Mountain Echoes - A Literary Festival
Participating Authors
Participating Authors        
       
Bulbul Sharma

she is the author of Treasures of the Thunder Dragon: A Portrait of Bhutan provides unique and intimate insights into Bhutanese culture and society. She is also the author of Of Rainbows and Clouds: The Life of Yab Ugyen Dorji as Told to His Daughter.

Bulbul Sharma is the author and Illustrator of A Book of Indian Birds. She has published three collections of short stories, My Sainted Aunts, The Perfect Woman and Anger of Aubergines which was subsequently translated into French. She is also the author of Banana-Flower Dreams.

Boman Irani is an Indian film and theatre actor. He won critical acclaim for his role in Munnabhai MBBS. Since then he has worked in over fifty films and has received many awards and much appreciation.

 
 
 
 
 
Chetan Bhagat
Chetan Bhagat’s four novels; Five Point Someone, One Night@the Call Center, The 3 Mistakes of My Life and 2 States: The Story of My Marriage have all remained bestsellers. One Night@ the Call Center and Five Point Someone have inspired major Bollywood films.

Choki Tshomo  started her career as a reporter / producer in the Bhutan Broadcasting Service (BBS). Currently she is the Managing Director of Kuzoo FM.

C P Surendran is a poet, journalist and novelist. His collections include Portraits of the Space We Occupy, Canaries on the Moon, Posthumous Poems and Gemini II. He is the author of the critically acclaimed novel, An Iron Harvest.Lost&Found is his forthcoming novel.

         
Dasho Karma Ura
Dasho Kinley Dorji
Dasho Karma Ura,
Dasho Kinley Dorji

Dasho Karma  Ura, the Director of Centre for Bhutan Studies, has written The Hero With a Thousand Eyes, Deities, Archers and Planners in the Era of Decentralization, The Bhutanese Development Story. He is the translator of the classic epic The Ballad of Pemi Tshewang Tashi: A Wind Borne Feather. He has also served as the Vice-Chairman of the National Council.

Dasho Kinley Dorji  is the Managing Director and Editor-in-Chief of  Kuensel,  Bhutan's national newspaper. His book, Within the Realm of Happiness is a collection of short stories, memoirs, and essays representing a mix of childhood memories, travel tales, and contemporary reflections on a rapidly changing populace.

Dorji Penjore is a senior researcher at the Centre for Bhutan Studies. He has published collections of Bhutanese folktales, Was it a Yeti or a Deity? A Collection of Folktales from Kheng and The Spirits Who Write Human Destiny: A Collection of Folktales from Rural Bhutan (forthcoming 2010) has folktales mostly from villages of Zhemgang. He has contributed a paper, Folklore of Bhutan to The Greenwood Encyclopedia of World Folklore and Folklife.

         
Gulzar
Jai Arjun Singh

Gulzar is  an iconic Indian  poet,  lyricist, filmmaker and writer. He has written some of the well-known films like Anand, Guddi, Bawarchi and Namak Haram. He is also the author of many books on poetry, short stories and several books for children. He shared the Oscar with A R Rahman for best original song for the song Jai Ho for the film, Slumdog Millionaire.

Jai Arjun Singh  is a Delhi-based freelance journalist who has written for Business StandardThe HinduTehelka and The New Sunday Express, among other publications. He writes about books and films on his blog Jabberwock - http://jaiarjun.blogspot.com. His forthcoming books are Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron and Writers on Film.

Jigme Drukpa is a folk performer. He relates stories through his songs.

         

John Elliott is a former Financial Times journalist, now based in New Delhi where he writes a blog on South Asian current affairs - http://ridingtheelephant.wordpress.com/. Most posts appear on the FT.com’s India web page.  As the FT's South Asia correspondent in the mid-1980s, he visited Bhutan and interviewed His Majesty King Jigme Singye Wangchuck.

