Devika Rege’s debut novel, Quarterlife, published in the UK by Dialogue Books in January was New Yorker’s Best Books of 2024 with James Wood calling it: “A fearless achievement.... An urgent, vital orchestration,” and hailed as a landmark publication in India. It received rave reviews in the Guardian, Observer and Daily Mail in the UK. It is as much a social and philosophical inquiry as it is a political bildungsroman. A brilliantly innovative and ambitious work that tests the limits of what the novel can achieve. Framed in what has become known as ‘the new India,’ the story begins in the aftermath of the 2014 election, Modi and the Hindu nationalists having swept into power, and examines the lives of four millennials as they grapple with the psychological and systemic roots of this political shift, particularly what it means for their sense of identity. In terms of this year’s theme ‘Humanity across borders’, I thought this shift and the impact on identity might be an interesting topic to explore. Devika Rege says, ‘Quarterlife is my attempt to examine, through the medium of fiction, the psychological and systemic roots of this political shift. It felt important to me to understand what made the Hindu right so attractive to large swathes of middle- and lower-middle-class Indians. While the fallouts of globalization and neoliberalism have been widely documented, I also wanted to explore the particular form that ressentiment has taken in this century, with the emphasis on identity taking precedence over broader socioeconomic and ecological concerns.
Farrukh Dhondy is an award-winning author, screenwriter, playwright and activist. Born in Poona (now Pune) India in 1944 in a Parsi family, he came to the UK on a scholarship to read Natural Sciences and then English at Cambridge University. After university he kicked off a career in journalism interviewing Pink Floyd and Allen Ginsberg and covering the first meeting between the Beatles and Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. While a student and schoolteacher in Leicester and London he got involved with political activism, at first in the Indian Workers' Association, Leicester, and then in the UK Black Panther Movement and subsequently in the Race Today Collective where he worked alongside Darcus Howe and CLR James. He published his first books in the late 1970s and several TV drama and situation comedy series in the early 1980s and in 1984 worked as a Commissioning Editor, Multicultural programming for Channel 4 TV, UK in which capacity he was the driving force behind Desmonds, Salaam Bombay and the trailblazing Bandung File among fourteen years of diverse programming.
Faiqa Mansab lives in Lahore and is an adjunct professor of English at Pakistan College of Law. Her new novel, The Sufi Storyteller, was published in 2025 in the UK by Neem Tree, and in India, Pakistan and neighbours by Penguin Random House. Her debut novel, This House of Clay and Water, was published by Penguin India in 2017, and was longlisted for the Getz Pharma Fiction Prize and the German Consulate Peace Prize at the 2018 Karachi Literature Festival 2018. Faiqa has an MFA in Creative Writing from Kingston University London, an MA in Gender and Cultural Studies from Birkbeck University London, and an Mphil in English Literature from Pakistan. She was the recipient of the prestigious British Chevening Scholarship 2019-2020, and is a Member of the Steering and National Committees at the International Centre For Pakistani Writing in English (ICPWE) at Kinnaird College, Lahore.
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.
Keshava Guha was born in Delhi and raised in Bangalore. He is the author of the novels Accidental Magic (HarperCollins India, 2019) and The Tiger's Share (John Murray, 2025). He is also a journalist and essayist, writing about politics, culture and sport, and was previously a senior editor at Juggernaut Books.
Matt Ridley’s books have sold over a million copies, been translated into 31 languages and won several awards. His books include The Red Queen, Genome, The Rational Optimist, How Innovation Works and most recently “Birds, Sex and Beauty”. “Viral: the search for the origin of Covid-19” was co-authored with Alina Chan. He sat in the House of Lords between 2013 and 2021 and served on the science and technology select committee and the artificial intelligence select committee. He was founding chairman of the International Centre for Life in Newcastle. He has been a columnist for the Times, Telegraph and Wall Street Journal. He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and of the Academy of Medical Sciences, and a foreign honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He lives in Northumberland
Muhammad Ali Bandial is a contributing author to Home #it’s complicated. His debut novel, I Dream of Rain, was published by Liberty Publishing in 2022. His second, And Still the Earth Turns, published in 2023 by The Book Guild (UK), appeared in The Friday Times’ Top Literary Picks for Summer 2023, Social Diary’s Best Books of 2023, and ProPakistani’s Best Pakistani Literary Picks for 2023. Muhammad is currently writing his next novel, Like Because, Love Despite, which has been shortlisted for the UK-based Plaza Literary: First Chapters Prize. He’s also an alumnus of Faber Academy's 'Writing a Novel' course.
