Dharmendra Pradhan

A prominent politician, Dharmendra Pradhan is the Union Minister of State (independent charge) for Petroleum and Natural Gas. A social worker from the start, Pradhan has worked for the development of backward classes and rehabilitation of farmers.

He has been honoured with the Best Legislator Award and the Utkalmani Gopabandhu Pratibha Samman, 2002-2003. A committed social worker, Pradhan is concerned

about the problems faced by the youth, such as unemployment and technical education. He also works for the development of backward classes and the rehabilitation of the farmers, and has played a very important role in creating a positive image of politics in the minds of the youth. He enjoys reading books on history and politics, which enable him to track social change, an understanding of which makes for effective governance.

Abhishek Chaubey

Abhishek Chaubey is an Indian film director, writer and screenwriter. He directed the 2010 film, Ishqiya. Chaubey started his career as an associate director and co-writer with film director, Vishal Bhardwaj, starting with Vishal's debut Makdee (2002). He went on to assist him in all his subsequent films, and most notably co-wrote Vishal's trendsetting Omkara (2006) based on Othello and Kaminey (2009). His second film Dedh Ishqiya starring Madhuri Dixit, Naseeruddin Shah, Arshad Warsi, Huma Qureshi and Vijay Raaz released on 10 January 2014. Chaubey did his graduation in English literature from Hindu College, New Delhi in the year 1998. He then moved to Mumbai to do a course in Film & Television Production from the Xavier Institute of Communications before taking a headlong plunge in the world of Hindi films.

Anuja Chandramouli

She is a bestselling Indian author and New Age Indian Classicist. Her highly acclaimed debut novel, Arjuna: Saga of a Pandava Warrior-Prince, was named in a poll conducted by Amazon India as one of the top 5 books in the Indian Writing category for the year 2013. She also authored the bestselling novel, Kamadeva: The God of Desire. Her third book, Shakti: The Divine Feminine is the definitive work on the Mother Goddess.

Aruna Mohanty

Devotion, perseverance and commitment have placed Aruna Mohanty as the finest among the dancers in the field of Odissi Dance, nurtured under the able guidance of Guru Gangadhar Pradhan. Her skill and versatility make her the recipient of many awards and accolades, including the Mahari Award, Sanjukta Panigrahi Memorial National Award and Central Sangeet Natak Akademi Award. During her tenure as the Vice-President of Odisha Sangeet Natak Akademi, Aruna made valuable contribution in developing and executing the cultural policy of Govt. of Odisha.

Chandrahas Choudhury

Chandrahas Choudhury is the author of the novel Arzee the Dwarf (HarperCollins, 2009), which was shortlisted for the Commonwealth First Book Award and selected by World Literature Today as one of "60 Essential Works of Modern Indian Literature in English". It was also published in German and Spanish editions. He also writes literary criticism and his book reviews appear in the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Wall Street Journal. He's edited an anthology of Indian literature called India: a Traveler's Literary Companion (Whereabouts Press, USA; HarperCollins, India), and since 2011 has also been the Fiction & Poetry editor of the monthly magazine The Caravan.

Debasis Panigrahi

Debasis Panigrahi writes in Odia, which has been accorded the status of a classical language of India. So far, he has published nine collections of short stories, seven novellas published in three collections and one novel. He is also a reputed lyricist and has penned popular lyrics for audio and video albums, television and cinema. His stories figure in the anthologies of best Odia stories brought out by Kendra Sahitya Akademi and Odisha Sahitya Academy. He has bagged a host of literary awards including Odisha Sahitya Academy Award for short stories for 2002, Young Writer's Award given by the prestigious Gangadhar Rath Foundation in 2007, Kadambini Galpa Samman given by the popular Odia magazine Kadambini in 2009 and the Odisha Book Fair Award in 2012.

Divya Prakash Dubey

Divya Prakash Dubey also known as DP is India's first 'Hinglish' writer. He is an engineer from College of Engineering Roorkee and MBA from Symbiosis Institute of Business Management, Pune. An engineer & an MBA this combination has been going on for far too long to bring a refreshing picture in our minds. The author of two bestsellers, Terms and Conditions Apply & Masala Chai, DP has also authored poems, short stories, radio stories and screenplays.

Jatin Nayak

Educated at Ravenshaw College, Cuttack and Merton College, Oxford, Jatindra K Nayak is Professor of English, Utkal University. He collects and reads autobiographies in Odia and is translating the Sarala Mahabharat into English. He won the Hutch-Crossword Book Award in 2004 and is a member of the advisory board, Dhaka Translation Centre. He has also been appointed a member of the Raja Rammohan Ray Library Foundation by Government of India. His English Translations of Odia Classics have been published by University of California Press, Oxford University Press and Penguin Books.

