Meeting Of The Minds

Tue Nov 18, 2014 12:05 AM Last update on: Sun Mar 8, 2015 01:53 AM

Aamer Hussein has published five collections of short stories and two novels. He is a Professorial Fellow at Southampton, a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of English Studies, and currently a Professorial Research associate at the Centre for the Study of Pakistan at SOAS. A representative selection of his stories, Electric Shadows (Bengal Lights Books) is being launched at Hay Festival Dhaka 2014.		Laksmi Pamuntjak has published two poetry collections, one of which was recommended on the Herald UK Books of the Year pages. Other publications include a short story collection and four editions of the bestselling The Jakarta Good Food Guide. Her debut novel, Amba, published in Indonesian in 2012, has been reprinted four times and is a national bestseller. The English version, The Question of Red, was published in April 2014.
Patrick Laude is a Professor at Georgetown University where he teaches theology courses. His interests lie in comparative mysticism; the relationship between poetry and mysticism; and Western representations of contemplative, mystical traditions.		Abeer Hoque is a Nigerian born, Bangladeshi-American writer and photographer. Her first book, Olive Witch, is about Nigeria, the States and Bangladesh. Her second novel, The Lovers and the Leavers, is based on stories from Bangladesh and India.
Lucy Hawking is the original creator of the George series, a series of adventure stories that explain science to young readers. There are four books in the George series and a fifth and final book follows soon. Lucy works with her father, cosmologist Stephen Hawking, to make science entertaining and accessible to a young audience.		Rana Das Gupta is a British-Indian novelist and essayist. In 2010 The Daily Telegraph called him one of Britain's best novelists under 40. His first novel, Tokyo Cancelled, was shortlisted for the 2005 John Llewellyn Rhys Prize. His most recent book is called Capital.
Asad Chowdhury is a poet, writer, media personality, journalist and cultural activist in Bangladesh. He is a life member of the Asiatic Society of Bangladesh and a fellow of Bangla Academy, Dhaka.		Manju Kapur won the Commonwealth Prize for her first novel Difficult Daughters. She is also the author of A Married Woman shortlisted for the Encore Award; Home shortlisted for the Hutch-Crossword Prize; and The Immigrant shortlisted for the DSC Prize of South Asian Literature. An edited anthology titled Shaping the World was published in 2014.
Sabrina Mahfouz writes poems, films and stories, aiming to make the arts more accessible and create awareness of social issues. Among her many honours, she has received the 2013 Sky Arts Futures Fund Award. Her first book, The Clean Collection, is available from Bloomsbury.		Asif Farrukhi is the editor of the literary journal Duniyazad, and a founder member of the Karachi Literary Festival. His publications include seven short story collections and translations of classical and modern poetry. He is co-editor of Fault Lines, an expanded collection of short stories on 1971, to be launched at Hay Festival Dhaka 2014.
Marcus Du Sautoy is a Professor of Mathematics at the University of Oxford. He is author of three books: The Music of the Primes, Finding Moonshine and most recently The Number Mysteries. In 2004 Esquire Magazine chose him as one of the 100 most influential people under 40 in Britain.		Salil Tripathi has been a correspondent in India, Singapore and Hong Kong and has been published in the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, New York Times, Guardian and several other publications. His writing has won a Bastiat Prize and the Citibank Pan Asia Journalism Award. From 2009-2013 he was a board member of English PEN where he co-chaired its Writers-at-Risk Committee.
Daman Singh worked in the field of rural development for twenty years. She has written two novels: Nine by Nine and The Sacred Grove. Her biography of her parents, Strictly Personal: Manmohan & Gursharan, was published in 2014.		Maria Chaudhuri is interested in exploring the ideas of home, family, identity and spirituality, and how all of these constructs change, evolve and take on new meaning in the context of different lands and cultures. Her memoir, Beloved Strangers, was published in 2014 by Bloomsbury Publishing.