Karma Tenzin ‘Yongba’   founded and headed the Crime and Special branch of the Royal Bhutan Police. He was briefly associated with the interpol with the India and Nepal chapter. He is the author of a detective fiction, The Restless Relic

Kunzang Choden  has been writing on Bhutanese oral traditions, folklore and women. Her books include The Circle of Karma, Chilli and Cheese- Food and Society in Bhutan and Tales in Colour and other stories.

         
Leila Seth

Kynpham Sing  writes poems, short fiction in Khasi and English. He has put together Khasi myths and legends in his book, Around the Hearth: Khasi Legends. He is also the author of MomentsThe Sieve and Death in a Hut and Other Stories from the Khasi Hills.  He has co-edited the Dancing Earth: An Anthology of Poetry from North-East India along with Robin Singh Ngangom.

Leila Seth  is  the first woman Chief Justice of a High Court in India. Her autobiography, On Balance, was published by Penguin  India.

Lyonpo Jigmi Yoezer Thinley  is the first elected Prime Minister to the Government of Bhutan.  He was appointed as Bhutan's Permanent Representative to the United Nations office.  His government works to base its policies on Gross National Happiness rather than purely economic considerations.

         
Mamang Dai
Mitali Saran
Namita Gokhale
Mamang Dai 
Namita Bhandare

Mamang Dai  is a poet, writer and a journalist. Her work includes Arunachal Pradesh – The Hidden LandThe Legends of Pensam, River Poems and Stupid Cupid.

 

Mitali Saran  is a journalist. She writes for Outlook Traveller and Business Standard. She has also written articles and columns for The Indian Express and Open.

Namita Bhandare  studied journalism at Stanford University and joined the Sunday magazine in 1991. After a stint with India Today, she is working with Hindustan Times. She has edited several books as part of the Hindustan Times leadership series. Her first book, Madhavrao Scindia: A Life, co-written with Vir Sanghvi, was published by Penguin in 2009.

         
Omair Ahmad
Patrick French

Namita Gokhale  is a novelist, publisher and Co-Director for the Jaipur Literature Festival. Her books include Paro: Dreams of PassionA Himalayan Love Story, The Puffin Mahabharata and In Search of Sita among others. Founder Director for Siyahi’s Translating Bharat conferences, Namita is also the Programme Advisor for the Mountain Echoes literary festival.

Omair Ahmad  has worked as a political advisor on Kashmir, national, international security and legislative issues. He is also a journalist in the US, UK and India. He is the author of The Storyteller's Tale, Sense Terra and Encounters.

Patrick French  is an award-winning English writer and historian, based in London. His books include Younghusband: The Last Great Imperial Adventurer, Liberty Or Death: India’s Journey To Independence and Division, Tibet, Tibet: A Personal History Of A Lost Land and The World Is What It Is: The Authorized Biography of V. S. Naipaul which won the National Book Critics Circle Award in the US. He is also the author of The Tel Quel Reader and Dreams and Memories of a Lost Land among others.

         
Pavan K. Varma
Rajkumar Hirani
Ravi Singh
Pavan Varma

Pavan Varma ,  a writer-diplomat, has held many key positions in the Government of India. Currently he is India’s Ambassador to Bhutan. He has written over a dozen books including The Book of Krishna, Krishna: The Playful Divine, Ghalib : The Man, The Times and the Havelis of Old Delhi, The Great Indian Middle Class, Being Indian - The Truth About Why The 21st Century Will Be Indias , Mansions at Dusk: The Havelis of Old Delhiand his latest book is Becoming Indian: The Unfinished Revolution of Culture and Identity. 

 

Rajkumar Hirani  is an award winning screen writer, director and film editor. He has given Bollywood hits like Munnabhai MBBS, Lage Raho Munnabhai, and 3 Idiots. Generally, human interest subjects capturing the humour in a situation or the warmth of a moment have been the subjects of his films.

