Ashapurna Debi was born in 1909. Her conservative family did not send her to school, but encouraged by her mother, she learnt to read and write on her own and published her first poem in the children’s magazine Shishu Saathi. Married at fifteen to Kalidas Gupta of Krishnanagar, she continued to write with his support. Pratham Pratisruti (1964) is the first of a trilogy that includes Subarnalata (1966) and Bakul Katha (1973). Translated here as The First Promise, it won her the Rabindra Puraskar in 1966 and the Bharatiya Jnanpith award in 1977. Ashapurna published 181 novels, 38 anthologies of short stories, and 52 books for children. She died in 1995.
Venkatesh Athreya, a chemical engineer-turned-development economist, served as Professor of Economics at Bharathidasan University, Tamil Nadu, for nearly three decades. His earlier works include B
The Boston Women's Health Book Collective (now known as Our Bodies Ourselves) is a non-profit organization founded in 1969 whose board members include Teresa Heinz Kerry, Susan Love, and Gloria Ste
Rosy Thomas, well-known Malayalam writer and translator, her best-known work – Ivan Ente Priya C J.Her other prominent works include Urangunna Simham (The Sleeping Lion), a memoir of her father,
Rani Bang is a co-founder of the Society for Education Action and Research in Community Health (SEARCH) that pioneers new models in Indian health care.
Ipshita Chanda is Professor at the Department of Comparative Literature, English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad. She has been ICCR Visiting Professor of Indian Culture, Georgetown Univ
