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 humour. He is a prolific on-stage host and has moderated several large-scale events.

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

Andaleeb Wajid

Andaleeb Wajid is a hybrid author having published more than 45 novels in the past 15 years. She enjoys writing in a number of different genres such as young adult (YA), romance and horror. Her YA novel Asmara’s Summer was adapted for screen to become Dil, Dosti, Dilemma on Amazon Prime and other works are in the process of being optioned or adapted. Her YA novel, The Henna Start-up, is the winner of the Neev Literature Festival Award 2024 and the Crossword Book Award 2024, along with receiving an honourable mention at the BK Awards 2024.

Attending Sessions

January 22, 2025 ● 11:30 am
Girls Will Be Girls - Andaleeb Wajid, Madhurima Vidyarthi and Swati Sengupta in conversation with Priyadarshinee Guha

January 24, 2025 ● 12:10 pm
<3, Life and Growing Up - Andaleeb Wajid, Novoneel Chakraborty and Shabnam Minwalla. In conversation with Sanjna Ray

Anjana Basu

Anjana Basu has published 10 novels and three books of poetry including The Chess Players and Other Poems. Her first poem was chosen for the Illustrated Weekly by the then Poetry Editor Kamala Das. Her poems have appeared in an anthology brought out by Penguin India. The BBC has broadcast one of her short stories. In 2004, she was awarded a Hawthornden Fellowship in Scotland where she worked on her second novel, Black Tongue, published by Roli in 2007. Her first novel, Curses & Ivory, was published by HarperCollins. She began writing for children in 2010 when Roli brought out Chinku and the Wolfboy. Her Jim Corbett series for TERI dealing with big cat conservation for children began in 2013 with In the Shadow of the Leaves. Talking Cub brought out Grandfather’s Tiger Tales in 2022. She lives and works as an advertising consultant in Calcutta.

Attending Session

January 24, 2025 ● 10:15 am
Guardians of the Wild - Mangroves, Tigers and Cli-Fi - Anjana Basu and Rajat Chaudhuri in conversation with Lopamudra Maitra

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 22, 2025 ● 10:50 am
Bring It On - Deepa Malik on the Incredible Story of Her Life. In conversation with Satyajit 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

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 recently serialized a translation of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore’s opera, The Illusion Game, on the digital platform Scrollstack.

Attending Session

January 22, 2025 ● 12:20 pm
Things That Go Bump In The Night - Spooks, Crooks and Books - Payal Kapadia, Riksundar Banerjee, Vibha Batra in conversation with Jashodhara Chakraborti

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 1980s. 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 24, 2025 ● 11:10 am
My Family and Other Animals - Lee Durrell discusses Gerald Durrell’s Corfu classic with Malavika Banerjee

Lopamudra Maitra

Lopamudra Maitra is an anthropologist, author and international columnist. She teaches and researches in areas of history, popular culture and narratives of India and South Asia. She has represented India at various prestigious seminars and conferences abroad including UNESCO conferences on Intangible Cultural Heritage. Through her work, she likes to explore voices that often lie in obscurity echoing the lesser-known aspects of our heritage and the continuous dialogue between man and nature. She is the author of six books including The Owl Delivered the Good News All Night Long: Folktales, Legends and Modern Lores of India; How the World was Born: Wondrous Indian Myths and Legends and Collected Works of Upendrakishore Ray Chowdhury.

Attending Session

January 24, 2025 ● 10:15 am
Guardians of the Wild - Mangroves, Tigers and Cli-Fi - Anjana Basu and Rajat Chaudhuri in conversation with Lopamudra Maitra

Madhurima Vidyarthi

In her day job, Madhurima Vidyarthi is an endocrinologist. She works in the field of adult endocrinology, with a special interest in the endocrinology of fertility and pregnancy. She has also always been a passionately committed writer. Over the years, she has written in many formats including articles for The Statesman and scripts for educational documentaries and for a CD-ROM created by Price Waterhouse Coopers on Satyajit Ray narrated by Sir Richard Attenborough. But her enduring love has always been fiction. She writes across a range of genres and age groups. Her latest release is The School for Bad Girls, a fictionalised telling of the women’s emancipation and education movement in India featuring Kadambini Ganguly, the first woman to train as a doctor in India. An upcoming historical novel for adults is slated to be released in 2025.