 

Ravi Singh  is publisher and editor-in-chief of Penguin India, where he has worked since 1994.

 

 

         
 
 
 
Sadanand Dhume
Sampurna Chattarji
Sarnath Banerjee
Sampurna Chattarji 

Sadanand Dhume  is a writer and journalist and first book, My Friend the Fanatic: Travels with a Radical Islamist is a part travelogue and part memoir. He writes regularly on politics, business and books for the Wall Street Journal. He also contributes to, among others, Forbes, Commentary, Yale GlobalThe National and Foreign Policy.

Sampurna Chattarji  is an award-wining poet, writer and translator. Her books include The Greatest Stories Ever Told, Abol Tabol: The Nonsense World of Sukumar Ray and Mulla Nasruddin. Sight May Strike You Blind is a debut poetry collection. Her latest release is a book of fiction, Rupture.

Sarnath Banerjee   is a graphic novelist and a film maker. He is the co-founder of the comics publishing house Phantomville. Corridor was his first graphic novel followed by The Barn Owl's Wondrous Capers. He is the only Indian artist to have been invited to the Sao Paolo Bienal and the Frieze Art Fair.

         
 
 
Sonam Kinga
Siok Sian Pek-Dorji  
Sonam Kinga

Shekhar Pathak , the founder of People's Association for Himalaya Area Research (PAHAR), is an Indian historian, writer and academician. He is the author of Kumaon Himalay: Temptations and is the co-author of  Asia ki Peeth Per (Beyond Asia's Back), a biography of Himalayan explorer, Pundit Nain Singh Rawat.  

Siok Sian Pek-Dorji   is editor of the annual Bhutan Magazine. She has been telling Bhutanese stories through her documentaries and articles as an effort to preserve Bhutan’s rich culture and identity. She is the director of the Bhutan Centre for Media and Democracy.

Sonam Kinga  is particularly interested in literary traditions of antiquity and their transmission into contemporary times. The author of Changes in Bhutanese Society: Impact of Fifty Years of Reforms, he has also appeared in Travellers and Magicians, a film that won international awards.

       
 
Temsula Ao
 
Temsula Ao
Tshering Penjore

Tashi Pem  writes short stories and poems when something moves her and everyday life provides ample subjects to reflect upon.  In 2006, she published a short story and poetry collection called Ordinary Stories. She is currently working as the Deputy Resident Coordinator at Heveltas (an NGO), Bhutan.

Temsula Ao  is a leading Naga scholar, poet and novelist writing in English. Her works have been widely translated into German, French, Assamese, Bengali and Hindi. Some of her books are These Hills Called Home: Stories From a War Zone and Ao-Naga Oral Tradition. 

Tshering Penjore   is a script writer, producer and director. He has written scripts for Bhutanese films and directed documentaries for The Royal Textile Academy and the  Textile Museum. He has produced two Bhutanese films (Golden Cup and Swadeekhrap).

 

     
 
Tshering Penjore
Urvashi Butalia
Tshering Wangyel 
Tsugla Lopen Rinpoche Samten Dorji
Urvashi Butalia

Tshering Wangyel  is a film director and editor in Bhutan. He has directed around twenty four films till date and has also received the Best Director award (viewers’ choice) and the Nation Award for Best Editor.

Tsugla Lopen Rinpoche Samten Dorji,  His Eminence the Tsugla Lopen Samten Dorji is a renowned scholar, specializing in Madhyamaka Philosophy and has studied under some of the greatest Vajrayana Buddhist masters. His Eminence’s position as the Tsugla Lopen entails looking after the education of all of the state supported monks in the country and he acts as the Chancellor of the Higher Buddhist Studies Centre.

Urvashi Butalia  is a writer and publisher. Co-founder of India’s first feminist publishing house, Kali, she is now Director of Zubaan, an imprint of Kali. Her best known work is the oral history of Partition, The Other Side of Silence: Voices from the Partition of India has won many awards.

     
 
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