Aastha Atray Banan wrote India's second Mills & Boon called His Monsoon Bride. A student of Literature at Delhi’s Miranda House, she always wanted to write, but didn’t know romance was her calling. After a bad day at work, she decided to write a short love story for the Mills and Boon short story contest just to de-stress, and ended up winning the contest. An eternal romantic, she thinks romance novels are meant for getting rid of all this scepticism in the world. Her next book for Mills & Boon is a supernatural love story. She has also been a journalist now for for 13 years and has worked with organisations such as Open magazine, Tehelka, DNA, Mid-day, Elle and Asian Age. At Tehelka, she won the Laadli Award for Gender Sensitivity for best feature story for an article about young Muslim girls from Nagpada who played basketball. Presently she is an Assistant Editor at Hindustan Times’ Sunday magazine Brunch. Her second book, Games Girls Play, published by Rupa, released in November 2014. It's a racy, sassy take on two girls trying to find love in Bombay.

Amrita Verma Chowdhury is the author of ‘Faking It’, an art crime thriller about fake modern and contemporary Indian art, and ‘Breach’ a cyber crime thriller. She holds engineering degrees from IIT Kanpur, UC Berkeley and an MBA from Carnegie Mellon University. She holds 7 US patents for semiconductor manufacturing and has done strategy consulting and Board governance in US and Australia. She has worked in higher education and currently works in publishing.

Dr. Alka Pande is an art critic, cultural theorist, teacher, curator, and a prolific writer. After a PhD from Panjab University, she was recipient of the Charles Wallace Award in 1999-2000 and completed her post-doctoral studies in critical art theory from Goldsmith College, University of London. Responsible for curating numerous significant exhibitions in India and abroad, and giving a name to some of the most upcoming and influential artists, Dr Alka Pande is currently engrossed as the Curator of the Visual Arts Gallery at the India Habitat Centre. She has authored several well-acclaimed books, with a strong focus on Indian aesthetics and Ancient Indian erotic literature and art. Shringara- the many faces of Indian beauty (Rupa, 2011), Kama Sutra- The Quest for Love (Brijbasi, 2008), Ardhanarishvara the Androgyne (Rupa, 2005) and Indian Erotic Art (Roli Books, 2002) figure amongst her publications. In December 2006, she was made “Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres” – Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters – an award bequeathed by the French government to recognize significant contributions in the fields of art and literature.

Dilip D’Souza is an award-winning writer and journalist, who writes about themes like development, nationalism, science, poverty, as well as travel and mathematics. His writing is fueled by travel, for he believes he must know and understand, first-hand, the issues he writes about. He searches for the small stories that hold larger lessons, because it’s in telling those stories that his writing is most effective. He has won several awards for his writing, including the Statesman Rural Reporting award, the Outlook / Picador nonfiction prize and the Newsweek / Daily Beast South Asia Commentary Prize. He has published five books, a monograph of essays on patriotism, and has contributed to a number of anthologies. His most recent book is “Final Test: Exit Sachin Tendulkar”.

Kaiwan Mehta (*1975 in Mumbai/India) has studied Architecture, Literature, Indian Aesthetics and Cultural Studies. He is a theorist and critic in the fields of visual culture, architecture and city studies. He authored Alice in Bhuleshwar: Navigating a Mumbai Neighbourhood (Yoda Press. New Delhi, 2009) and is currently completing his doctorate at the Centre for the Study of Culture and Society, Bangalore, through the Manipal University. His subject is The Culture of the Metropolis and its Imagination as Interpreted in the Architectural Ornament – the case of Bombay/Mumbai. Mehta has now published various essays and edited books on Bombay/Mumbai, and the cities of 19th Century such as Shekhawati. He was elected as Jury Chairman for the cycle 2015-2017 at Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart, Germany, which is one of the five best residency programs internationally across 11 disciplines including Visual Arts, Architecture, Design, Economics, Literature, Humanities, etc. Since March 2012 Mehta has been the Managing Editor of Domus India after having held editorial positions with two other magazines on architecture, one being the official magazine of the Council of Architecture (India). He is closely associated with Jnanapravaha (Mumbai) where, as course director, he set up the Art, Criticism and Theory course. He curates the Architecture, Resources and Culture section; he continues to teach at various schools of architecture, after formerly having a full-time position at the KRV Institute for Architecture. Mehta helped set up the Parsons Mumbai programme at the Indian School of Design and Innovation (ISDI) and held position as Director – Academic Affairs; and he was also the founding director of Arbour Research Initiatives in Architecture (2010-2013). He is one of the Executive Committee members with INTACH (Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage) – Mumbai chapter.

