Vikram Sampath was the guest at the 16th session of An Author’s Afternoon, presented by Shree Cement, on 21st April, 2014 at the Taj Bengal, Kolkata. Teacher, music researcher and translator Arpita Chatterjee engaged him in a conversation that touched upon the topics on Vikram’s writings and life.

Vikram Sampath’s first book, Splendours of Royal Mysore: the untold story of the Wodeyars has been publicly praised across India. The book featured the 600 years of long history of Mysore, its royal family and culture. His second book My Name is Gauhar Jaan is the biography of Gauhar Jaan, India’s first classical musician to record on the gramophone.Voice of the Veena: S.Balachander, his third book is a biography of the Veena maestro and Carnatic musician Dr. S. Balachander. The book has been translated into Tamil. His much-appreciated essay on the legendary singer K L Saigal is included in Penguin’s anthology titled Bollywood’s Top 20.

Vikram admits that music and literature are a part of his life. He is a music archivist who has embarked on a very ambitious and meaningful project of starting a national sound archive. He is also the founder-director of Bangalore Literature Festival.