Selina Hossain is one of the most important women writers of Bangladesh. She has published twenty-one novels, seven collections of short stories, four collections of prose writings and four collections of stories for children. She is the winner of Bangla Academy award, 1980 and 'Alaol Purashkar', 1981 among many others.		Fatema Hassan has published three collections of poetry; a selection of short stories; and a collection of essays on the work of contemporary Urdu Writers. She has also written about feminist literature and edited three books on the subject. In 2011, she was awarded 'Tamgha-e-Imtiaz' in recognition of her literary and scholarly excellence.
Michael Puett is a professor of Chinese history, chair of the Committee on the Study of Religion at Harvard University, and acting director of the Asia Center. He is the author of several academic books on divinity in China.		Shaheen Akhter is the author of five collections of short stories and four novels. Talaash won the Best Book of the Year Award for 2004 from Prothom Alo, and its English translation was published by Zubaan Books in India. Shaheen Akhtar was awarded 'Sera Bangali' in 2014 in the field of Literature by ABP Ananda.
Gideon Haigh a journalist for almost thirty years, has written thirty books and edited seven others. His book On Warne won the British Sports Book Awards Best Cricket Book of the Year Award, the Cricket Society and MCC Book of the Year Award, the Jack Pollard Trophy, the Waverley Library Nib Award. His latest book, Ashes to Ashes, is about the 2013-14 Ashes cricket series.		Mimi Khalvati has published eight collections with Carcanet Press, including Child: New & Selected Poems, a Poetry Book Society Special Commendation, and The Meanest Flower, shortlisted for the TS Eliot Prize. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. Her new collection, The Weather Wheel, is a Poetry Book Society Recommendation.
Shashi Tharoor is MP and former State Minister in Kerala; former UN Under-Secretary General; and an award-winning author of fourteen books. His novels include the 1989 classic, The Great Indian Novel, which is celebrating its Silver Jubilee edition.		Javed Jahangir is a founding member of www.beyondthemargins.com, a website of daily literary essays. He has been editor of The Grub Street Anthology and Tropus Magazine. His debut novel Ghost Alley (Bengal Publications) will be launched at Hay Festival Dhaka 2014.
Mirza Waheed was shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award and the Shakti Bhat Prize for his debut, The Collaborator. His most recent novel, The Book of Gold Leaves, is a heartbreaking love story set in war-torn Kashmir, where he was born.		Somnath Batabyal lives in London where he teaches at SOAS, University of London. His first novel, The Price You Pay, was published by HarperCollins in 2013. He is currently working on his second novel based on the muktijhuddho and migration.
Joelle Jolivet studied graphic design at the Applied Arts in Paris and uses linocuts as her principal means of expression. She is the illustrator of The Honey Hunter, a cautionary tale on the importance of ecological balance set in the heart of Sundarbans.		Muhammad Zafar Iqbal is a very popular Bangladeshi writer of children's books, science-fiction and a well-known columnist. He is also Head of the Computer Science and Engineering Department of Shahjalal University of Science and Technology. He won the Rotary SEED Award in 2011 for his contribution in the field of education.
Syed Shamsul Haq is a poet, playwright and one of Bangladesh's most prolific authors. His diverse body of work has earned him two of the country's highest national awards: 'Ekushey Padak' and 'Shadhinota Padak'.		John Ralston Saul International President of PEN International, is a prolific and award-winning Canadian essayist, novelist and long-time champion of freedom of expression. He is included in the prestigious Utne Reader's list of the world's 100 leading thinkers and visionaries. His fourteen works have been translated into twenty-five languages in thirty-six countries.
Muneeza Shamsie is a Pakistani writer and critic. She is on the Advisory Board of Bengal Lights, The Journal of Postcolonial Writing and the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature. She has served on the DSC prize jury and she was the regional chair (Eurasia) of the Commonwealth Writers Prize from 2009-2011.		Tahmima Anam is a contributing opinion writer for the New York Times. Her debut novel, A Golden Age, was awarded the Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best First book. It was followed in 2011 by The Good Muslim. She was named one of Granta magazine's Best of Young British Novelists in 2013.
