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
Paro Anand
Paro Anand was the recipient of the Sahitya Akademi Bal Sahitya Puruskar Award 2017 for her book Wild Child, now published as Like Smoke with additional content. She has written books for children, young adults and adults. Recognized internationally and nationally, she headed the National Centre for Children’s Literature, has interacted with over three lakh people, primarily children in difficult circumstances, and runs a programme, Literature in Action. Paro holds a world record for helping over three thousand children make the world’s longest newspaper. Her book, No Guns at my Son’s Funeral (2005) was on the International Board on Books for Young People Honour List and is translated into German and Spanish. The Little Bird who held the Sky up with his Feet (2013) was on ‘1001 Books to Read Before You Grow Up’, an international gold standard of the world’s best children’s literature. BBC Hindi selected her on their 100 Women #100Women Project – a project highlighting the challenges and achievements of women in India. Her book Wingless has been performed nationally and internationally. She is also the co-author of Two (2017) with Swedish writer, Orjan Perrson.Her latest book, The Other: Stories of Difference (2018), is a ground-breaking collection of stories dealing with sensitive issues. She has been awarded for her contribution to children’s literature by The Russian Centre for Science and Culture.
Suneeta Peres da Costa
Suneeta Peres da Costa was born in Sydney, Australia, to parents of Goan origin. She has published and produced across the genres of fiction, non-fiction, playwriting and poetry. Her debut novel, Homework, was published internationally by Bloomsbury in 1999; a novella Saudade, on the legacies of Portuguese colonialism and the Goan diaspora in Angola, was published by Giramondo in March 2018. Her literary honours include a Fulbright Scholarship, the Australia Council for the Arts BR Whiting Residency, Rome, and, recently, an Asialink Arts Creative Exchange to the Australian and New Zealand Studies Centre at Himachal Pradesh University, India. She holds a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Communication from the University of Technology, Sydney, and a Master of Fine Arts in Writing from Sarah Lawrence College, New York.
Prabda Yoon
Prabda Yoon was born in Bangkok and studied in the United States from the age of 15. In 1997, he graduated with a BFA in Fine Arts from the Cooper Union in New York City. Prabda returned to Thailand for a six-month military service in 1998, and started to write short stories immediately after his discharge. His first published book, in 2000, was the story collection Muang Moom Chak (City of Right Angles), which was quickly followed by another story collection, Kwam Na Ja Pen (Probability), in the same year. The latter went on to win the prestigious S. E. A Write Award. He has been widely credited as the popularizer of “postmodern” writing in Thailand. Kwam Na Ja Pen has been reprinted continuously and is regarded as a landmark book in contemporary Thai literature. Since his debut collection, Prabda has written and published numerous story collections, novels, essays, song lyrics, and screenplays. His writings have been translated to Japanese, English, Spanish, Italian, and Chinese. He is also the Thai translator of western modern classics such as Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita, Anthony Burgess’ A Clockwork Orange, and all of J. D. Salinger’s books. In early 2017, the UK independent publishing house Tilted Axis Press released Yoon’s first book in English: The Sad Part Was. It is the first translation of Thai fiction to be published in the UK. His second English book, Moving Parts, was published in 2018, also by Tilted Axis Press. Apart from writing, Prabda is also an acclaimed designer of book covers and film director.
Sharmila Ribeiro
Sharmila Ribeiro is the author of Everyday Love: A Mother’s Guide to Healthy Cooking for Kids, winner of the World Gourmand Cookbook Awards for the Best Family Cookbook of 2018. It is a must-have book for parents of school-going children as well as for beginner cooks and families in general. Sharmila is an agricultural economist and mother of three growing boys. She is also the co-founder of 2 NGOs in the Himalayas that work with local producers on organic honey, silk and spices. She has spent the last few years evolving a range of tasty, healthy, easy-to-cook Indian and international recipes that have changed the way families eat and hopes that her book and website (www.sharmilacooksforkids.com) help other families begin the journey of making healthy, delicious meals too.
Annie Zaidi
Annie Zaidi writes across genre and her body of work includes reportage, essays, fiction, drama, film and graphic storytelling. She is the author of Gulab (2014) Love Stories # 1 to 14 (2012) and Known Turf: Bantering with Bandits and Other True Tales (2010), and the co-author of The Good Indian Girl (2011). She has also edited Unbound: 2000 Years of Indian Women's Writing (2016) and Equal Halves (2017). Annie is the winner of The Hindu Playwright Award 2018, for Untitled 1. Her script for a radio play, Jam, was the regional (South Asia) winner for the BBC’s International Playwriting Competition 2011. Annie works as a filmmaker too. Her first documentary film, In her Words: The Journey of Indian Women, traces the lives and struggles of women as reflected in their literature. She has written and directed five fictional short films.
Mamata Verelekar
Mamata Verelekar has done her master’s in Hindi from Goa University and currently teaches Hindi at Parvatibai Chowgule College Of Arts and Science Margao, Goa. She recently presented a paper at a national seminar held at Goa University which spoke about the cinematic translation of literature where she focused on films by filmmaker Mani Kaul. She is passionate about literature and blogs about Konkani poems on her blog-Mhajokonso.wordpress.com
Frederick Noronha
Frederick Noronha is a Brazil-born journalist and alternative publisher from Goa. After a quarter century in journalism, spent writing for national and local media, and covering diverse fields including Goa, the environment, and ICT4D, he set up his alternative book publishing venture Goa, 1556 ( http://goa1556.in) a decade ago. Till date, this venture has published over 120 mainly non-fiction titles on Goa, mostly in English, but also in Konkani, Portuguese and Spanish. He promotes Copyleft, volunteers on the Wikipedia, and has been involved with dozens of cyber initiatives since 1995. Among his books are Another Goa (2009) and the co-edited The Green Pen: Environmental Journalism in India and South Asia (2010). He spends time in mentoring and sharing.
Shruti Debi
Shruti Debi is a literary agent based in New Delhi. The Debi Agency represents writers of literary fiction and quality non-fiction with an emphasis on transitioning their works across languages and mediums. Among her clients are Vivek Shanbhag (with Srinath Perur), whose internationally-acclaimed novel Ghachar Ghocharhas been translated into several languages around the world and in India; and Prayaag Akbar, whose debut novel Leila was acquired by streaming giant Netflix.
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 País; and his late father Fernando de Noronha’s chronicle, Goa tal como a conheci, edited by him. He lives in Panjim, Goa.
Easterine Kire
Easterine Kire is a poet, short story writer, children’s book writer and novelist from Nagaland. A PhD in English Literature from Savitribai Phule Pune University, she published the first English novel by a Naga writer: A Naga Village Remembered (Ura Academy, 2003). Her second novel, A Terrible Matriarchy (Zubaan, 2007) has been translated to Norwegian, German and Marathi. Her novel Bitter Wormwood (Zubaan, 2011) was shortlisted for The Hindu Literary Prize 2013. In 2016, Easterine won the Hindu Literature Prize for When the River Sleeps (Zubaan, 2014). Another novel Son of the Thundercloud (Speaking Tiger, 2016) was awarded the Tata Litlive Book of the Year award in 2017 and the Bal Sahitya Puraskar in 2018. Easterine was awarded the Governor’s prize for excellence in Naga literature in 2011 and the “Free Word” award by Catalan PEN, Barcelona in 2013. She also writes poetry and has a band called Jazzpoesi. The band produced a digital cd in summer 2013 that topped the Norwegian Jazz charts in the summer. She is also founder member of a publishing house called Barkweaver Publications.
