5 - 7 December 2019 , Thu - Sat.
GALF 2019 : Speakers | Programme | Partners | Performances | Artwork | Videos
Photo Gallery: Inaugural Day | Day 1 | Day 2
Prava Rai
Prava Rai has lived in Goa since 1994 with her family. They found a piece of heaven tucked away in a corner of Chorao Island where they built their home and moved their in 1998.
Prava studied in Mt Hermon School Darjeeling and joined Lady Shri Ram College to study English Honours then spent five years at Jawaharlal Nehru University completing Masters in English Language and Literature from the School of Languages and an M.Phil from the Centre for American Studies, School of International Studies.
Prava edited “The Book Review” for four years, taught for two years at the Institute of Mass Communication in Delhi and worked in the PRADAN , an organization devoted to rural development.
In Goa, she edited the Goa Heritage Action Groups’ journal “PARMAL” for six years and is a member Goa Writers Group. In 2015 she edited a special issue on Sikkim’s culture and art for MARG Publications, Mumbai and has researched and written two volumes of coffee table books “The Land and the People” for the Department of Culture, Government of Sikkim.
Her latest project has been to build the Reading Room, a library in the village of Dumigaon, in South Sikkim. Now she divides her time between Goa and Sikkim.
Stacy Rodrigues
Stacy Rodrigues resides in Margao Goa. She completed her education in music. Being visually impaired, she is an artist by profession for the past 6 years and as of now, she is a full-time yoga instructor & a spiritual counsellor. So far she has held 4 solo exhibitions and she has been part of a few group exhibitions in Goa. In the year 2012, on a small scale, she released her poem book entitled "reflections". Recently she has written her first novel "In Search Of" which was launched in the month of October 2019. In Search Of is a book about a visually impaired individual who dared to live a normal life. The experience that life put her through taught her the meaning of life and helped her find her true self.
Pantaleão Fernandes
Pantaleão Fernandes is a Goa-based writer, photographer and ethnographer. Very passionate about Goa and her vibrant culture, he spends most of his time exploring villages in the deep hinterlands, to experience firsthand the warm spirit and culture of the villagers and document these experiences.
These excursions brought about his earlier books, “100 Goan Experiences”, “Goa Remembered” and the ethnographic book, “Traditional Occupations of Goa” which is a rich documentation of the ancient crafts of Goa’. His latest book is entitled, “ Goa – Rare Portraits” - is a pictorial depiction of the tribal life of Goa. He has authored a few children’s books including “Once Upon a Time in Goa” and a bilingual book, “Ful – A Story”.
Namit Arora
Namit Arora is a writer, humanist, travel photographer, and former internet technologist. He grew up in Gwalior, studied at IIT Kharagpur, worked in Silicon Valley for two decades, took courses of dubious practical value at Stanford, and visited scores of countries before moving to Delhi NCR with his partner in 2013. He writes essays, reviews, criticism, travelogues, fiction, memoir, and history, often merging many forms at once, and tackling subjects as diverse as identity politics, artificial intelligence, Indian-Americans, eating animals, and cryptocurrencies. He is the author of The Lottery of Birth (2017), A California Story (US) / Love and Loathing in Silicon Valley (India) (2019), and an upcoming book on travel and history (2020). His home on the web is shunya.net.
Vivek Shanbhag
Vivek Shanbhag writes in Kannada. He has published five short story collections, three novels and two plays. He has edited two anthologies, one of which is in English. Vivek was the founding editor of the literary journal Desha Kaala. His critically-acclaimed novel Ghachar Ghochar is translated into 18 languages worldwide. Ghachar Ghochar was on the list of best ten books of 2017 by NY Times as well as The Guardian. It is one of Vulture‘s 100 best books of the 21st century. Ghachar Ghochar is the first Indian language book to be a finalist for the LA Times book prize in fiction 2017 and The American National Translation Award 2017.
Vivek is the co-translator of U R Ananthamurthy’s book “Hindutva or Hind Swaraj” into English.
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.
Nishant Saldanha
Nishant Saldanha is an independent comics artist and filmmaker with degrees from Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design (London) and the California Institute of the Art’s School of Film/Video (Los Angeles). This year, he became the first South Asian artist to be included in the prestigious Best American Comics anthology. After 5 years in Los Angeles, Nishant has moved back to his ancestral land, Goa to pursue an independent arts practice, working primarily in the medium of comics and book making, writing and photography. He self-publish his comic series Mr. Good Guy online.
Vidya Kamat
Vidya Kamat is an artist, research scholar, and academic. Her art practice looks at the mythological narratives and traditional belief systems engage and alter perceptions within contemporary Indian social reality. Kamat's works have been showcased in Dhaka( 2012), Istanbul(2007), Santa Fe( 2008), New Delhi(2010,2011) art fairs . She has also shown her works in curated shows in New York ( 2011), Singapore (2011), Thailand(2009), London( 2009), Paris( 2009) & recently Serendipity Festival Goa (2018). Besides, she has had solo shows in Mumbai and Bengaluru, India. Vidya Kamat is also a founder and curator of Talking Myths Project an online archive of traditional tales; and founder of a non-profit organisation Centre for Study of Mythology and Culture based in Goa India.
Martin Macwan
Martin Macwan is a human rights activist based in Gujarat. He has devoted his life and has been working for eradication of untouchability and caste-based discrimination. He is the founder of Navsarjan Trust and many other institutions. He also writes books for children on the issues of equality and non-discrimination. He has been awarded with Robert Kennedy award for human rights; the Gleitsman activist award; and recognized by the Human Rights Watch and others for his work. Through Navsarjan Trust, Martin has been able to do pioneering work for the eradication of Manual scavenging.
Parimal Gandhi
In the Learning and Development profession since more than 44 years, Parimal is a results-oriented, innovative, gifted and acclaimed international facilitator, consultant, speaker and author. By now, he has trained over 100000 participants and 1000 trainers. His abiding interest lies in the application of timeless philosophies to human life for holistic learning, development, performance and happiness. With academic backgrounds in Chemical Engineering, Literature and several international certifications, he orchestrates heart-felt learning experiences in his areas of interest: Leadership, Spirituality, Teams, Customer Service, Innovation, Time Management and Trainer Training. His client list ranges from Fortune 500 companies to small and tiny industries and families. He has spoken at several international conferences and works in India, Mexico and USA.
He has received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Indian Society for Training and Development and the V Care Foundation Award for ‘facing cancer four times with indomitable courage and resilience’.
