Join worldwide best-selling author, Sir Alexander McCall Smith for an afternoon of sheer delight. The master storyteller will entertain you with tales from his many series of books, including the 44 Scotland Street novels and the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series. He will also be celebrating the publication of the latest Isabel Dalhousie Novel, The Subtle Pleasures of Indiscretion, and new poetry collection, The Kind Company of Others.
Alina Khakoo is a historian of Global Majority art and activism in Britain. She is currently a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Paul Mellon Centre. This book is based on her doctoral thesis (2024), which explores how artists associated with anti-racist and feminist social movements in Britain in the 1980s and 1990s created their own galleries, magazines and archives in the face of mainstream institutional indifference – and how these infrastructures articulated ideas about social transformation in and of themselves. Alina has also worked at Kettle’s Yard and the Panchayat Special Collection, Tate Library.
Arisa Loomba has recently completed a PhD in Global and Imperial History at the University of Oxford. Her research centers on migration and travel cultures across the British Empire, and how they shaped some of the racial ideologies that we still contend with today. She was a researcher and collaborator on the Human Resources podcast
Awais Khan is a writer and editor based in Lahore. A graduate of the University of Western Ontario and the University of Durham, he has studied Creative Writing at the prestigious Faber Academy in London. His work has appeared in the Aleph Review, The Hindu, Missing Slate Magazine (he was also their Author of the Month), Daily Times, MODE, The News International. He teaches creative writing through the Writing Institute in Pakistan and has a large student base both in Pakistan and abroad. He has conducted lectures on creative writing at Durham University, American University of Dubai, Canadian University of Dubai, United States Educational Foundation of Pakistan, Kinnaird College, Hajvery University.
Daljit Nagra is Professor of Creative Writing at Brunel University of London, Vice President of the Royal Society of Literature and Lead Advisor to Poetry By Heart. He also presents the weekly Poetry Extra on Radio 4 Extra. Nagra’s collections have won the Forward Prize for Best Individual Poem and Best First Collection, the South Bank Show Decibel Award and the Cholmondeley Award. He lives with his family in Harrow.
Born in Kerala, India, trained at the Smithsonian, graduating from the Birla Institute of Technology & Science (Distinguished Alumni), University of Toronto and Yale School of Management on full scholarships, Dr. George Jacob has designed and master planned museums and science centers for three decades. A Canadian Commonwealth Scholar, he is the founding Director/President of 5 stellar museums, in addition to over 100 museums, nature centers and themed destination assignments around the world. He was honored to be Project Director for production of the 1812 Star Spangled Banner permanent exhibit- Smithsonian’s most treasured national icon, re-dedicated to the nation by President George W. Bush. In 2015, he delivered the fastest museum built in Canadian history as the founding President & CEO of the Philip J. Currie Dinosaur Museum, winning 9 national awards in 9 months. Named top ten destinations by Air Canada, he was inducted to the Royal College of Fellows, Canadian Geographical Society, receiving its prestigious 2019 Louie Kamookak Medal. His vision for the world’s first Climate and Ocean Conservation living museum was unveiled by First Lady of United States, Dr. Jill Biden. Advisor to UC Berkeley Haas Innovation Forum, he served on the Board of Directors of ICOM US (International Council of Museums), ICOM Canada, CASC, Commonwealth Association of Museums, CAL-Travel, US Travel, and is the Chief Advisor to UNEP on Climate Museums. Author of 200+ editorials and 23 books on the future of museum design, conservation and curation, Dr. Jacob was conferred with the Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal of Honor, for his dedication to public service in establishing generational institutions.
Harry Eyres is a journalist whose Financial Times column ‘Slow Lane’ explored how we can pause for thoughtful enjoyment of the pleasures and values which make life worth living. He became interested in the teachings of J Krishnamurti as part of his commitment to slow living.
He has also been a theatre critic and arts writer for The Times, poetry editor for The Daily Express and wine columnist for several leading publications. He is the author of the memoir Horace and Me: Life Lessons from an Ancient Poet (Bloomsbury and Farrar, Straus & Giroux), shortlisted for the PEN Ackerley Prize, two collections of poetry and several books on wine.
