Paul Zacharia, popularly known mononymously as Zacharia, is an Indian writer of Malayalam literature. Known for his body of literary works composed of short stories, novellas, travelogues, screenplays, essays, columns and children's books, Zacharia is a distinguished fellow of Kerala Sahitya Akademi. He is also a recipient of the Ezhuthachan Puraskaram, Kendra Sahitya Akademi Award and the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Story.
Chitrakatha are comics or graphic novels originating from India published in a number of Indian languages.
Leela Nambudiripad, known by her pen name Sumangala, was an Indian author of children's literature in Malayalam. Some of her notable works included Neypaayasam, Mithayippoti, as well as translations of the Panchatantra into Malayalam.
Sundara Ramaswamy was an Indian novelist, poet, translator, and literary critic, widely considered to be a preeminent figure in post-Independence Tamil literature. He was born in 1931 in Thazhuviya Mahadevan Kovil, a village in Nagercoil, then part of the princely state of Travancore. He grew up in Kottayam and, later, central Travancore until the age of eight, when his family moved to Nagercoil. He continued his schooling there, but was generally considered to be a poor student. His notable works include "Oru Puliyamarathin Kathai", "J.J. Sila Kuripugal"," "Kuzhanthaigal," "Pengal," and "Aangal." He was a key figure in Tamil modern literature. The translations of his novels and short stories have brought him international acclaim. Sundara Ramaswamy has been praised for his versatility and his skillful negotiation of various literary forms: poetry, short fiction, and the novel.
Geetanjali Shree, also known as Geetanjali Pandey, is an Indian Hindi-language novelist and short-story writer based in New Delhi, India. She is the author of several short stories and five novels. Her 2000 novel Mai was shortlisted for the Crossword Book Award in 2001, while its English translation by Nita Kumar was published by Niyogi Books in 2017. In 2022, her novel Ret Samadhi (2018), translated into English as Tomb of Sand by Daisy Rockwell, won the International Booker Prize. Aside from fiction, she has written critical works on Premchand.
Ravindra Kelekar was a noted Indian author who wrote primarily in the Konkani language, though he also wrote in Marathi and Hindi. A Gandhian activist, freedom fighter and a pioneer in the modern Konkani movement, he was a well known Konkani scholar, linguist, and creative thinker. Kelekar was a participant in the Indian freedom movement, Goa's liberation movement, and later the campaign against the merger of the newly formed Goa with Maharashtra. He played a key role in the founding of the Konkani Bhasha Mandal, which lead the literary campaign for the recognition of Konkani as a full-fledged language, and its reinstatement as the state language of Goa. He authored nearly 100 books in the Konkani language, including Amchi Bhas Konkaneech, Shalent Konkani Kityak, Bahu-bhashik Bharatant Bhashenche Samajshastra and Himalayant, and also edited Jaag magazine for more than two decades.
Gracy is a Malayalam author. Her first collection of short stories, Padiyirangippoya Parvati, was published in 1991. Her awards include the Lalithambika Antharjanam Award (1995), the Thoppil Ravi Award (1997), the Katha Prize for the Best Malayalam Short Story (1998) and the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award (2000). Her major works are Narakavaathil, Randu Swapna Darsikal, Kaveriyude Neru, Eezbu Penkathakal, Panikkannu and a collection, Gracyude Kathakal. Her stories have been translated into English, Hindi, Tamil and Oriya. She was the head of the Malayalam department, Al-Ameen college, Edathala, Aluva.
Katha is a registered non-profit and non-governmental organisation based in Delhi that works in the field of community development, child welfare, education and literature. It was founded by Geeta Dharmarajan in 1988. It connects grassroots work in education, urban resurgence and story. It calls itself a "profit for all" organisation that moves towards achieving social justice and curb poverty in urban India. It also runs KITES a non-conventional school, which providing information and communication skills to 3000 children in slum area of Govindpuri, Delhi.
C. S. Lakshmi is an Indian feminist writer and independent researcher in women's studies from India. She writes under the pseudonym Ambai.