Attending Session

January 22, 2025 ● 11:30 am
Girls Will Be Girls - Andaleeb Wajid, Madhurima Vidyarthi and Swati Sengupta in conversation with Priyadarshinee Guha

Malavika Banerjee

Attending Session

January 24, 2025 ● 11:10 am
My Family and Other Animals - Lee Durrell discusses Gerald Durrell’s Corfu classic with Malavika Banerjee

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. Apart from novels, he has written and developed several TV and web shows for premiere channels and platforms. 

Attending Session

January 24, 2025 ● 12:10 pm
<3, Life and Growing Up - Andaleeb Wajid, Novoneel Chakraborty and Shabnam Minwalla. In conversation with Sanjna Ray

Payal Kapadia

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 Sessions

January 22, 2025 ● 12:20 pm
Things That Go Bump In The Night - Spooks, Crooks and Books - Payal Kapadia, Riksundar Banerjee, Vibha Batra in conversation with Jashodhara Chakraborti

January 22, 2025 ● 4:00 pm
The Whereabouts of Words - An exploration of words as living beings with Payal Kapadia

Priyadarshinee Guha

A gold medallist in Modern History, Priyadarshinee Guha is in charge of the senior school humanities programme and the entire co-scholastic activities at Indus Valley World School, Kolkata. Her vast experience of over twenty-five years in teaching and teacher training helps her to promote novel and creative approaches to teaching. With her multifaceted talents and love for the arts, she is able to steer students to explore varied avenues of expression through drama, dance, singing, music and literary endeavors. Passionate about teaching, she chose to make this her life force. Born into a family steeped in reading, theatre and cinema, these influences have enhanced her work enormously over the years.

Attending Session

January 22, 2025 ● 11:30 am
Girls Will Be Girls - Andaleeb Wajid, Madhurima Vidyarthi and Swati Sengupta in conversation with Priyadarshinee Guha

Rajat Chaudhuri

Rajat Chaudhuri is the author of acclaimed climate novels The Butterfly Effect and Spellcasters and short story collections Hotel Calcutta and Calculus. He edited The Best Asian Speculative Fiction anthology and co-edited two international collections of solarpunk stories. His translated works include Calcutta Nights based on Hemendra Kumar Roy’s gothic memoir Raater Kolkata and a collection featuring hundred poems by ten emerging Bengali poets. A British Council-Charles Wallace Fellow and Hawthornden Castle Fellow, he is closely involved with the climate movement and writes and speaks frequently about climate, literature and possible futures in local and global venues. He has also contributed narratives for the internationally acclaimed climate video game Survive the Century. His book of cautionary and redemptive stories of climate change for young adults, Wonder Tales for a Warming Planet, appeared this month.

Attending Session

January 24, 2025 ● 10:15 am
Guardians of the Wild - Mangroves, Tigers and Cli-Fi - Anjana Basu and Rajat Chaudhuri in conversation with Lopamudra Maitra

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 Mosambi Narangi. He has donned the Director’s hat for plays like The Glass Menagerie, Mahua and Naqqaash (Hindi). He is also a Co-founder of Rage Productions. His television breakthrough came with the tele-serial Ghar Jamai in 1986. He is currently playing the title role of Sardar Patel on Doordarshan 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 web series 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 Session

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

Riksundar Banerjee

Riksundar Banerjee is a distinguished scholar, author, and filmmaker with a deep interest in the intersection of folklore, literature and the supernatural. With an MA in Bengali from Jadavpur University, he pursued a Ph.D. focused on Ghosts in Literature: Traditions and Evolution. He is the author of several critically acclaimed books including Haunted Places of India and The Book of Indian Ghosts. His other works such as Ashoriri Ovidhan and Cholar Pother Khorkuto delve into Bengali literary traditions and folklore. His collection, Chhayashorir: Sekal Ekaler Bhoot er Golper Sonkolon, gathers ghost stories from different historical periods. He is also an active contributor to the field of cinema, having worked as the script and screenplay writer for the feature film BhotBhoti.