Joy Goswami is widely considered as one of the most important Bengali poets of his generation. He is the author of twenty-five collections of poetry, ten novels and a book of critical essays. He has won numerous awards including the prestigious 'Ananda Purashkar' and the 'Sahitya Akademi Award 2000'.		Namita Gokhale is the author of eleven published books of fiction and non-fiction. She has also co-edited the anthology In Search of Sita: Revisiting Mythology, and recently published a collection of short stories. She is a co-founder and co-director of the Jaipur Literature Festival, and co-director of the Bhutan Literary Festival – Mountain Echoes.
TJ Dema is a poet, voice-over artist and arts administrator. Her chapbook Mandible was published by Slapering Hol Press in conjunction with the African Poetry Book Fund as part of the Poets in the world series. In 2014 she was named a St Louis Top 40 under 40 catalyst.		Jung Chang is author of the best-selling books Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China and Mao: The Unknown Story. Her books have sold more than fifteen million copies. Among the many awards she has won are the UK Writers' Guild Best Non-Fiction (1992) and Book of the Year UK (1993). Jung Chang's latest book Empress Dowager Cixi: The Concubine Who Launched Modern China, was lauded by New York Times as a notable book.
Neeman Sobhan is an Italy-based Bangladeshi writer of fiction and a longstanding columnist of The Daily Star. Her short stories have appeared in various literary collections. Her debut fiction anthology Piazza Bangladesh will be launched at Hay Festival Dhaka 2014.		Ahsan Akbar is the author of The Devil's Thumbprint, a book of poems. He is co-founder of Zephyr:Media, a multi-platform arts and media portal in Mayfair, London, and Associate Producer of Hay Festival Dhaka.
K Anis Ahmed contributes to international journals such as Newsweek/Daily Beast, Wall Street Journal, and World Literature Today. His anthology, Good Night, Mr. Kissinger, was released in Bangladesh by UPL in November 2012, and in the USA in March 2014 by The Unnamed Press. His first novel, The World in My Hands, was published in December 2013 by Vintage/ Random House India.		Niaz Zaman is a writer, translator, editor and publisher. She founded her publishing house Writers Ink in 2005. She was awarded 'Ananya' Award in 2013 for her continuing contribution to literature. She is co-editor of Fault Lines, an expanded collection of short stories on 1971, to be launched at Hay Festival Dhaka 2014.
Sadaf Saaz Siddiqi is an entrepreneur and writer. She is also co-founder and Festival Director of Hay Festival Dhaka. Her debut poetry collection, Sari Reams, was published in 2013 by UPL.		Karthika Nair has been published in several anthologies and journals, including Indian Literature, Caravan India and Penguin's 60 Indian Poets and Bloodaxe Book of Contemporary Indian Poets. She is the author of The Honey Hunter, a lyrical tale based in Sundarbans.
Nilanjana Roy is the author of two fantasy novels, The Wildings (winner of the Shakti Bhatt First Book Award, 2013) and The Hundred Names of Darkness. Her next book is a collection of essays on reading, The Girl Who Ate Books. She writes on the reading life for the Business Standard, and has written on gender, food and other areas of interest for several periodicals.		William Dalrymple is a founder and co-director of the Jaipur Literature Festival. A regular contributor to the New Yorker, the Guardian, the New York Review of Books, he is also the India correspondent of the New Statesman. His latest book Return of a King: The Battle of Afghanistan has been shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson, Duff Cooper and PEN Hessel-Tiltman prizes.
Kosal Khiev is a poet, tattoo artist, and survivor of the U.S. prison system. He was awarded the “Best Poem Performance on Film” for Why I Write and has published his first book of poetry titled Finding Home.		Patrick French is a biographer, historian and winner of the Hawthornden Prize, the US National Book Critics Circle Award, the Somerset Maugham Award, and the Royal Society of Literature W. H. Heinemann Prize. His subjects include 1947 and its after effects – Liberty or Death; contemporary India –India: A Portrait; and late British imperialism – Young Husband.
Zia Haider Rahman is a British novelist of Bangladeshi origin. His debut novel In the Light of What We Know was published in 2014 to international critical acclaim. It is longlisted for the Guardian First Book Award and shortlisted for the Goldsmiths Prize.