Sagarika Ghose is Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha (All India Trinamool Congress), author and journalist. She has been a journalist since 1991 and has worked at major media houses. Ghose has received several awards in journalism and is the author of two novels, as well as two best-selling biographies: ‘Indira: India’s Most Powerful Prime Minister’ and ‘Vajpayee, India’s Most Loved Prime Minister.’ She has also authored the critically acclaimed work ‘Why I Am A Liberal.’
Ruchira Gupta is an Emmy winning journalist and founder of the anti sex trafficking NGO Apne Aap, that empowers women and girls to exit systems of prostitution. I Kick and I Fly is her debut fiction novel. She has been awarded the French Ordre National du Mérite, the Clinton Global Citizen Award, and the UN NGO CSW Woman of Distinction, among other honours, for her contribution to the establishment of the UN Trafficking Fund for Survivors, the passage of the US Trafficking Victims Protection Act and her grassroots activism with Apne Aap. She also holds a Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Smith College. She has co-written a book with Gloria Steinem, “As if Women Matter” and edited two anthologies, “River of Flesh” and “Renu’s letters to Birju Babu”. Ruchira has worked for the United Nations in Nepal, Thailand, Kosovo, Iran, and the USA. She occasionally teaches at the New York University’s Centre for Global Affairs as a visiting faculty. Ruchira divides her time between New York and Forbesganj, her childhood home in the foothills of the Himalayas, where she furthers the work of Apne Aap and paints her mother’s garden.
Nandini Das is Professor of Early Modern Literature and Culture at Oxford University, Fellow of Exeter College, and Honorary Professor of English Literature at the University of Liverpool. She studied English at Jadavpur University, India, before going to the UK as a Rhodes Scholar to read English at University College, Oxford, followed by a doctorate at Trinity College, Cambridge. She is a scholar of Renaissance literature, travel, migration, and cross-cultural encounters, and has published widely on these topics, from their appearance in the writings of major sixteenth and seventeenth century authors such as Philip Sidney, Shakespeare and Cervantes, to the fleeting presence of three Japanese boys in sixteenth century Portuguese-held Goa, India. Among her books are Renaissance Romance: The Transformation of English Prose Fiction, 1570-1620 (2011) and The Cambridge History of Travel Writing (2019), co-edited with Tim Youngs. Her most recent book, Courting India: England, Mughal India, and the Origins of Empire, received the 2023 British Academy Book Prize for Global Cultural Understanding. A BBC New Generation Thinker, she regularly presents television and radio programmes on her research. Her work has received funding from the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), the Leverhulme Trust, the UK India Education & Research Initiative (UKIERI), and the European Research Council. A founding member of UKRI Research England Council (2016-2022) and a current member of the UK Committee on Research Integrity, she is involved in research committees at national and international levels across multiple areas.
Bashabi Fraser, CBE, HonFASL, is an award-winning poet, children’s writer, editor and academic. She was declared an Outstanding Woman of Scotland by the Saltire Society in 2015. Bashabi has authored and edited 24 books, several academic and creative articles and been widely anthologised as a poet. Her recent publications include Patient Dignity (2021) and Rabindranath Tagore (2019). She is the Chief Editor of the international, peer-reviewed e-journal Gitanjali and Beyond, and sits on the Editorial Board of Writers Mosaic. Bashabi is Professor Emerita of English and Creative Writing at Edinburgh Napier University and Director of the Scottish Centre of Tagore Studies (ScoTs). She is also an Honorary Fellow at the Centre for South Asian Studies, University of Edinburgh, Honorary Vice President of the Association of Scottish Literary Studies (ASLS) and a Royal Literary Fund Fellow.
Sadaf Hussain is currently a consultant chef based out of Delhi. An animator by training who worked in the development sector, his food journey took proper shape when he moved to New Delhi and chose to adopt travel as a lifestyle. An avid storyteller, he is passionate about exploring the background and origins of the dishes he encounters. Sadaf is a TEDx speaker, has food shows online and runs the popular food blog www.foodandstreets.com. He believes that everything and everyone has a story to tell, and lives to uncover those stories.
Neerja Chowdhury is an award-winning journalist, columnist, and political commentator. In the course of a distinguished career of over forty years, she was political editor of the Indian Express for ten years and covered the terms of eight prime ministers and ten Lok Sabha elections. She has won several prestigious awards for her journalism including the first Chameli Devi Jain Award for Outstanding Women Mediapersons (1981), the India Today–PUCL Journalism for Human Rights Award (1983), and the Prem Bhatia Award for Best Political Reporting (2009–10).
She is contributing editor, the Indian Express, and her weekly column, The Neerja Chowdhury Column, is widely followed by participants and observers of contemporary Indian politics. She lives in Gurgaon.
Navtej Sarna was India’s Ambassador to the United States, High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, and Ambassador to Israel. He has also served as Secretary to the Government of India and as the Foreign Office Spokesperson. His earlier diplomatic assignments were in Moscow, Warsaw, Thimphu, Tehran, Geneva, and Washington DC. His literary work includes the novels The Exile and We Weren’t Lovers Like That, the short story collection Winter Evenings, non-fiction works The Book of Nanak, Second Thoughts, and Indians at Herod’s Gate, as well as two translations, Zafarnama and Savage Harvest. He is a prolific columnist and commentator on foreign policy and literary matters, contributing regularly to media platforms in India and abroad.
Koel Puri Rinchet is an award-winning actress, producer, and writer. She has interviewed presidents and actors alike on her show On the Couch with Koel and will be seen in Zoya Akhtar’s The Archies later this year. She also scripted her first script Mummy’s Dead, Long Live Mummy! which debuted in Paris this March with sold-out shows. Koel is currently based in Paris. This is her first novel.
Samantha Kochharr is the Managing Director of a leading cosmetic company in India. She is also the Chief Expert for hairdressing for IndiaSkills, and the Deputy Chief Expert-Hairdressing for World Skills International. She has been mentoring young talent for many years now. She started her journey in the hair and beauty industry at the age of 11 and has worked in the movie and fashion industry internationally and nationally for many years. She is also an avid painter and potter. Born into a business family, she is the daughter of the legendary aromatherapist—Dr Blossom Kochhar.
She has been a practising shaman since 2013 and has extensively studied energy healing. Over the years, she has worked with people from all walks of life as a grief whisperer. Arribada: The Arrival is her first book and it is an extension of her spiritual journey.
Samantha lives in Delhi and loves to cook and bake for her family and friends. Following her passion, she runs a popular delicatessen in Delhi, The Tea Room, where the menu is based on her old family recipes.