Our panel chair, Paul Waters, is the author of Murder in Moonlit Square, a cosy crime Irish-Indian crossover set in contemporary Delhi, published by No Exit Press / Bedford Square Publishers in the UK in October 2025, and by Penguin India in January 2026. and in October 2025. Paul is an awarding-winning BBC broadcaster, and co-host of the We’d Like A Word books and authors podcast. He presents programmes on the BBC World Service on South Asian arts, and lectures in broadcasting at City University. Paul has a long-standing interest in environmental issues and is Chief Growth Officer at Quantaco, the award-winning climate tech software company. He’s the Co-Founder of the Chiltern Kills crime and thriller writing festival.
Dr. Priyanka Basu is Lecturer in Performing Arts at the Department of Culture, Media and Creative Industries, King’s College London. She was previously the Curator of ‘Two Centuries of Indian Print’ project at the British Library. Her first monograph, The Poet’s Song: ‘Folk’ and its Cultural Politics in South Asia (Routledge, 2024) was shortlisted and received special mention for the David Bradby Monograph Award 2024. She is currently working on her second monograph on the making of ‘modern’ dance in the early decolonial period focussing closely on South Asia and South Africa. Her other projects include a forthcoming edited volume on archipelagic Asias (with Dr. Luca Raimondi and Dr. Rosa Beunel) and an impact case study on the effects of climate crisis on Indian festivals. Priyanka is currently the Arts & Humanities Impact Fellow (2025) at King’s College London. She is an elected fellow of the Royal Historical Society, the Royal Asiatic Society and the Royal Anthropological Institute, and is a council/executive committee member of the British Association of South Asian Studies (BASAS) and the Theatre and Performance Association (TaPRA) UK. She is a trained Indian classical Odissi dancer and has performed in the UK, Japan, India and Norway.
Rishi Dastidar’s poetry has been published by the Financial Times, New Scientist and the BBC, amongst many others. His third collection, Neptune’s Projects (Nine Arches Press), was longlisted for the Laurel Prize, and a poem from it was included in The Forward Book of Poetry 2024. He is also editor of The Craft: A Guide to Making Poetry Happen in the 21st Century (Nine Arches Press), and co-editor of Too Young, Too Loud, Too Different: Poems from Malika’s Poetry Kitchen (Corsair). He reviews poetry for The Guardian and is chair of Wasafiri. His latest publication is A hobby of mine (Broken Sleep Books).
Robert Seatter is an experienced performer and poet, as well as a broadcaster and history author. He has published seven poetry collections, and won numerous awards and prizes for his writing including Forward Poetry Prize, National Poetry Competition, London Poetry Competition and Housman Poetry Prize. He is based in London where he works as Head of BBC History. In 2022 he published Broadcasting Britain: 100 years of the BBC for the Corporation’s centenary, as well as presenting a major linked series on Radio 4.
Radha Kapuria is Assistant Professor of South Asian History at Durham. She is a historian of gender, migration, and culture in South Asia. Her first book, Music in Colonial Punjab (OUP, 2023), received a Special Mention at the Karwaan Book Award 2024. She is a co-editor on projects exploring the intersections of regional, sonic, gender, and environmental histories of South Asia, such as (with Dr Vebhuti Duggal), Punjab Sounds: In and Beyond The Region (Routledge 2024) and (with Dr Priyanka Basu), Performing ‘Nature’: Ecology and the Arts in South Asia (Routledge 2025). Her research has explored the impact of the 1947 Partition on communities of musicians and dancers across India and Pakistan, and her current collaborative project (with Dr Nicole Ranganath, UCSD) seeks to excavate the “Poetics of Partition” in women’s memories, music, and folksong across Pakistan, India, and the diaspora.
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’.
Radhika Howarth is a London-based author, TV chef, and culinary storyteller whose debut cookbook, Flavours Without Borders: 80 Recipes Connecting Cultures and Cuisines, celebrates the power of food to bridge cultures. She is widely recognized for her engaging television appearances, including The World Cook on Amazon Prime and Channel 4’s Double the Money with Sue Perkins in 2024. Radhika holds a Master’s degree in Food and Nutrition, and her expertise shines through in her dynamic culinary presence—whether she's doing cooking demos at major UK events like the Ideal Home Show and Great British Food Festivals, teaching at renowned institutions such as Divertimenti Cookery School and the London School of Wok, or inspiring home cooks through her writing. In 2018, she founded her brand, Radikal Kitchen, offering diverse food consultancy services including recipe development, social media content creation for food brands, bespoke culinary events, cooking workshops, chef demonstrations, and food writing. Her passion for connecting people through cuisine is evident in her food column for I-Global News. Radhika is a proud member of the Guild of Food Writers UK, Women in the Food Industry UK, and The Chef’s Forum. She also serves as the brand ambassador for Hamilton Beach UK and Europe. On Instagram, @radikalkitchen, she shares vibrant flavours, culinary adventures, and a deep appreciation for global food culture.