Nancy Adajania is a cultural theorist and independent curator. She taught the curatorial practice course at the Salzburg International Summer Academy of Fine Arts, Austria, in 2013 and 2014. Adajania was Joint Artistic Director of the 9th Gwangju Biennale (2012). She has been research scholar-in-residence at BAK/Basis voor actuele kunst, Utrecht (2010 and 2013). Adajania’s essays have appeared in numerous volumes, anthologies and journals; most recently, ‘Dashrath Patel: Non-aligned Alignments’ in Seminar No: 659/ ‘Inheritances’ (July 2014) and ‘Globalism before Globalisation: The ambivalent fate of Triennale India’ in Shanay Jhaveri ed., Western Artists and India: Creative Inspirations in Art and Design (The Shoestring Publisher, Bombay, 2013). She is the editor of the monograph Shilpa Gupta (Prestel, 2010) and has co-authored with Ranjit Hoskote, The Dialogues Series (Popular, 2011). Adajania has written and lectured extensively on art and the public sphere, and on transcultural art practices, at Documenta 11, Kassel; ZKM, Karlsruhe; Transmediale, Berlin; Künstlerhaus, Vienna; the Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon; and the Former West Research Congress, Vienna, among other venues. She was Editor-in-Chief of Art India (2000-2003), where she developed a discursive space for emergent new media and public art practices. Her curated exhibitions include 'Zoom! Art in Contemporary India' (Culturgest Museum, Lisbon, 2004), 'Avatars of the Object: Sculptural Projections' (The Guild/ NCPA, Bombay, 2006), 'The Landscapes of Where' (Galerie Mirchandani + Steinruecke, Bombay, 2009), 'Your name is different there' (Volte Gallery, Bombay, 2011), 'Sacred/ Scared' (Latitude 28, New Delhi, 2014), and a survey of 150 years of art by Parsi artists within the narrative of an emergent Indian modernism, 'No Parsi is an Island' (with Ranjit Hoskote; National Gallery of Modern Art, Bombay, 2013-2014).

Satyanshu Singh is a National Award-winning film-maker, screenwriter and professor of cinema. He wrote the poems featured in Vikramaditya Motwane's 'Udaan' (2010) and lyrics for 'Ferrari Ki Sawaari' (2012) and 'Sulemaani Keeda' (2014). He teaches cinema at Mumbai University colleges, and conducts screenwriting lectures at Anupam Kher's school Actor Prepares. His directorial debut is a Kashmiri short film called 'Tamaash' which won awards at various film festivals across the globe. Satyanshu is also an avid blogger and his blog 'Cinema is Forever' has won a lot of credit to his name.

Shishir Joshi - CEO, Bombay First. Formerly the Group Editorial Director of Mid Day, Shishir Joshi has also previously headed the Western region of the TV Today network as executive editor. During his career as a full-time journalist, Shishir has also been associated with CNN.com, NDTV and The Indian Express. In 2009, Shishir co-founded Journalism Mentor, a student program focussed on promoting excellence in journalism. Shishir is also a trustee of 'Muskaan Sharing Smiles’, a not-for-profit engaged in educating children with financial difficulties. A lawyer by education, Shishir was selected in 1997 as a Chevening scholar, which is a UK Government programme for media professionals with leadership potential. As mentor and teacher of Journalism, Shishir co-curated a first-of-its-kind teaching programme in Citizen Journalism and mentored over 700 citizen journalists across several states in India. He is currently the CEO of Bombay First, a not-for-profit Public Private Partnership.

Actor, Teacher and Corporate Coach, Yuki Ellias trained at the Lecoq International School of Theatre in Paris and is a trained pedagogue from the London International School of Performing Arts. She worked for Opera North, UK’s leading opera company, as Movement Director on their production of Mozart’s Magic Flute. Her debut feature film as co writer and actress won an Audience Choice Award at the Anchorage International Film Festival and the Royal Reel Award at the Canada International Film Festival. She co-founded Dur Se Brothers – a collaborative arts based company that creates boutique performances in alternative spaces. They conduct regular workshops in theatre, writing, storytelling and create bespoke workshops for corporate clients.

