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
Ramachandra Guha
Ramachandra Guha is a historian and biographer. He has taught at Yale and Stanford universities; held the Arné Naess Chair, University of Oslo; and served as the Indo-American Community Visiting Professor, University of California, Berkeley and the Philippe Roman Professor of History and International Affairs, London School of Economics. In 2014, Yale University awarded him an honorary doctorate in the humanities. Ram’s books include a pioneering environmental history, The Unquiet Woods (1989); and an award-winning social history of cricket, A Corner of a Foreign Field (2002). India after Gandhi (2007) was chosen as a book of the year by the Economist, the Washington Post, and the Wall Street Journal among others; and as a book of the decade in the Times of India, the Times of London, and The Hindu. His most recent books are Gandhi Before India (2014), which was chosen as a notable book of the year by the New York Times; and Gandhi: The Years That Changed the World (2018). The New York Times referred to him as ‘perhaps the best among India’s non-fiction writers’; and Time Magazine called him ‘Indian democracy’s pre-eminent chronicler’. Ram has received the Leopold-Hidy Prize of the American Society of Environmental History; the Malcolm Adideshiah Award for excellence in social science research; the Sahitya Akademi Award; the R. K. Narayan Prize; and the Fukoka Prize. In 2009, he was awarded the Padma Bhushan.
Chador Wangmo
Chador Wangmo is the celebrated author of Dema, the first superhero character in Bhutan. She has written ten illustrated books for children, including The Flea and The Louse; Abhi, Memey and The Mosquito; Abhi, Memey and The Monkey, and The Three Friends; two novels for adults; and two chapter books for intermediate level. Although Chador’s work is mostly prose, she likes writing poems which have been well received in literary festivals conducted by FOSWAL at Delhi and Jaipur in India. Her poems have been translated into Nepali and published in various papers in Nepal. She has been awarded an honorary Doctorate in Literature by the Vikram Sheela Vidyapeeth, Sidharth Nagar, UP. She has also been awarded Sidhartha Tathagat Sansthan Sahitya award in recognition of her love for literature.
Janeita (Jugneeta) Sudan
Janeita (Jugneeta) Sudan is an academician, literary critic, columnist, and a visiting faculty for English literature, at colleges in Goa. A consultant for schools, she mentors Cambridge students and develops workshop modules for book reading activity. In her journey with literary criticism - critic as an artist, she has focused on classical literature, art history and poetry. In Navhind Times, Goa her byline Booked and How featured books and authors for five years, and presently she contributes articles on art to international journals. She has curated talks on contemporary arts - Raza Dialogue,with Raza Foundation, Delhi and Museum of Goa and an evening of poetry, art and music at the Goa pavilion - Serendipity Art Festival, 2017. She heads - PAG, poetry appreciation group at Bookworm, Goa and has been recently awarded Non-fiction award, 2018 by the Joao Roque Literary Journal. Presently she is compiling multiple essays on the international Goan artist, FN Souza.
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.
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.
Urvashi Bahuguna
Urvashi Bahuguna’s debut poetry collection was selected for the 2017 Emerging Poet’s Prize by Aimee Nezhukumatathil and will be published in late 2018 by The Great Indian Poetry Collective. Her book of essays on mental health is forthcoming in 2019 from Penguin India. Her work has been recognized by a Charles Wallace India Trust Fellowship, a Sangam House fellowship, an Eclectica Spotlight Author Prize, and a TOTO Award for Creative Writing.
Elizabeth Flock
Elizabeth Flock is an American journalist, author and documentary filmmaker whose work has focused on women’s and social issues. Her first book Love and Marriage in Mumbai (2018) is a New York Times' Editor's pick, and has been called a “vivid portrait of a nation in transition" (Publisher's Weekly, starred review), "deeply sympathetic but unsentimental" (NPR) and "impossible to put down" (The Washington Post). A reviewer in the Indian Express wrote that the book, which follows three couples in Mumbai over the course of a decade, “raises the right questions not just about the institution, but also of the successes and failures of the great Indian family.” Elizabeth began her career at Forbes India Magazine in Mumbai, where she did features and investigative reports. Her work has since appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, PBS NewsHour, The Atlantic, The Hindu, Hindustan Times and many other publications. She has been nominated for two Emmy awards and was a finalist for the Al Neuharth Innovation in Investigative Journalism Award. Elizabeth’s most recent work includes an investigation of sexual harassment, assault and retaliation with the U.S. Forest Service at NewsHour. That report led to the resignation of the Forest Service Chief and widespread change within the agency.
Sumana Roy
Sumana Roy’s first book, How I Became a Tree, a work of non-fiction, was published in India in February 2017. Her first novel, Missing, was published in April 2018. Her poems, essays, stories, and literary criticism have appeared in The Caravan, Granta, Guernica, India Quarterly, the Los Angeles Review of Books (LARB), Drunken Boat, the Prairie Schooner, Berfrois, Himal Southasian, Asian Cha, Pratilipi, and other journals. She is the co-founder and co-editor of Antiserious. She lives in Siliguri, a small town in sub-Himalayan Bengal. Roy has been photographing walls in northern Bengal for nearly a decade now.
Sanjiv T. Lall
Sanjiv T. Lall is the author of Rubies in my Ears (2018), a personal memoir charting his journey of overcoming adversity and obstacles to find success. In addition, he is a motivational and leadership speaker with diverse work experience. A successful entrepreneur across several industries, Sanjiv has worked in a number of continents, with the high point being the establishment of SAP Consulting Company in New Zealand which provides highly skilled International SAP Consultants to Australasia, India, and across the world. He currently lives in Goa where he fulfils his passion, renovating heritage Portuguese Villas. He also collects and restores vintage World War II, 4WD jeeps.
Arti Das
Arti Das is a freelance journalist based in Goa and is writing about Goa’s art, culture and ecology for more than 13 years now. Her writing also focuses on contemporary literary world and she has interviewed writers like Ramchandra Guha, Shashi Deshpande, Githa Hariharan, Amruta Patil, Sahitya Academy winner Damodar Mauzo, and Wendell Rodricks to name a few. She currently writes about Goa’s art and culture to news portals like Scroll.in, Firstpost, The Hindu and others.