Mani Rao

Mani Rao is the author of nine poetry books and two books in translation including Bhagavad Gita (Fingerprint, 2015) and Kalidasa for the 21st Century (Aleph Books, 2014) which is a Finalist in the Lucien Stryk Translation Prize. Her latest poetry book is New & Selected Poems (Poetrywala, 2014). Says The Oxford Companion to Modern Poetry (2nd Edition, 2013) on the poetics of her Gita: "Rao's version of the Bhagavad Gita unpacks the original Sanskrit with a range of avant garde techniques—in prosody, diction, mise-en-page and lineation —rendering a new translation of the well-known philosophical text unlike any before it."

Nikhil Sachan

It might sound convenient to call Nikhil Sachan an engineer from IIT BHU or perhaps a management-graduate from IIM - Kozhikode. Both his books, Namak Swadanusar and Zindagi Aais Pais comprise of tales ranging from childhood fantasies to exploring the darkness of human existence, tales that will make you nostalgic, that will tell your story that will shock you and those, that will take you to your favorite places. In a scenario when Hindi literature has been declared almost dead, Sachin's stories were widely appreciated by both critics and readers. Rated as 'Remarkable Hindi Authors of 2013' by BBC and 'Best Literary Minds' by Infibeam, Sachan has been the talk of the town since his debut.

Nilamadhab Mohanty

Nilmadhab Mohanty has extensive experience in public service, which he served with distinction both at the national and international levels. In the mid-1970s, as the Deputy Commissioner of the undivided and sprawling Sambalpur district, he handled the delicate law and order situation and giving a push to the effective implementation of the local development works and drought relief measures. As Secretary to the Chief Minister of Odisha during 1986 to 1989, Mohanty exhibited tact, expertise and knowledge in coordinating administrative and policy action at the highest levels of the state government. For his professional attainments, he was selected by the Vienna-based UN Specialized Agency UNIDO (United Nations Industrial Development Organization) as its Managing Director in 1997.

Priya Kapoor

Priya Kapoor began her career in journalism with The Indian Express. During this time she wrote a weekly column on Delhi called Delhi Upclose which was published the city section of the paper, Delhi Newsline. She worked at the academic publisher Routledge in London for two years before joining Roli Books ten years ago. In her time at Roli Books she has commissioned and edited both mass-market successes such as Dongri to Dubai by Hussain Zaidi as well as award winning books such as Taj Mahal Foxtrot by Naresh Fernandes.

Pushpesh Pant

Born in Nainital Pushpesh Pant, totally obsessed by food, was schooled at home and later graduated from DSB Government College (Agra University). He has postgraduate degrees in History, Law and International Relations. He has taught at Delhi University and Jawaharlal Nehru University for over four decades and lectured at many other universities. Pant is the author of India Cookbook, Gourmet Journeys in India, Food Path and some other books on food, travel, culture and international relations.

Ravi Shankar Etteth

Ravi Shankar Etteth was born in 1960 in Palakkad, Kerala. His first short story was published in 1992 as a last addition to the Penguin Book of Horror Stories. It was followed by a collection of short stories dealing with the supernatural in 1996, The Scream of the Dragonflies. His first novel The Tiger by the River, about a man searching for the bones of his grandfather who was a Holocaust victim, appeared in 2001. It was published in nine languages including Serbian. His next two novels, The Village of the Widows and The Gold of Their Regrets, appeared in 2002 and 2007 respectively. Both were crime novels. Etteth has written two books on Kerala too He has been a political cartoonist for over 30 years and worked as a graphic designer for over a decade. His interests are crime fiction, historical fiction set in the Indian medieval ages, the Elizabethan age, Chinese imperial times and the Holocaust. His most recent work Book of Shiva was published in 2014. He is also a senior political columnist.

Sabita Radhakrishna

She has contributed to the Illustrated Weekly of India, Shankers Weekly and Handel Manuel's radio programmes on AIR. Associated with national radio and national television since its inception in Madras, Radhakrishna scripted Doordarshan's Beyond the Storm, which won The Transtel West German Award for the best documentary for Doordarshan.

Her book Kids Kitchen: Recipes for Young Chefs, which covers easy cooking for children from the age of 9-15 bagged the Gourmand Award for best Family and

Children's Cookbook of the Year. Annapurni is her recent book that has been published by Roli Books in an unusual format, like an old scrap book which covers traditional food of various Tamil communities. Radhakrishna is a craft activist and is actively involved with the Crafts Council of India. She serves in Educational Trusts and is founder-chairperson of Udhavi, that serves the ignored elderly.

Sachidananda Mohanty

Sachidananda Mohanty is professor and former head, Department of English, University of Hyderabad. He is the recipient of several national and international awards including those from the British Council, the Salzburg, the Katha and the Fulbright. He has to his credit 26 books in English and in Odia including D.H. Lawrence Studies in India; Writers' Workshop; Lawrence's Leadership Politics and the Defeat of Fascism; Academic Foundation; Understanding Cultural Exchange; Literature and Culture; Travel Writing and the Empire; Katha, 1898-1950: A Lost Tradition, Gender and Cultural Identity in Colonial Orissa; and Sri Aurobindo: A Contemporary Reader.