"SUDEEP SEN is widely recognised as a major new generation voice in world literature and ‘one of the finest younger English-language poets in the international literary scene’ (BBC Radio), ‘fascinated not just by language but the possibilities of language’ (Scotland on Sunday). He received a Pleiades Honour (at the Struga Poetry Festival, Macedonia) for having made “a significant contribution to contemporary world poetry”. Sen’s prize-winning books include: Postmarked India: New & Selected Poems (HarperCollins), Distracted Geographies, Rain, Aria (A K Ramanujan Translation Award), Ladakh, The HarperCollins Book of English Poetry (editor), and Fractals: New & Selected Poems|Translations 1980-2015. A new book, Blue Nude: New Selected Poems (Jorge Zalamea International Poetry Prize) is forthcoming. His poems, translated into twenty-five languages, have featured in major international anthologies; and his words have appeared in the Times Literary Supplement, Newsweek, Guardian, Observer, Independent, Telegraph, Herald, Harvard Review, Hindu, Hindustan Times, Times of India, Outlook, India Today, and broadcast on BBC, PBS, CNN IBN, NDTV, AIR & Doordarshan. Sen’s newer work appears in New Writing 15 (Granta), Language for a New Century (Norton), Leela (Collins), Indian Love Poems (Knopf/Random House/Everyman), Out of Bounds (Bloodaxe), and Initiate: Oxford New Writing (Blackwell). He is the editorial director of AARK ARTS and the editor of Atlas. As a photographer and graphic artist, his work is part of many professional print portfolios, magazine and newspaper pieces, book jacket covers, private and public collections some include: Hindu, Deccan Chronicle, New Indian Express, Swagat, Gallerie, Biblio, Prairie Schooner, Molossus, World Literature Today, Indian Design & Interiors, and others; plus books covers for publishers such as HarperCollins, Peepal Tree, Mulfran, Wings Press, Women Unlimited, Gallerie, Aark Arts, UPL, Bengal Gallery, and many others. He has also published two books of photography, Prayer Flag and Postcards from Bangladesh. His professional photography is represented by ArtMbassy in Berlin. Sen was the first Asian to be honoured with an invitation to participate at the Nobel Laureate Week in St Lucia in 2013, where he delivered the Derek Walcott Lecture and read his own poetry. A special commemorative limited edition, Fractals: New & Selected Poems|Translations 1978-2013, was released by the Nobel laureate Derek Walcott himself. The same year, the Government of India Ministry of Culture’s awarded him the senior fellowship for “outstanding persons in the field of literature/culture”."

Belinder Dhanoa is a writer. She teaches post graduate classes in Creative Writing at the School for Culture and Creative Expression, Ambedkar University Delhi. She has written and edited several books, among which are her novels 'Waiting for Winter' (Penguin) and 'Echoes in the Well' (Zubaan).

Author of 13 bestselling books, Zac O’Yeah’s latest novel Mr. Majestic! was a top bestseller in 300 countries. He has also translated Indian literature into Swedish. He writes a popular column on crime fiction, ’Criminal Mind’, for the newspaper Mint Lounge and is a frequent contributor to National Geographic Traveller magazine. He is a Bangalorean and bent on staying one.

"Sidharth Bhatia is a Mumbai-based journalist, columnist and author. He has been in the media for over three decades and was last with DNA. He currently comments on current affairs and popular culture in several publications such as Times of India, Asian Age, Outlook, Seminar and Hindustan Times and is a regular commentator on national politics on television. He has written three books—Cinema Modern The Navketan Story, Amar Akbar Anthony and India Psychedelic Story of a Rocking Generation."

