Amit Shankar (born 15 November 1973) is an advertising professional-turned-author. Currently based out of Gurgaon, Shankar has written five fiction titles, and authored and edited two international poetry collections. His short stories have been adapted into films, plays and skits. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] His titles have represented contemporary Indian fiction at Frankfurt Book Fair and the Beijing Book Fair. [8]
Shankar was born in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, India. He completed his schooling from St. Joseph's College, Allahabad and then moved to Delhi for further studies. He holds a post-graduate degree in Commerce from University of Delhi. [9]
Shankar began his advertising career by joining McCann Erickson. He has worked at companies like Publicis Groupe, Wunderman, Solutions [10] and Dentsu. His clientele included: Nestle, GM, Microsoft, Cisco, WHO, Pedigree and USAID.
Shankar has also worked at the Canadian company Nortel Networks. After which he joined Sparrow, an animation agency, as the CEO of the company.
He quit his job to focus full-time on his writing career because he was missing lessons and morals in contemporary writing. [11] [12]
His first fiction title Flight of the Hilsa (2010) explores the meaning of happiness through the character of Avantika Sengupta, a young Bengali painter. [1] [5] [11] The novel garnered critical acclaim and has represented the contemporary Indian fiction at the Frankfurt and Beijing Book Fair in 2014. [5] [1] [11]
His second fiction title, Chapter 11 (2011), is a commentary on the urban conflict and suggests answers to day-to-day complex issues. [4] [5] Love is Vodka – A Shot Ain’t Enough (2012), Shankar’s third book, explores the confusion around the word love. [5]
Café Latte (2014), a collection of 18 short stories, was registered in the Limca Book of Records for being the first book launched with a film on one of the stories. [13] [14]
The book surveys various hues of death. [2] [5] [15]
Never Alone, Always Lonely is an international poetry coffee table book where fifty of his poems have been interpreted by 12 artists, both from India and abroad. [5]
[16] His latest offering, Uberlegen [17] is his first thriller. It traces a secret WW2 genetic formula that has gone missing. [18]
Shankar is the founder of The Great Indian Literary Festival [19] [20] It focuses on bringing Indian literature in regional languages to the fore. [21] [22] Its Season1 and 2 were held in Udaipur in 2017 and 2018. [5] [23] [24] [25]
He believes that Hindi has to play a crucial role in unifying the nation and therefore it has to be promoted both in terms of content and reach. [26]
During its Season 4, writers, poets and artists from Romania, Hungary, Ukraine and Switzerland also joined. [27] [28]
He is also the founder of House of Lions, a brand and communication consultancy with offices in India and France. [29] [30] [31]
As a guest speaker and visiting faculty he visits corporate, design and management institutes. [32] [33]
Lal Krishna Advani is an Indian politician who served as the 7th Deputy Prime Minister of India from 2002 to 2004. He is one of the co-founders of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and a member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a right-wing Hindu nationalist volunteer organization. He is the longest serving Minister of Home Affairs serving from 1998 to 2004. He is also the longest serving Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha. He was the prime ministerial candidate of the BJP during the 2009 general election.
Sudha Murty is an Indian educator, author, and philanthropist. She is married to the co-founder of Infosys, N. R. Narayana Murthy. She is the Founder-Chairperson of the non-profit charitable organization Infosys Foundation. In 2024, Murty was nominated as Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha on 8 March 2024 for her contribution to social work and education. Murty was awarded the Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award in India, for social work by the Government of India in 2006. In 2023, she was awarded the Padma Bhushan, the third highest civilian award in India.
Amarnath Temple is a Hindu shrine located in the Pahalgam tehsil of the Anantnag district of Jammu and Kashmir, India. It is a cave situated at an altitude of 3,888 m (12,756 ft), about 168 km from Anantnag city, the district headquarters, 141 km (88 mi) from Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, reached through either Sonamarg or Pahalgam. It is an important shrine in Hinduism.
Shankar Mahadevan is an Indian singer and composer who is part of the Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy trio that writes music for Indian films. In 2023, he was awarded a honorary doctorate by Birmingham City University.
Amit Chaudhuri is a novelist, poet, essayist, literary critic, editor, singer, and music composer from India.
Indo jazz is a musical genre consisting of jazz, classical and Indian influences. Its structure and patterns are based on Indian music with typical jazz improvisation overlaid. While the term itself may be comparatively recent, the concept dates at least to the mid-1950s. Musicians including John Coltrane, Yusef Lateef and others reflect Indian influences.
An astra is a supernatural weapon in Hindu epics. It is presided over by a specific deity and imbued with spiritual and occult powers. The term came to denote any weapon that was released from the hand, compared to holding it.
