6 - 8 December 2018 , Thu - Sat.
GALF 2018 : Speakers | Programme | Partners | Performances | Workshops | Exhibitions | Artwork | Press Release | Videos
Photo Gallery: Inaugural Day | Day 1 | Day 2
Abhay Sardesai
Abhay Sardesai has been the Editor of ART India, the premier art magazine of India, since November 2002. He has been a Visiting Faculty in Aesthetics at the Department of English, University of Mumbai; and the Chair of Humanities, Kamla Raheja Vidyanidhi Institute of Architecture, Mumbai. Abhay has also taught at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS); the Bhau Daji Lad Museum (BDLM); and Shreemati Nathibai Damodar Thackersey (SNDT) Women’s University. He writes in English and translates from Marathi, Konkani and Gujarati. Abhay has written widely on art and literature and read from his work at various places.
A. J. Thomas
A. J. Thomas is an Indian English poet, fiction writer and translator. He translates poetry, fiction, drama and non-fiction prose from Malayalam to English, and has more than 20 titles to his credit. He has M.Phil. and Ph.D. degrees in English Literature (Translation Studies) from the School of Letters, M. G. University, Kottayam and earlier taught English in Benghazi University, Ajdabiya Branch, Libya. He is a Senior Fellow, Department of Culture, Govt. of India and Honorary Fellow, Department of Culture, Government of South Korea. His books include This Ancient Lyre (2005), The End of the Day (2011), Keshavan’s Lamentations, a translation of M. Mukundan’s master-novel Keshavante Vilapangal (2006). Other publications include Best of Indian Literature (2013) a four volume anthology of Indian literatures in 1600 pages, crown size, which he co-edited; and Like A Psalm....(2017), English translation of Perumpadavam Sreedharan’s iconic novel Oru Sankeertanam Pole which sold more than 300,000 copies over the last 25 years. His writings have appeared in several anthologies in international publications. A. J. Thomas is a recipient of the Katha Award, the AKMG Prize, and the Vodafone Crossword Award (2007). He has read his poems and made presentations in Biennial Symposia of Asia-Pacific Writers in Australia and Hong Kong and also in conferences in Thailand and Nepal.
David Gilmour
David Gilmour is a writer and historian. His books include prize-winning biographies of Rudyard Kipling, Lord Curzon and the Italian writer, Giuseppe di Lampedusa. He is also the author of The Ruling Caste: Imperial Loves in the Victorian Raj (2005), a study of the Indian Civil Service in the Victorian era, and, most recently. The British in India: Three Centuries of Ambition and Experience (2018). Curzon: Imperial Statesman (1994) won the Duff Cooper Prize; The Long Recessional: The Imperial Life of Rudyard Kipling (2002) won the Elizabeth Longford Prize; and The Last Leopard: A Life of Giuseppe di Lampedusa (1988) was the winner of the Marsh Biography Award. He has also written The Pursuit of Italy: A History of a Land, its Regions and their Peoples (2011), and several other books on Spain and the Middle East. David is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and lives in Oxfordshire.
Heta Pandit
Heta Pandit has worked in the field of heritage conservation for over thirty years. She is the author of (with Annabel Mascarenhas) Houses of Goa (2000); Dust & Other Short Stories from Goa (2002); Walking in Goa (2004); In & Around Old Goa (2005); Hidden Hands: The Master Builders of Goa (2003); Walking with Angels (2006); and There's More to Life than a House in Goa (2015). Heta is associated with the Charles Correa Foundation as well as the Goa Heritage Action Group, Panaji, Goa. She is currently engaged in carrying out an independent research project on Goa’s unique kaavi art. Her book Grinding Stories on Goan songs sung over the grinding stone (oviyos) is currently in print.
Harish Trivedi
Harish Trivedi was formerly Professor of English at the University of Delhi and has been a visiting professor at the universities of Chicago and London. His research interests include Postcolonial Literature and Theory, Translation Studies, Comparative Literature and World Literature, and he is currently the contributing editor for South and Southeast Asia of an international project based in Stockholm for writing a history of World Literature. His publications include Colonial Transactions: English Literature and India (1995), Post-colonial Translation: Theory and Practice (1999), and an edition of Kim (2011) by Rudyard Kipling. He has written on and translated various Hindi, Urdu and Sanskrit writers, including Ashvaghosha, Premchand, Manto, and Ajneya. He has edited and contributed two chapters to a book in Hindi on the poet Rahim, a Muslim bhakti poet more formally known as Abdur-Rahim Khan-e khana (1556-1627), who was also a prominent courtier of the Emperor Akbar and the commander of his army.
