Nilanjana S Roy is the author of two award-winning fantasy novels, The Wildings and The Hundred Names of Darkness, and a collection of essays on reading, The Girl Who Ate Books. She is also a columnist for the FT, has edited several anthologies, and will soon publish her third novel, Black River.
Onir is an Indian filmmaker, producer, screenwriter and editor. He is best known for his film “My Brother…Nikhil”, based on the life of Dominic D’Souza, starring Sanjay Suri, Juhi Chawla and Purab Kohli. It was one of the first mainstream Hindi films to deal with AIDS and same-sex relationships. He won the Indian National Film awards for Best Film (Hindi) for the anthology “I AM” in 2011. I AM is considered one of the first and largest crowd-funded and crowd-sourced films through social media in India. The film dealt with single motherhood, child sexual abuse, displacement and LGBTQI rights.
Payal Kothari embarked on her health and wellness journey with the world’s largest nutrition school, IIN—Institute for Integrative Nutrition, New York USA, IIN Advanced Business, Medvarsity, India’s leading training academy, Kaizad Kapadia’s K11 and QI academy. She has 150 published articles under her belt from prestigious publications like Times of India, Vogue, The Indian Express, Hindustan Times and ET Panache. She holds practical certifications from ACSM (American College of Sports Medicine) and has been a part of some of the most powerful global Transformation Programs like Date with Destiny & Unleash the Power Within with Tony Robbins. Today, Payal is one of the rare few IIN-certified coaches in India who practises Integrative Nutrition and Transformation.
Piyush Jha is an acclaimed film director and the author of bestselling crime fiction novels. His films as a Director/Writer, Chalo America, King of Bollywood and Sikandar are noted for the unconventionality of the subject matter and for their relevance to contemporary society.
As an Author, Piyush Jha’s crime-fiction suspense novel series Mumbaistan, Compass Box Killer, Anti-Social Network and the stand-alone novel Raakshas- India’s No. 1 Serial Killer are noir, page-turners that explore the gritty, underbelly of Mumbai. Piyush Jha’s Mumbaistan- Inspector Virkar Series of novels is being adapted into a web-OTT TV show series starring Prateik Babbar as Inspector Virkar. The first season, titled Virkar Vs.The Anti-Social Network, has already been filmed and is currently in post-production. Girls of Mumbaistan is Piyush Jha’s fifth crime-thriller as an author and is a follow-up to the Mumbaistan Series, this time with compelling female protagonists.Piyush Jha is also currently working to set up his fourth film as a Director where he will be adapting one of the novellas from Girls of Mumbaistan to the screen.
Pramod Kumar KG is the managing director of Eka Cultural Resources & Research, India’s only museum consulting company. He was the founder director of the Anokhi Museum of Hand Printing at Jaipur and was the first director of the Jaipur Literature Festival in 2006. He curated the exhibition, Bhutan: An Eye To History at the National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi in 2009, which was inaugurated by His Majesty Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, King of Bhutan. He is a co-director of the Mountain Echoes literary festival and the author of Posing for Posterity: Royal Indian Portraits.
Preeti Shenoy is the bestselling author of Life is What You Make It and eleven other titles. Her books have been translated into several Indian and foreign languages. She is among the highest-selling authors in India. She is also a speaker, columnist, and artist. Preeti has been featured on BBC, Conde Nast, Verve, India Today and all other major media. Her latest book is called ‘All The Love You Deserve”.
Rahul Pandita is a Yale World Fellow. He is the author of the bestselling Our Moon Has Blood Clots: A Memoir of a Lost Home in Kashmir, Hello, Bastar: The Untold Story of India’s Maoist Movement and a co-author of The Absent State: Insurgency as an Excuse for Misgovernance. He has worked extensively as a war correspondent in various countries, including Iraq and Sri Lanka. In India, Pandita is known for his reportage on the Maoist insurgency and the turmoil in Kashmir. He is the recipient of the International Red Cross Award for conflict reporting. A former Opinion and Special Stories Editor for The Hindu, Pandita has also written a screenplay set to be directed by renowned Indian filmmaker Vidhu Vinod Chopra.
Rashmi Bansal is a writer, entrepreneur and a motivational speaker. An author of 9 bestselling books on entrepreneurship which have sold more than 1.2 million copies and been translated in 12 languages, including Korean and Vietnamese. Rashmi is the # 1 business books author in India. Rashmi’s first book was Stay Hungry Stay Foolish, the runaway bestseller on 25 MBAs from IIM Ahmedabad who went on to create successful businesses. The book, an initiative by the Centre for Innovation Incubation and Entrepreneurship (CIIE) at IIMA, has sold over 500,000 copies and has been translated into 11 languages.Her other popular titles include Connect the Dots, I Have a Dream, Take Me Home, God’s Own Kitchen and Touch the Sky. Rashmi’s 10th book Shine Bright – Inspiring Stories of CEOS who are Intrapreneurs launched 20 th May 2019 this year.
Rashmi co-founded JAM (Just Another Magazine) which went on to become India’s most popular youth magazine. Her popular blog Youthcurry features her writings on youth, careers and entrepreneurship. Rashmi has been a columnist on Rediff.com as well as a regular contributor to Businessworld and Business Today magazines.She has also been Consulting Editor with business news channel Bloomberg UTV where she hosted India’s first call-in show on careers.
Ratna Vira is the bestselling author of ‘Daughter By Court Order‘. Her second novel, It’s Not About You, released in April 2016. It is an urgent, contemporary tale that celebrates the persistence of the human spirit to fight against all odds. Ratna holds a masters degree from the London School of Economics and Political Science, as well as a masters in English Literature from St Stephen’s College, University of Delhi. She also holds an MBA. Ratna juggles her corporate career with her writing and love of art. Ratna has spoken at leading universities, international business schools, corporate occasions and been part of several panels.
Ravi Subramanian is an Indian author. A banker by profession, Subramanian has written popular thrillers about banking and bankers, including award winning trilogy The Incredible Banker, The Bankster and Bankerupt. An alumnus of IIM Bangalore, batch of 1993, Subramanian spent close to two decades in the financial services industry. After having worked with companies such as Citibank, HSBC and ANZ Grindlays, Subramanian is now the CEO of a listed Non-banking financial company. Subramanian writes popular columns for well-known magazines and has his own personal weekly column in the career and business life page of The Economic Times.
Dr. Reba Som born in Darjeeling, West Bengal, is an academic, historian, writer and classical singer from India. She is the director of Indian Council for Cultural Relations’ Rabindranath Tagore Centre in Kolkata.
Reshma Qureshi is an Indian model, vlogger, and anti-acid activist. In India, she is the face of Make Love Not Scars. Her foray into modeling in the United States came when she walked the catwalk for Archana Kochhar at the 2016 New York Fashion Week. Reshma works tirelessly towards empowering other acid-attack survivors like herself and has become a beacon of hope for millions.