SHANTANU MOITRA has composed the music in landmark films like Parineeta, Lage Raho Munnabhai, Hazaron Khwahishen Aisi , 3 Idiots and P.K. He was born in Lucknow but moved with his family to Delhi when he was very young. His father is a sarod player and mother is an artist. Moitra grew up in an environment of creativity. Right from his childhood, Moitra was fascinated with folk music from around the world. After quitting client servicing in an ad agency, Moitra started composing jingles. ‘Bole mere lips I love uncle chips’ was his first ad and he scored for more than 2000 ads. In 2007, he won the Cannes Bronze Lion for scoring the Happydent ad. Moitra dons many hats: he is a keen trekker, avid photographer and an amateur astronomer. In 2005, he went to the Everest base camp. In 2006, he won the R.D. Burman Filmfare award and 2014 won a national award for Telegu film Na Banger Talli.

Current Position: Executive Director, Encyclomedia. (freelance content and editorial advice ) Also Consulting Editor Harper Collins Publishers India. Also: * Freelance writer and columnist. Write regularly for The Hindu, Mid-Day. Columns in Marie Claire, H T City and www.Firstpost.com. *Visiting lecturer at NIFT where I teach the Fashion Journalism module. * On the advisory board of Marie Claire fashion awards, and the Lakme Fashion Week. * Conducting practical oriented workshops on"" Writing for Print"" and ""Creative Writing"". * Working on a path breaking pre school project for Edvance Learning Pvt Ltd, a joint venture with Eton House, Singapore. Till 2010 Aug from June 2005 : Editor, Me, a national monthly magazine for women from DNA. In the first three years of its existence, ME garnered a huge readership and a loyal fan following though a circulation of more than 4 lakh copies. Its unprecedented success initiated the move to make it a national magazine. Working on the premise that the woman of today needed a magazine that would show her the way to fulfill her aspirations and dreams, and that she was more evolved than was supposed, Me presented her with a never before magazine, in a never before format. The information packed, easy to read and very inclusive tone of Me made it a trailblazer in popularity. The 25 years of experience in Femina and women’s journalism had come to a head. Me Magazine reached a circulation of 4.4 lakhs in Bombay alone and was also available in 7 other metro cities. Other Portfolios: Also Editor of a half yearly special volume called The Spirit of Luxury about high-end international brands in beauty, watches and fashion. Organiser of ME SHOWS: a designer exhibition that was successfully held in Mumbai seven times in 5 years, and also in Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad. Conductor and coordinator for Gorgeous Me workshops. Held 2 such for the employees of Indian Airlines cargo division, in Hyderabad and Mumbai, as well as for The Duchess club of Chennai and the Spectrum club of Pune. All of these are business modules created by me, and earned substantially in awareness and money terms for the brand. Past experience: • 12 years experience as Editor Femina • Event management of Femina Miss India Contest, Look of the Year Contest, The Bridal Show and The Femina Clothes Show,and the Femina Circle of Success. • Brand management and marketing of Femina. • Strong leadership and interpersonal skills. Years at Femina: The Magazine JAN’05- JAN’93 I was asked to take over as the Editor when the Times of India Group’s women’s magazine was at an all time low. Its popularity was on the decline and it had dropped to third position in the women’s magazine segment from its original position of being number one in that segment. The mandate given to me was to ‘turn around the magazine and take it to beyond its past glory’. Despite superceding senior colleagues, I knit them into a team and together we worked passionately and devotedly to bring the magazine back to its Numero Uno position. The makeover included a very visible change in the magazine’s layouts, as well as a noticeable change in the tone of voice and subject matter. This went hand in hand with the improvement in quality of paper, printing etc. Taking Femina to the next level also involved interaction with designers, fashion houses, models, photographers, the film fraternity and national and international brands. The positioning of Femina as friend, philosopher and guide became a successful step towards taking its credibility to an all time high. Despite the influx of international women’s titles like Cosmopolitan, and later Elle and L’Officiel which were introduced with the backing of media conglomerates, Femina continued to be number one and the magazine Indian women identifed with and trusted. As Editor, I identified areas of growth by launching and sustaining a series of brand extensions in the form of vertical publications that built on the core strengths of the brand. The Femina Book of Beauty, Fashion, Interiors, Parenting ,Travel and Perfect Weddings are examples of this. In the 12 years as editor, I trained generations of young journalists, many of whom have moved on to take up positions of responsibility elsewhere. Many established photographers started with getting their first break with Femina which encouraged young talent and gave their work a showcase. Though the role of an Editor is traditionally confined to the magazine’s editorial aspects I was encouraged by the Publisher and the Times Group in my initiative to involve myself with the brand in its totality. This included optimizing revenue opportunities through a variety of new promotions and liaisons with national as well as international clients. Assigned to promote Femina within the international cosmetic community, the presentations I made to clients like Elizabeth Arden, Unilever, Lancome and Givenchy,Chanel ( to name a few) made them aware of the Indian marketplace and the magazine’s role as a liaison between its readers and their brands. The Events As part of the turnaround of the magazine, the