Seni Seneviratne, is of English and Sri Lankan heritage. Published by Peepal Tree Press: Wild Cinnamon and Winter Skin (2007), The Heart of It (2012), Unknown Soldier (2019), The Go-Away Bird (2023). Unknown Soldier is a Poetry Book Society Recommendation, a National Poetry Day Choice and was highly commended in the Forward Poetry Prizes 2020. Her poem ‘A Wider View’ is included on the AQA GCSE poetry syllabus. She is one of ten writers featured in Colonial Countryside ed. Corinne Fowler/Jeremy Poynting. (Peepal Tree Press 2024). She co-edited, Out of SriLanka – an anthology of Tamil, Sinhala and English poetry (Bloodaxe, June 2023) with Vidya Ravinthiran and Shash Trevett. The book received a PBS Special Commendation.
Saba Karim Khan is an author, award-winning filmmaker and educator from Karachi, now based in Abu Dhabi. Her latest book, Home #itscomplicated, was published by Liberty Publishing in February 2025. It changes the story of Pakistan, and features a mix of storytellers: doctors, screenwriters, journalists, filmmakers, scientists, intelligence personnel, entrepreneurs, home-makers, and authors. We hear about the strife: hunger, normalisation of violence, hypocrisies, privilege and judgmental tendencies. And also from the backstage: stories of love and wounded attachments, courage and quiet desperation, the pursuit of purpose and the skills essential to survive. Saba is also the author of Skyfall, published by Bloomsbury India in 2020. And her writing has appeared in The Guardian, The Independent, Wasafiri, HuffPost, Verso, Think Progress, DAWN, The Friday Times and Express Tribune. She read Social Anthropology at the University of Oxford and works at NYU Abu Dhabi.
Sunetra Gupta is Professor of Theoretical Epidemiology at the University of Oxford with an interest in infectious disease agents that are responsible for malaria, HIV, influenza and bacterial meningitis. She has been awarded the Scientific Medal by the Zoological Society of London and the Royal Society Rosalind Franklin Award for her scientific research. Gupta has consolidated a body of theoretical work on the evolution of pathogen population structure which establishes a novel pipeline for developing a universal influenza vaccine; this presents a rare example of where a mathematical model of the evolutionary dynamics of an infectious disease has led to the experimental identification of a novel vaccine target, and has received the Royal Society Lord Leonard & Lady Estelle Wolfson Foundation Translation Award. In tandem with her studies of pathogen diversity, Gupta has made fundamental contributions to the evolution of diversity in host genes that protect against infectious disease. Sunetra Gupta is also a novelist and translator. Her novels have been awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award, the Southern Arts Literature Prize, shortlisted for the Crossword Award, and longlisted for the Orange Prize and the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
Tariq Ali has written more than two-dozen books on world history and politics — the most recent of which are The Extreme Centre, The Dilemmas of Lenin and The Forty-Year War in Afghanistan, Winston Churchill — as well as the novels of his Islam Quintet and scripts for the stage and screen. He is a long-standing member of the Editorial Committee of New Left Review and lives in London
Tracey Guiry was a Director of large visitor attractions before founding the South West's writer development agency,' Literature Works', with Alex Cluness in 2007. She joined the Poetry Archive in 2016 and now produces, acquires and keeps recordings of poets reading their own work. She loves to discover and create new initiatives and partnerships which make poetry accessible to everyone, and spends much of her time raising funds to ensure innovative new projects can take hold and thrive. Her PhD was focused on representations of dementia in Children's literature.
Zilka Joseph won a Best Indie Book Award, has been nominated thrice for a Pushcart award, and been a finalist for the Foreword INDIES Book Award , for A PEN award[PG1] , for a Griffin award, and for the National Book Award. She was the University of Michigan’s Zell Fellow (MFA program) as well as Elsie Choy Lee Scholar (Centre for the Education of Women). Previous books: What Dread, Lands I Live In, Sharp Blue Search Of Flame, and In Our Beautiful Bones. Born in Mumbai, she lived in Kolkata, and now lives in Ann Arbor, USA.