Attending Session

January 22, 2025 ● 12:20 pm
Things That Go Bump In The Night - Spooks, Crooks and Books - Payal Kapadia, Riksundar Banerjee, Vibha Batra in conversation with Jashodhara Chakraborti

Rupak Neogy

Rupak Neogy is a visualizer and illustrator and works in the field of branding and communications. Born and brought up in Chandannagar, a historical city in West Bengal, he is a self-taught artist. His explorations within the world of art led him to his current profession of art director in advertising. He is also an illustrator in his spare time and has illustrated multiple Bengali and English books over the years. His latest books are Kites Fly Highest in The Mountains, The Great Toy Debate, Why Can’t Elephants Be Red? and We Live Here, You Know.

Attending Session

January 24, 2025 ● 4:00 pm
Draw Me A Story - Calligraphy and Comic Book Illustrations with Rupak Neogy

Sanjna Ray

Attending Session

January 24, 2025 ● 12:10 pm
<3, Life and Growing Up - Andaleeb Wajid, Novoneel Chakraborty and Shabnam Minwalla. In conversation with Sanjna Ray

Satyajit Banerjee

Attending Session

January 22, 2025 ● 10:50 am
Bring It On - Deepa Malik on the Incredible Story of Her Life. In conversation with Satyajit Banerjee

Shabnam Minwalla

Shabnam Minwalla has worked as a journalist with The Times of India and written columns and features in various publications and non-fiction books about facets of Mumbai. She is best-known for her books for children and young adults. Her popular books include The Six Spellmakers of Dorabji Street, What Maya Saw, Saira Zariwala is Afraid and the rib-tickling Nimmi series. She has won numerous awards including the Neev Book Award and the Atta Galatta Bangalore Literature Festival Prize. Her young adult book, Zen, part-romance, part-history, part-politics, won the Auther Award, the Valley of Words Award and the Binod Kanoria Award in 2024. She also teaches creative writing and has conducted workshops in schools. Her new book, The Body in the Swimming Pool, is an entertaining murder mystery set in a Mumbai high-rise.

Attending Session

January 24, 2025 ● 12:10 pm
<3, Life and Growing Up - Andaleeb Wajid, Novoneel Chakraborty and Shabnam Minwalla. In conversation with Sanjna Ray

Swati Sengupta

Swati Sengupta is an author and gender rights educator. Her books include Rebellion In Ranchi, the Incredible Life series, Half The Field Is Mine, Out of War, Guns On My Red Earth, Murder In The City (translation), The Talking Bird and A Tea Garden Party. She runs a gender workshop series for the young titled The Elephant In The Room. Her Dear Boys programme on gender sensitization for teenage boys has won her many bouquets and a few brickbats. She chose to ignore the brickbats and continues her audacious and unflinching determination to focus on talking to young boys on gender equality. A former journalist, she has worked for over two decades with leading newspapers in India.

Attending Sessions

January 22, 2025 ● 10:15 am
Kushti Kid - Sports Stories - Vibha Batra in conversation with Swati Sengupta

January 22, 2025 ● 11:30 am
Girls Will Be Girls - Andaleeb Wajid, Madhurima Vidyarthi and Swati Sengupta in conversation with Priyadarshinee Guha

Vibha Batra

Vibha Batra is an award-winning and bestselling author, graphic novelist, advertising consultant, poet, lyricist, translator, playwright, script writer, travel writer, columnist, speaker and creative writing mentor. She has published 28 books and over 100 short stories. Her travelogues have appeared in The Hindu, Conde Nast Traveller, Deccan Chronicle and The Week. Several of her short plays have been staged during the Short and Sweet Theatre Festival South India and her play Cold Feet won Best Script in 2017. One of her plays, The Social Butterfly, was staged on the occasion of GST Day in Chennai. She wrote the Hindi lyrics for Thuppaki and has written anthems for leading corporate houses. Her short stories and poems have appeared in the Chicken Soup series, international anthologies and several magazines. She has conducted creative writing workshops for children and adults. Her Sweet Sixteen trilogy and The Secret Life of Debbie G have been optioned for screen adaptation by leading production houses.

Attending Sessions

January 22, 2025 ● 10:15 am
Kushti Kid - Sports Stories - Vibha Batra in conversation with Swati Sengupta

January 22, 2025 ● 12:20 pm
Things That Go Bump In The Night - Spooks, Crooks and Books - Payal Kapadia, Riksundar Banerjee, Vibha Batra in conversation with Jashodhara Chakraborti