Hugo Slim is the Director of the Las Casas Institute for Social Justice at Blackfriars Hall at the University of Oxford and a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Ethics, Law and Armed Conflict at Oxford’s Blavatnik School of Government. He is also Visiting Professor at the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Academy at Suzhou University and at Schwarzman College at Tsinghua University, and an Independent Humanitarian Envoy for the British Red Cross. Hugo’s career has combined academia, policymaking, humanitarian diplomacy and frontline relief operations. Hugo has worked for Save the Children, the United Nations, Oxfam GB, the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, and the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (CAFOD). From 2015 to 2020 he was Head of Policy and Humanitarian Diplomacy at the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). His books include: Humanitarianism 2.0: New Ethics for the Climate Emergency, Hurst 2024;
Solferino 21: Warfare, Civilians and Humanitarians in the Twenty First Century, Hurst, 2022, Humanitarian Ethics: The Morality of Aid in War and Disaster, Hurst, 2015, and Killing Civilians: Method, Madness and Morality in War, Hurst, 2007.
Imtiaz Dharker OBE is a poet, artist and video film maker, awarded the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, co-editor Poems of the Underground, Trustee of the Poetry Archive and The Society of Authors, she became Chancellor of Newcastle University in 2020. She has been Poet in Residence atCambridge University Library and worked on projects across art forms in Leeds, Newcastle, Manchester and Hull as well as the Archives of St Paul’s Cathedral. Her seven collections include Over the Moon and the latest, Shadow Reader, a Poetry Book Society Special Commendation.
Javed Gaya is a lawyer from Mumbai, specialising in commercial arbitration law. He studied jurisprudence at the University of Oxford and has taught law at colleges affiliated to the University of Mumbai. He contributes to various publications on topics including constitutional law, history and foreign affairs, and writes book reviews.
Jennifer Wong is the author of Light Year and Letters Home, both from Nine Arches Press and which received the Poetry Book Society Commendation. Light Year is a meditation of time. These poems delve into the mind of a poet crossing spaces of deep wounds, love and healing: a constellation of friendships and love as she moves through upheaval, transformation and change.
Wong has a PhD in creative writing from Oxford Brookes and is currently a visiting lecturer for the MA in Comparative Literature at the University of Hong Kong. She is editing Rebecca Swift Foundation's inaugural Woman, Mapped anthology featuring works by selected contemporary women poets in the UK. The anthology will be out in July this year.
Kalathmika Natarajan is Lecturer in Modern South Asian History at the University of Exeter and co-director of the Exeter South Asia Centre. Her interdisciplinary research brings together critical approaches to diplomatic history, caste, and South Asian migration. She has worked at the University of Edinburgh and received her doctoral degree from the University of Copenhagen. Her first book Coolie Migrants, Indian Diplomacy ( Hurst, 2025 & Oxford University Press, 2026) has been recently published. She is currently working on a new book project titled Caste at Bay: Mobility and Anti-Caste Internationalism Across the Bay of Bengal.
Leena Gupta is a Transformational Life Coach and Wellness Expert, TEDx Speaker, and Founder & CEO of Leena Gupta Inc. She has trained over 25,000 people spanning 25 countries over two decades. She is also a Senior International Faculty with the Art of Living Foundation NGO for over 23 years and has been personally mentored by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. She is an executive committee member at CFBP- (Council for Fair Business Practices) and has curated the “CFPB Holistic Health Summit’’ in 2023 and 2024.
Leena has worked with several Fortune 500 companies and major corporates like Adobe, British Gas, Barclays Bank, Intel, Crompton Greaves, Jindal Steel, IBM, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, and Shapoorji Pallonji, among many others. She has designed programs for cancer patients, women, and youth, training and empowering them.
Through her thoughtfully curated programs, clients learn to manage stress levels, enhance awareness, get creative in problem-solving, create work-life harmony, and anchor into their essence. She blends ancient wisdom with practical yet powerful techniques to help her clients to live intentionally and tap into their inner source and reservoir of talent, potential, joy, and creativity. Her signature techniques, like Radical Mission Statement, 4-5-6 Breath Work, Happy Mirror Work, and Guided Meditations, 80/20 Trashcan Rule have helped thousands of clients experience personal transformation, breakthroughs, inner peace, strength, and happiness.
