs the Ramakrishnan Lab at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, England. From 2015 to 2020, he served as President of the Royal Society, one of the world’s oldest scientific organizations. He is the author of the frank scientific memoir Gene Machine. His latest book, Why We Die: The New Science of Ageing and the Quest for Longevity, is a narrative of uncommon insight and beauty from one of our leading public intellectuals.

Attending Sessions

January 22, 2025 ● 5:40 pm
Why We Die : Venki Ramakrishnan discusses the science and philosophy of man’s quest for immortality. In conversation with Somak Raychaudhury

January 23, 2025 ● 5:15 pm
The Science in Literature and the Literature in Science Writing : Angela Saini, Ruchir Joshi, Srijato and Venki Ramakrishnan in conversation with Malavika Banerjee

Vibha Batra

Vibha Mitra is a woman with an original point of view, airing her opinions both profound and profane. She tries not to look back and does everything with zeal and a desire to learn. Films, plays, crosswords, Scrabble, Sudoku and Netflix are all jostling for space in her world. She is a rank-holding Chartered Accountant and Lawyer but did not pursue these as a career due to personal reasons. She started Opus, a test prep and Qissaa, a textile store and now Qissaa Buddy, a shopping companion. She formed the group, Own The Past, to create awareness on history and legacy. Her published journal Odds and Ends is a reflection on the world and mainly on Calcutta.

Attending Session

Vibha Mitra

Attending Session

January 25, 2025 ● 6:30 pm
The Poisoner of Bengal : Dan Morrison on the remarkable case of the Zamindar of Pakur. In conversation with Vibha Mitra

Vikram Iyengar

Vikram Iyengar is a Kolkata-based arts leader and connector. A dancer-choreographer-director, curator-presenter and arts researcher-writer, his work includes discourse, critique, ideation, consultancy and management. His performance practice spans choreography for stage and film, dance and theatre explorations and collaborations in India and abroad. Guest faculty at various universities, he has collaborated as ideator and/or discussant in several international projects at the intersection of arts, academia, and socio-cultural studies. His articles and reviews regularly feature in academic and arts publications. He is the founder-director of the Pickle Factory Dance Foundation that has brought in a range of Indian and international artists and guests to Calcutta since 2018. An ARThink South Asia Arts Management Fellow, he is a Fellow Grad of the International Society for Performing Arts and alumnus of Creative Australia’s International Arts Leaders Programme. In December 2015, he was awarded the Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar for contemporary dance by the national Sangeet Natak Akademi. He is currently one of 10 worldwide Global Connectors for IETM – an international network for contemporary performing arts.

Attending Sessions

January 25, 2025 ● 12:20 pm
Forgotten Foremothers - Rukhmabai and Reba Rakshit : Ida Jo Pajunen and Sudhir Chandra in conversation with Vikram Iyengar

January 26, 2025 ● 3:50 pm
Durrell’s World : Lee Durrell discusses the magical books and their message on his centenary. In conversation with Vikram Iyengar

Vinay Sharma

Vinay Sharma, Kolkata-based veteran theatre and film actor, theatre director and playwright, is currently Artistic Director, Padatik. His short fiction, poetry and theatre writings have appeared in various journals. He was shortlisted for the TLM New Writing Award 2006 and the Bridport Poetry Prize 2017. His debut poetry collection (2024) is titled If you can slip out of your face.

Attending Session

January 22, 2025 ● 4:30 pm
Y : A reading of Avik Chanda’s play by Barun Chanda and Vinay Sharma

William Dalrymple

William Dalrymple is one of Britain’s great historians and the bestselling author of the Wolfson Prize-winning White Mughals, The Last Mughal that won the Duff Cooper Prize and the Hemingway and Kapuscinski Prize-winning Return of a King. A frequent broadcaster, he has written and presented three television series, one of which won the Grierson Award for Best Documentary Series at BAFTA. He has also won the Thomas Cook Travel Book Award, the Sunday Times Young British Writer of the Year Award, the Foreign Correspondent of the Year at the FPA Media Awards and been awarded five honorary doctorates. He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, the Royal Asiatic Society and the Royal Society of Edinburgh and has held visiting fellowships at Princeton, Brown and All Souls, University of Oxford. He writes regularly for the New York Review of Books, the New Yorker and the Guardian. In 2018, he was presented with the prestigious President’s Medal by the British Academy for his outstanding literary achievement and for co-founding the Jaipur Literature Festival. He is the co-host of the chart-topping podcast Empire with Anita Anand.

Attending Sessions

January 25, 2025 ● 5:40 pm
The Golden Road : William Dalrymple discusses his new book on India's global role over millennia. In conversation with Inakshi Sobti with an introduction by Hitendra Dave

January 26, 2025 ● 12:40 pm
Past Masters : Jayanta Sengupta, Tasneem Mehta, Kunal Basu and William Dalrymple on how history writing, museums, podcasts and OTT can work towards authentic representations of the past. In conversation with Sandip Roy