Yatra, in Indian-origin religions, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism, generally means a pilgrimage to holy places such as confluences of sacred rivers, sacred mountains, places associated with Hindu epics such as the Mahabharata and Ramayana, and other sacred pilgrimage sites. Visiting a sacred place is believed by the pilgrim to purify the self and bring one closer to the divine. The journey itself is as important as the destination, and the hardships of travel serve as an act of devotion in themselves.
Namita Gokhale is an Indian fiction writer, editor, festival director, and publisher. Her debut novel, Paro: Dreams of Passion was released in 1984, and she has since written fiction and nonfiction, and edited nonfiction collections. She conceptualized and hosted the Doordarshan show Kitaabnama: Books and Beyond and is a founder and co-director of the Jaipur Literature Festival. She won the 2021 Sahitya Akademi Award for her novel 'Things to leave behind'.
Acharya Mahashraman is the eleventh Acharya, supreme head of Jain Śvetāmbara Terapanth sect. Mahashraman ji heads all activities functioning under Terapanth organisation, most notably Anuvrat, Preksha Meditation, Jeevan Vigyan. All the Terapanth sub-organisations, notably. Jain Vishva Bharati, Terapanth Mahasabha, etc. are working under the guidance of Acharya Shri Mahashraman. His views are liberal and secular. He has a firm conviction to promote nonviolence, moral values and principles.
Yatra is an Indian online travel agency and travel search engine. It was founded by Dhruv Shringi, Manish Amin and Sabina Chopra in August 2006.
I is a 2015 Indian romantic science fiction action film directed by S. Shankar, produced and distributed by V. Ravichandran under Aascar Films. The film stars Suresh Gopi, Vikram and Amy Jackson in lead roles, while Santhanam, Upen Patel, Ojas Rajani and Ramkumar Ganesan portray pivotal roles. The film, told in nonlinear narrative, tells the story of a bodybuilder-turned-supermodel Lingesan alias Lee, who sets out to exact revenge against his enemies after they turn him into a hunchback by injecting him with I virus. The parts of the film were loosely based on The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Beauty and the Beast.
Pankaja Munde, also known by her married name Pankaja Munde-Palwe, is an Indian politician from the state of Maharashtra and National Secretary of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). She is currently an MLC in the Maharashtra Legislative Council.
Vish Dhamija is an International award-winning, British Indian, crime-fiction writer. He is the first writer of Indian origin to win the prestigious Gran Prix for International Crime Novel at Festival Polar de Cognac for his novel, Le Magnat in 2024. The French Press celebrated him as one the five crime writers not to be missed.
Gopi Shankar Madurai is an Indian equal rights and Indigenous rights activist. Shankar was one of the youngest, and the first openly intersex and genderqueer statutory authority and one of the candidates to contest in 2016 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election. Shankar is also the founder of Srishti Madurai Student Volunteer Collective. Shankar's work inspired the Madras High Court to direct the Government of Tamil Nadu to order a ban on forced sex-selective surgeries on intersex infants. In December 2017, Shankar was elected to the executive board of ILGA Asia. In August 2020, the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment appointed Shankar as the South Regional representative in the National Council for Transgender Persons.Shankar introduced the "others" option in the sex column of application forms for political parties and central universities, including Jawaharlal Nehru University. Shankar was also instrumental in granting civil rights for transgender persons, including pilot licenses for transmen and property inheritance rights for transwomen. Additionally, the Juvenile Justice Committee and POCSO Committee seek Shankar’s advice on issues related to the infancy and childhood of infants and children born with diverse sex characteristics.
The Great Indian Literary Festival or TGILF is India's only regional literary platform with global footprint.
Gaurav Sharma is a Canadian author and novelist of Indian origin, best known for his national (India) bestselling novel, God of the Sullied. His other books include, Beyond Countless Grief, Diary of a Whimsical Lover, Long Live the Sullied, The Indian Story of an Author and a semi-autobiographical fiction Gone are the Days which he completed writing in ten months. Prior to Gone are the Days, Gaurav authored three textbooks related to the field of journalism and mass communication.
Anupama Jain is a writer and teacher based out of Gurgaon, India. She is the founding member of Senior School Moms and a blogger. Anupama is the author of 4 well-received books and 12 anthologies across genres, one of which is a LIMCA record holder as India’s first Composite Novel. She is an acclaimed community builder, mentor, and multi-award-winning blogger who pens on the vagaries of the quirky world across various coveted forums.
Amit Bhadana is an Indian comedian, writer, actor, director, and YouTuber, from Delhi, India. He started creating Hindi language comedy videos in 2017 and was the first Indian YouTuber to hit 20 million subscribers.
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