Avishek Sen
Avishek Sen is a contemporary artist working primarily with watercolour as a medium. Juxtaposing intricate and large forms, conflating fruits, animals, humans and inanimate objects, often in a metaphorical construct, Avishek explores questions about contemporary socio-political issues in India. He received his Master’s degree in Fine Art (Painting) from Kala Bhavana, Visva-Bharati University. He has held solo exhibitions in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, London, Paris and Rome. Avishek’s work has been displayed at Gallery Espace, New Delhi; Aicon Gallery, New York; Albion Gallery, London; Apparao Galleries, Chennai; and CIMA Gallery, Kolkata to name a few. His work has also been displayed at numerous Art Fairs including FIAC Paris, Art Dubai, India Art Fair, Abu Dhabi Art Fair, Scope New York, Johannesburg Art Fair and Art Singapore. Apart from these, Avishek has participated in the International Festival of Contemporary Art, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Algiers, Algeria (2009) and the Arts Actuels Biennale, La Reunion (2011). He lives and works in New Delhi.
Ravi Chellam
Ravi Chellam is Chief Executive Officer, Metastring Foundation. A wildlife biologist & conservation scientist, he has been involved with wildlife research, education, and conservation since the early 1980s. He has worked with the organisations such as the Wildlife Institute of India; United Nations Development Programme (UNDP); Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment; and Greenpeace India.  He has played leadership roles in many of his assignments and is associated with several conservation NGOs - such as Nature Conservation Foundation and the Bangalore Environment Trust - in governance roles. Ravi has worked closely with the government on many conservation projects and is currently a member of a government-appointed expert committee to guide the translocation of Asiatic lions. Apart from his scientific publications, teaching and mentoring post-graduate students, he also writes in newspapers, magazines and websites and gives talks on wildlife and conservation. Ravi has a BSc in Botany, University of Madras; MSc in Wildlife Biology from A. V. C. College, Bharatidasan University; and a PhD from Saurashtra University based on his research work on the ecology of Asiatic lions through the Wildlife Institute of India. His current interests include conservation of large carnivores, conservation and management of wildlife and biodiversity outside Protected Areas, human-wildlife conflicts, restoration of wildlife habitats, and using information technology to enable public participation in research and conservation.
Óscar de Noronha
Óscar de Noronha is an associate professor of English, literary translator and radio artiste with an on-going chat show in Portuguese, titled ‘Renascença Goa’. He is the author of Divine Bondage: The Epic Life of St Joseph Vaz (2014) and Old Goa: The Complete Guide (2004). He has also edited several books, most recently Padre Chico: To the Manner Born (2018). He is due to release a biography of his priest-parliamentarian granduncle, titled Castilho de Noronha: por Deus e pelo PaÃs; and his late father Fernando de Noronha’s chronicle, Goa tal como a conheci, edited by him. He lives in Panjim, Goa.
Usha Alexander
Usha Alexander is the author of the novels The Legend of Virinara (2018) and Only the Eyes Are Mine (2008); and the novelette, Leaving Idaho (2017). Her writing has been featured in 3 Quarks Daily and Scroll.in; is forthcoming in The Punch Magazine; and has appeared in various other publications, including anthologies like The Best American Travel Stories 2007. She worked for many years at Apple, after having returned from Vanuatu, a Pacific Island nation, where she taught secondary school science as a US Peace Corps volunteer. She maintains an abiding interest in science, anthropology, and history. Usha grew up in Pocatello, Idaho, a remote little town in the Rocky Mountain region of the USA. Though currently residing in the National Capital Region of India (NCR), she carries her home within herself. You’ll find her on the web at www.ushaalexander.com.
Neeta Raghunath Torne
Neeta Raghunath Torne is a well-known poet and writer. She has excelled in the field of literature through her poems, articles, and other writings. An Associate Professor at SSA, Government College, Pernem (Goa), her published work includes Ek Oll Kavitechi (2011) and Jagtana… (2013) while leaving (a multilingual way of expression), a collection of multilingual poems translated in three different languages Konkani, Hindi and English (also translated into Kannada by Mohan Habbu in 2016). She won the Kavi B Award (2012); the Kavi Narendra Bodke Smruti Puraskar (2012); and the Kavita Shree Award (2014) by Ankur Sahitya Akola. She has presented several research papers at various seminars and conferences in Goa and elsewhere in the country.