Several organizations have recognized Leena for her work in Transformational Life Coaching and Wellness and Happiness management. She is a recipient of the FICCI Ladies Organization Women Achiever Award and The Woman of Excellence Award.
She has grown up in the US and is an alumna of Smith College. She has also lived in the UK, Thailand, and Hong Kong, among other countries. This has helped her garner a keen sense of cultures, perspectives, philosophies, and languages, which has helped her craft and fine-tune her signature techniques.
Her first book, “Anchor Within,” which provides essential life lessons and practical tools we missed learning in our childhood has just been published by Penguin and is in bookstores now. This book helps the reader to shift the focus from looking for love, acceptance, and validation from the outer world to looking inward and connecting to their essence, which is filled with love, peace, and joy. This book will provide the readers with a roadmap to re-invent themselves and operate from inner stability, strength, and sovereignty.
Leena lives by her mottos of “Carpe Diem” and “Success is an inside job”.
Madhur Singh is the founder-editor of Climate Action Live, a platform that surfaces climate solutions and enables action.
She is a journalist and editor with 25+ years in leading Indian and international media, including the World Economic Forum, Bloomberg Law and Time magazine. She has reported on climate since the late 2000s – from policy and regulation to grassroots action. Along the way, she has run independent public-interest journalism sites; trained fact-checkers; advised NGOs; and organized communities, literary festivals and film clubs.
She is a Chevening South Asia Journalism Fellow, and helps organise the Khushwant Singh Literary Festival in Kasauli, London and Oxford
Mohammed Hanif was born in Okara, Pakistan. He graduated from the Pakistan Air Force Academy as Pilot Officer but subsequently left to pursue a career in journalism. His first novel, A Case of Exploding Mangoes, was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize, shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award and won the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best First Novel. His second novel, Our Lady of Alice Bhatti, was shortlisted for the 2012 Wellcome Prize. He has written the libretto for an opera called Bhutto, commissioned by the Lyric Theater in Illinois, which premiered with the Pittsburgh Opera in 2019. He has also written for the stage and screen, including a BBC radio play, What Now, Now That We Are Dead? He writes regularly for the New York Times, BBC Urdu, and BBC Punjabi, and currently splits his time between Berlin and Karachi.
Paul Waters is the author of Murder in Moonlit Square, set in Chandni Chowk in Delhi, and its sequel, Death at the Elephant House. Paul is from Ireland, but he fell in love with India when he fell in love with his wife Aneysha, who is from Delhi.
It was Aneysha who urged him to write stories set in India. It was also Aneysha who realised that Paul’s auntie Agatha, a real-life Irish nun who spent her career in India, taught her late mother in her first posting in India after leaving Ireland. That bizarre and wonderful coincidence inspired Paul to begin his series starring the fictional Irish nun Sister Agatha Murphy and Avtar Mehta, the owner of the Delhi Haveli Hotel in today’s Chandni Chowk.
Paul is also the author of the thriller, Blackwatertown, set on the 1950s Irish border, and has stories in various anthologies. He is an award-winning broadcaster, most recently presenting the BBC World Service In The Studio strand. He is Co-Host of the award-winning We'd Like A Word books and authors podcast; UK Curator of the Khushwant Singh LitFest UK; and Co-Founder of the UK’s Chiltern Kills national crime writing festival in aid of the Centrepoint charity. He also lectures in broadcasting at City University in London, and helps lead the climate tech company, Quantaco.
Rachel Dwyer is Professor Emerita of Indian Cultures and Cinema at SOAS University of London. Her most recent books are Bombay before Mumbai: Essays in Honour of Jim Masselos (co-edited with Prashant Kidambi and Manjiri Kamat, 2019) and Cinema and Soft Power: Configuring the National and Transnational in Geo-politics (co-edited with Stephanie Dennison, 2021). She writes a monthly column on Indian culture in ‘Open’.
