Manik Bandyopadhyay (birth name Prabodh Kumar Bandyopadhyay, 19 May 1908–3 December 1956) is a major figure of twentieth-century Bengali literature. He authored 38 novels and 306 stories. His best-known works include Padma Nadir Majhi (The Boatman on the River Padma, 1936), Putul Nacher Itikatha (The Puppet’s Tale, 1936), Shahartali (Suburbia, 1941), Chatushkone (The Quadrilateral, 1948), Swadhinatar Swad (Taste of Freedom, 1951) and Halud Nadi Sabuj Ban (Yellow River Green Forest, 1956). He was born in Dumka, Santal Parganas. His father was a government official who was transferred all over Bengal, giving young Manik a wide exposure to diverse places, cultures, dialects, and people. He became a member of the Progressive Writers’ Association in the early 1940s, and joined the Communist Party of India in 1944. In ill health and plagued by financial problems, he died at the early age of 48. His unfailing commitment to his creative objective gave him an iconic status as an ‘engaged’ author, a ‘pen-wielding proletarian’, according to the author’s own description.
Ravi Shanker (aka Ra Sh) is a poet and translator. He lives in Palakkad, Kerala. His poetry volume in English Architecture of Flesh was published in 2015. In 2014, he was part of A Strange Place Ot
Palagummi Sainath (born 1957), one of India’s best-known journalists, is the founding editor of People’s Archive of Rural India (PARI). He was The Hindu’s Rural Affairs Editor til
Ilan Pappé (born 1954) is an Israeli historian and activist. He is the director of the European Centre for Palestine Studies and co-director of the Exeter Centre for Ethno-Political Studies
Radha Chakravarty teaches literature at Gargi College, University of Delhi. She is the author of Feminism and Contemporary Women Writers: Rethinking Subjectivity. Her books in
Ola Johansson is Associate Professor in Contemporary Performance Practice at the Centre for Research into Creation in the Performing Arts (ResCen), Middlesex University (UK). He has specialized in