Femina Miss India Contest was reinvented. As a consequence it was repositioned as the event that would put India in the international limelight by bringing in two titles at the initial stages of the repositioning…Sushmita Sen won Miss Universe and Aishwarya Rai came back with the Miss World crown. I was involved in this at the very beginning and continued to be involved till 2002. The event was to reach a pinnacle in 2000, with all three delegates to international contests winning the respective contests. Winning titles at the international level came to be associated with the word Femina and the Femina Miss India Contest, and our winners were invited to meet with Prime Ministers and Presidents of countries, including India. This proved the high level of national pride in the event and its success. My role included building up the event as a glamorous show, on ground and through the magazine’s pages; selecting and training the contestants. Thanks to hours of working on the details by everyone involved in the Contest organization, the Contest gained the status of becoming a launch pad for any one wishing for a place in the glamour industry or in the public eye. As editor my liaison with the fashion and beauty industry got me in contact with world renowned names. Thus it was possible to have among the list of judges through the years judges of the highest international calibre with the unerring eye for choosing international potential. Carolina Herrara, Loris Azzaro, Christian Clarins and Cindy Crawford were some names that were part of the Femina Miss India Pageant in an official capacity. Brand Extensions spearheaded by me and my team include the Femina Clothes Show, The Femina Bridal Show, The Femina Circle of Success and the Femina Vanity Fair.The Femina Circle of Success endeavors to make accessible to the Indian woman the specialist training programme that was created for the Femina Miss India Contestants. The Fine Professionals programmes creates made-to-order training modules for corporates. Educational qualifications: M.A . in English Literature from Nagpur University, silver medalist. Bach.. Of Journalism, Nagpur University, Second in Merit. Positions Held: * Lecturer for Journalism Course at The Nagpur University Guest Lecturer for Feature Writing course at Sophia’s Mass Com course, Mumbai, *Guest Lecturer at the Garware Institute of Mass Communication, Mumbai on Women’s Studies. *Board of Governors (2 terms) at the National Institute of Apparel Manufacturing and Fashion Technology(NIFT), New Delhi *Member of Women’s Edition, an international team of Editors who met annually to discuss and write on women’s issues. Competitive selection, was selected for 10 years running. 1993-2003. *Guest Lecturer at the Maharashtra Education Trust, School of Journalism for Fashion and Beauty Journalism ....Currently Adjutant Professor at NIFT Bombay on Fashion Journalism. Lectures and Workshops: Significant ones include: *Symbioses School of Management, Pune, lecture on how to develop a brand; *National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad: Workshop on grooming, communication and etiquette, and presenting resumes; *Ahmedabad Management Association: talk on grooming and communication for effective management; *Symbiosis School of Journalism, Pune: on Being a winner every time; *NIFT Seminars on Brand Management, Fashion Industry. *Effective Communication and Public Telations at the District level Rotaty Meet, Nagpur; *Confidence building and making an impact at NID, Ahmedabad Awards: +Mahila Shiromani Award-1992, +Bharat Nirman Award-1996, +Media Brief Award for Socially Significiant Story of the Year, 2001, +Kingfisher Award for Best Beauty Writer 2001. Also hold certificates from the Population Reference Bureau, Wahington D C for attending seminar-workshops and communicating effectively on Reproductive Health, Women and the Environment, Women and HIV Aids, Entrepreneurship and Women, among others. As a Journalist: Started my career with The Hitavada, a daily English newspaper in Nagpur, where I handled the magazine section single handedly and doubled the circulation for the Sunday editions. Have written extensively for the Illustrated Weekly of India, Filmfare, Times of India Art Page, (for which I also shot my own pictures),the Independent and Metropolis, Debonair, Science Today (Fiction), Surya, The Taj Magazine, Imprint, Onlooker, Eve’s Weekly, The Hitavada (Nagpur daily) and Femina on a large variety of subjects. My editorial column, Me to You has a wide ranging fan following and readership. Also published in smaller publications of the USA. In the past few months have had articles assigned and accepted by Ms. Magazine, Marie Claire, Saveur, (a food and culture magazine)and Vogue. Research: *Have researched widely to contribute a significant segment for a book on Indian luxury and fashion for an international company. Book titled Luxury|:India by Design Television: Conceptualised and wrote a series on Marital Counselling, Kashmakash, that had for the first time, a docu-drama format followed by a panel of counsellors giving advice on how the marriage could be saved. The series was nominated for Best Drama on TV at the ITV Awards. Last post held in Femina: Brand Alliances Director, Worldwide Media, responsible for alliances for Femina, Filmfare and other magazines of the group to extend operations on ground and within the pages of the magazines. Learnt quickly to grow into this new role and brought in 4 million rupees in 7 months. Books : Night Train and Other Stories re published as The Dark Side Ten Years with Guru Dutt:Abrar Alvi's Journey From Me to You : on life, love and learning Sun Mere Bandhu Re. The musical world of SD Burman My Daughter My Shakti (45 interviews) Have also acted in experimental theatre productions produced by Veenapani Chawla in the early 1990s. One of the plays, ""A Greater Dawn"", was invited to perform at the off Broadway festival. Currently working on a novel, And a biography of Jagjit Singh"