Rahul Singh has been a writer, journalist and editor of Readers Digest, Indian Express, Sunday Observer.
He has penned, among other books, an engaging biography of his father Khushwant Singh, In The Name of the Father, which was launched by Amitabh Bachchan.
He has been advisor to World Literacy Canada, President of Satyagyan Foundation, India, President of the media awards committee at the Population Institute Washington. He is presently on the board of Delhi Public Schools and a Washington based
non-profit, DKT.
Rahul studied in about 11 schools as his father was posted all over during his years in the foreign service. He graduated in History from Kings College, Cambridge.
Senior journalist, author, and one of India’s most respected political commentators, Rajdeep Sardesai brings over three decades of experience in television and print media. Known for his incisive analysis and on-ground reporting, he has covered some of the most defining moments in contemporary Indian politics. Rajdeep is also the author of several bestselling books, including 2014: The Election That Changed India and 2024: The Election That Surprised India. A recipient of multiple awards, including the prestigious Padma Shri, he continues to shape public discourse with clarity, credibility, and conviction.
Renay Richardson is an award-winning producer and creative executive living in London. The creator of the hit podcast Human Resources, her work focuses on empowering audiences and social impact. She produced About Race with Reni Eddo-Lodge. Her company, Broccoli Productions, produced critically acclaimed documentary We Were Always Here and the anthology series Anthems and the company has been profiled in the New York Times.
Sarbpreet Singh is a writer, playwright, and commentator whose work traverses the boundaries of history, myth, and the human spirit to explore the depth of Sikh heritage and Punjabi culture. Blending the meticulousness of a historian with the soul of a poet, he serves as a multidisciplinary storyteller who translates complex historical narratives and traditional scholarship into profound literary and dramatic experiences for a modern audience. He is the author of several acclaimed books, including the bestselling novel, The Sufi's Nightingale, which reimagines the life and transcendental love of the 16th-century mystic poet Shah Hussain. His approach to storytelling extends to the stage through musical productions like Heer and The Sufi's Nightingale Musical, where he blends his English translations of Punjabi Sufi poetry with original Raga-based compositions.
Sagarika Ghose born 8 November 1964 is a Member of Parliament, journalist, columnist and author. She has been a journalist since 1991 and has worked at The Times of India, Outlook and The Indian Express. She was a prime time anchor for BBC World on Question Time India and on the news network CNN-IBN, also being the deputy editor for the latter. Ghose has won several awards in journalism and is the author of two novels, as well as the biography of Indira Gandhi, Indira: India's Prime Minister. She worked as Consulting Editor of The Times of India from 2014 to 2020. In 2022, her biography of former Indian Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee was released. In her 2018 non-fiction book, Why I Am A Liberal: A Manifesto For Indians Who Believe in Individual Freedom, Ghose describes herself as a liberal who believes in rule of law, limited government, robust institutions and individual liberty. Ghose propounds the thesis that although the republic of India was founded as a liberal democracy in 1947, subsequent Indian governments throughout the post-Independence period have sought to attack individual liberty and vastly increase the powers of the government, or the powers of what she calls the Indian 'Big State'.
Best known for her long association with Femina, which she edited for 12 years, Sathya Saran is also the author of a diverse variety of books. The Dark Side reflects her love of the short story, while the critically acclaimed biographies, Ten Years with Guru Dutt Abrar Alvi's Journey; Sun Mere Bandhu Re The Musical World of SD Burman and Baat Niklegi toh Phir The Life Music of Jagjit Singh and Hariprasad Chaurasia Breath of Gold, bear testimony to her love of cinema and music. Sathya ‘s books include a biography of Pt Hariprasad Chaurasia and Ritu Nanda. Venturing into translations, she has translated Caged, a book of poems by Gulzar . Her next book is on poet and lyricist, Shailendra.
Currently Consulting Editor with Penguin Random House, Sathya also teaches fashion journalism at NIFT. Sathya has written a TV serial titled Kashmakash on marital problems.
Sathya wrote and was on the filming team of a documentary on the Computerisation of Land Records which was produced by the MP government and beamed on DD 1.