Jaya Madhavan is an Indian author, poet, The New Indian Express columnist and comic creator. She is a winner of The Children's Book Trust All India Competition for Writers of Children's Books.
Suddhasattwa Basu is an Indian author, painter, illustrator, and animator. Born in West Bengal, he spent his childhood in a small town named Chandannagar, West Bengal. Basu studied fine arts at the Government College of Art & Craft in Kolkata. He began his career as an illustrator and designer for the children's magazine Target. He has illustrated several children's books. The Song of a Scarecrow (2002) written and illustrated by him received the Chitrakatha award, and a special mention at the Biennial of Illustration, Bratislava, Slovakia in 2003. He has conceptualised and illustrated many titles for the National Book Trust, such as Whatever you give and Ravan's Remedy, for preschool children. Basu's works include his nature illustrations for Khushwant Singh's Nature Watch, Delhi Through the Seasons and his work in Ka: The Story of Garuda (2004), by Roberto Calasso, retold by Geeta Dharmarajan. Basu designed, directed and animated India's first indigenously made animation television serial for children Ghayab Aya. It was made in ten parts and first telecast on Doordarshan in July 1990. Suddhasattwa Basu works and lives in New Delhi, India.
Geeta Dharmarajan is a writer, editor, educator and the Executive Director of Katha, a nonprofit organisation that she founded in 1988. Her work focuses on education, especially of children from poor families.
Geeta Mukherjee was an Indian politician and social worker and a four times MLA from Panskura Purba, from 1967 to 1977. As a Member of Parliament, she was elected seven times from the Panskura constituency, from 1980 to 2000, in the Indian state of West Bengal being a Communist Party of India (CPI) candidate. She also remained the president of National Federation of Indian Women, women's wing of Communist Party of India. She led the demand for the legislature of 1/3rd reservation for women in parliamentary elections in India.
N. Prabhakaran is a noted short story writer, novelist, poet, playwright, essayist, educationist, editor and columnist in Malayalam. He won the 2022 Kerala Sahitya Akademi honorary fellowship. The eldest of the five children born to N Kunhambu and A Kalliani, Prabhakaran was born at Parassinikkadavu in Kannur district of Kerala on 30 December 1952. He spent his childhood days at Madayi. Prabhakaran studied at Madayi L P School, Govt. High School, Madayi, Payyannur College and Government Brennen College, Thalassery. He served as a lecturer at the Dept. of Malayalam of Lekshmipuram college of Arts and Science, Neyyoor, Kanyakumari District, Tamil Nadu, University College, Thiruvananthapuram, CKG Memorial Govt College, Perambra, and Govt Brennen College, Thalassery, and retired while serving as the Head of the Malayalam Department of Brennen College. The writer also served as a visiting professor of Malayalam at the University of Calicut. Prabhakaran resides at Dharmadam in Thalassery.
Sukrita Paul Kumar is an Indian poet, critic, and academician. She has been the chief editor of Cultural Diversity, Linguistic Plurality and Literary Traditions of India - a textbook prescribed by the University of Delhi for course use in its Honours B.A. programme.
Dr. Yashodhara Mishra is a Odia writer and poet. She is a professor of English who has published poems, several collections of short stories and novels. She was a fellow at the Indian Institute of Advanced Study.
Shyamal Gangapadhyay was a Bengali novelist and editor. He received Sahitya Academy Award in 1993 for the novel of Shahjada Darasukoh, based on the life of Mughal Emperor Dara Shukoh.
"Neelavelicham" is a short story written by Vaikom Muhammad Basheer. Beginning with the introduction of one of the miracles of the narrator's life, the story is about the tender relationship that develops between a young writer who must live in a house notorious for being haunted and the ghost of a girl who is believed to haunt the house. The story is included in the collection Pavapettavarude Veshya.
Ramachandra Behera is an Odia story writer, novelist, dramatist and lecturer. He received the state sahitya academy award for his novel "Abhinayara Paridhi" in 1993.
Asad Zaidi is an Indian poet, editor, translator, and publisher. He has been a noted Hindi poet since the early 1980s.