"Daughter of distinguished Indian Film Director, Bimal Roy (winner of several International and National awards) Rinki began freelancing as a film, theatre, art critic in her twenties. During her 18-year-old marriage she assisted husband Basu Bhattacharya, in scripting, designed sets & costumes for several of his films that won National awards and were screened at International festivals. Rinki’s frequent byline appeared in Amrita Bazaar, Times of India, Economic Times, The Sunday Observer, The Hindu, Midday, Afternoon and several Indian publications. She was the art critic for Indian Express for twelve years and the TV critic for Times of India. Her forthright views made these columns immensely readable & popular. She was featured on the cover of SAVVY, FEMINA and MANUSHI and in TV talk shows. Funded by the Department of Women and Child, her NGO HELP made India’s first and only documentary on domestic violence CHAR DIWARI. Other films/videos followed. DD produced her fiction tele-film, UNVEILED from a short story by Ashapurna Debi. Rinki published a profile of her father, titled: “A MAN OF SILENCE” (Harper Collins). Followed by essays in two anthologies, INDELIBLE IMPRINTS (Stree Publications) & UNCERTAIN LAISONS (Penguin India). Her nonfiction works include: BEHIND CLOSED DOORS, JANANI, MOTHERS, DAUGHTERS, MOTHERHOOD (SAGE, India).THE MAN WHO SPOKE IN PICTURES, BIMAL ROY (Penguin India). Her recent work is BIMAL ROY’S MADHUMATI, UNTOLD STORIES FROM BEHIND THE SCENE (Rupa). She served as Jury at Cracow (Poland), Amsterdam IDFA , MIFF Mumbai, LAADLI ,FILMFARE , RAPA, IAWRT ,IDPA , Karlovi Vary and served on several Selection Jury. Her films Char Diwari & JANANI were shown in MIFF, Paris, Creteil, U.K. Harare, as well as aired on DD and National festivals. Rinki is the British Council Scholar (1995) .She was a Visiting Fellow at the School of Policy Studies, University of Bristol, UK speaking on domestic violence. She frequently presents her father’s B&W classics, for example at the Hamburg retro (2009) at the Vision India Rome (2005) Pompedou Centre, Paris(1999). She was honoured by the Government of Bangladesh twice ( 2012 & 2013 ) with the ‘Friends of Liberation War 1971 Honour’ award for her bold writing against the East Pakistan genocide. Acting Chairperson of Chilren’s Film Society, Rinki was a member of the Central Board of Film Certification. As a journalist Rinki continues to write in print media, and speak on important social issues. She curated the Bimal Roy show for the Museum and served on the Jury of the 2014 Documentary film festival in Amsterdam. Rinki is the Founder/ Chairperson of the BIMAL ROY FILM SOCIETY