It had Raghuvir Yadav in the lead and was shot on location in a village. Besides she is the India correspondent for MS magazine , USA. And a columnist with The New Indian Express and Hindu Business Line
Dr. Suraj Yengde is one of India’s leading scholars and public intellectuals. Named as one of the “25 Most Influential Young Indian” by GQ magazine and the “Most influential Young Dalit” by Zee, Suraj is an author of the bestseller Caste Matters and co-editor of award winning anthology The Radical in Ambedkar.
He is a transnational Dalit rights activist involved in building solidarities between Dalit, Black, Roma, Indigenous, Buraku and Refugee peoples in the Fourth World project of marginalized peoples.
His writings have appeared in Al Jazeera, BBC, The Caravan, LiveMint, The Sunday World, The Wire, Scroll, Mail & Guardian Africa, Saturday Star, Open Democracy and is a syndicated columnist at The Hindustan Times, The Hindu, The Huffington Post, The Print, The Citizen, Globe & Post, The Mexican Times, The Conversation, among others. He is frequently invited by the media and corporations to offer expert advice on the issues of caste, migration, race relations and international law. Economic Times did a feature on him on the occasion of Independence Day.
Dr. Yengde offers consultations to the government, non-governmental, corporate and university policy-making bodies on the issues of caste, diversity, human rights, social justice, refugee policy, cross-border migration and organizational strategies for campaigns and advocacy.
Dr. Yengde is a co-founder of the Equity in Policy Education initiative started at Harvard.
Tahmima Anam is the author of the Bengal trilogy and winner of the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best First Book and the O. Henry Award. Her short story ‘Garments’ was shortlisted for the BBC National Short Story Award. She is a Granta Best of Young British Novelist and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. Born in Dhaka, Bangladesh, she trained as an anthropologist at Harvard University and now lives in London. Her new novel Uprising is out on 21 May’ 2026.
Vish Dhamija is an internationally acclaimed British-Indian crime-fiction author known for his fast-paced thrillers, legal dramas, and psychological suspense novels. In 2024, he became the first Indian-born writer to win the prestigious Grand Prix for International Crime Novel at the Festival Polar de Cognac for the French edition of The Mogul (Le Magnat). The French press listed him among the five crime writers not to be missed, while UK magazine Ars Notoria named The Mogul / Le Magnat among the top South Asian books of 2024.
Often regarded by the Indian media as one of the country’s most popular thriller authors, Dhamija is also seen as a pioneer of legal fiction in India, earning the nickname “India’s John Grisham” after the success of Déjà Karma. His books have been published in India, the United States, and France by leading publishers including Pan Macmillan, HarperCollins, Bloomsbury, Blackstone, and Mera Éditions.
In 2026, his novel Bhendi Bazaar was adapted into the Amazon Prime Video series Daldal, which debuted at No. 1 in India, the US, and the UAE, and at No. 2 in the UK.
Born in Ajmer, India, Vish studied marketing and management in the UK. He currently lives in the UK.
Vishwanath Alluri is a successful and award-winning tech CEO, winner of several industry accolades for his leadership and entrepreneurship. He founded technology company IMISoft in 1988 with a mission to harness India's intellectual resources and bring them to the world stage. In 1999 he founded communication platform IMImobile. His engineering venture was acquired by Ramboll, a Danish engineering conglomerate in 2011, and IMImobile was acquired by CISCO in 2021. He is secretary of the Krishnamurti foundation in India.
Yasser Usman has been a television journalist for over 20 years. He has extensively worked on crime and investigative news-based shows which have won him several News Television (NT) awards. He has also been a recipient of the prestigious Ramnath Goenka Award for Excellence in Journalism. His columns have appeared in esteemed publications like Hindustan Times, Khaleej Times and the BBC. As one of India’s most loved film biographers, Yasser has authored bestselling books such as Rajesh Khanna: The Untold Story of India’s First Superstar, Rekha: The Untold Story, Sanjay Dutt: The Crazy Untold Story of Bollywood's Bad Boy and Guru Dutt: An Unfinished Story. As Dark As Blood is his first work of fiction.