Sanjeev Sanyal

Sanjeev Sanyal is an economist, environmentalist and best-selling author based in Singapore. His books include Land of the Seven Rivers: A Brief History of India's Geography, The Indian Renaissance: India's Rise After a Thousand Year's of Decline and The Incredible History of India's Geography, all published by Penguin. He has also published over 150 articles, essays and columns on a wide range of topics. In 2014, he was given the inaugural International Indian Achievers Award for contributions to Literature. He was recently elected a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, London and is currently working on a history of the Indian Ocean. Sanyal is also a leading international economist and is currently the Global Strategist and Managing Director of Deutsche Bank, one of the world's largest banks.

Santosh Tripathy

Santosh Kumar Tripathy of Utkal University, Bhubaneswar has been teaching Odia literature to students at the post graduation level since the past 27 years. With a keen interest to write features, criticism, short stories Tripathy has been widely read through his published prose, poetry and criticism. Tripathy has written 34 books in Odia, two books in English and more than 500 literary articles both in Odia and English, among which are Odia Byakaran Kalana, Bichitra Kabitwa, Bibhabana Baichitra, Bimarsh Bignaha, Nirmiti Nirman, Tulyadehi and Sanjoga Anubidhi.

Satyarth Nayak

Satyarth's debut novel The Emperor's Riddles released in 2014, and became a best-selling thriller. Described as 'a book that opened a different avenue for budding writers' by the New Indian Express, the thriller takes its readers on a trail of cryptic riddles connected to the royal secret of an ancient Indian Emperor. The book earned him acclaim from writers like Amish Tripathi and Ashwin Sanghi and comparisons with Dan Brown. His short stories have won the British Council Writers Circle Prize and also featured in the Chicken Soup for the Soul series. His latest story Elixir was published in Penguin's anthology Something Happened On The Way To Heaven – 20 Inspiring Real Life Stories.

Shankkar Aiyar

Shankkar Aiyar is a prominent India-based journalist, analyst and author. His path-breaking book Accidental India: A History of the Nation's Passage through Crisis and Change has fetched him national acclaim as a public intellectual. Aiyar, 53, specialises in the interface of economics and politics. He has authored a study on India's Socio-Economic Fault Lines, his investigation on 25 years of political corruption, Smoking Guns, is part of an anthology on Indian journalism. He has been a Wolfson Chevening Fellow at Cambridge University where he studied the Lifecycles of Emerging Economies. A columnist, empanelled expert on television, Aiyar is invited to decode India's political economy for audiences at home and abroad. Aiyar is currently working on demography, emigration and implications for the next economy.

Shovon Chowdhury

Shovon Chowdhury is a Delhi-based writer whose blog, India Update has over 200,000 hits. He is the creator of The Trilokpuri Incident, which is trying to understand an event that no one can remember. He is also the entire reporting staff of The Investigator, which digs for the truth, so you don't have to. He has recently edited the Secret Diaries of Manmohan Singh, Aged 82 3/4th. His first novel, The Competent Authority, was finalist for a wide variety of prizes. It has also been the subject of two PhD theses, one creative writing course, and several unauthorized theatrical adaptations .His new book, Murder With Bengali Characteristics, is set in a near-future Calcutta occupied by China.

Somak Ghoshal

Somak Ghoshal is a Managing Editor with HarperCollins Publishers India, where he acquires and commissions books across several genres, especially literary fiction and non-fiction, general fiction and non-fiction, crime, business and translations. This year he is publishing authors such as Abeer Y. Hoque, Keki N. Daruwalla and Nilanjana Roy. He was previously literary editor at Penguin Books India, where he published into the Hamish Hamilton and Viking imprints.

Sudip Sharma

Sudip Sharma is the screenwriter of the recent box office and critical hit, NH10. He has previously been nominated for 'Best Screenplay' at the New York Indian Film Festival for his Indo-Tibetan indie 'Semshook'. His upcoming film will be the highly anticipated 'Udta Punjab', a movie set against the backdrop of the drug crisis in Punjab. Prior to it all, he did his MBA from IIM, Ahmedabad.

Sujit Mahapatra

Sujit Mahapatra is the Co-Founder of Bakul Foundation, a movement for volunteerism in Odisha. He designed and taught a Specialization in Children's Literature to MA students of English at Ravenshaw University. He translates from Odia to English and that includes Pranabandhu Kar: Two Plays. Mahapatra still dreams of change, and works towards it with Bakul Foundation. One of the missions of the organization is to promote reading and creativity among children, and has started a library movement in the state, and is getting into publishing picture books in Odia.