Literary Fest Schedule

Dr. Kalyan Kumar Das is an Assistant Professor at Presidency University, Kolkata. In his doctoral research, he explored literary texts produced by Bengals Dalits to understand how this politics of identity formation, communitarian histories and lived experiences of being Dalits get represented in these cultural and literary narratives. His research interests are also centred on caste, race and Dalit literature, among others.

Dr. Antara Ray is an Assistant Professor at Presidency University, Kolkata. As a sociologist she is particularly interested in the area of Caste, Dalit Studies and Issues of marginalization. Her doctoral work is focused on caste in everyday life.

Dr. Samata Biswas is an Assistant Professor in English at the Sanskrit College and University, Kolkata. She completed her graduation in English from Presidency College, Kolkata. Her research interests include Body Studies, Migration Studies, Dalit Studies, Gender and Popular Culture. Her thesis was titled “Family Limited: Working Women and The New Popular Culture”.

Kalyani Thakur Charal (born 1965) is a Dalit feminist poet from India writing in the Bengali language. She has published four volumes of poetry, a volume of critical essays, a collection of short stories, and an autobiography, Ami Keno Charal Likhi(Why I Write Charal). Her literary works provide accounts of the discrimination that she faced on the grounds of caste, while working in government service. She is also a recipient of the Sparrow Literary Award.

Dr. Md. Monirul Islam is Assistant Professor of English at Presidency University, Kolkata. He is keenly invested in different trajectories of posthumanist thought, but his special interest lies in exploring the interface between potshumanism and postcolonialism. When it comes to India, he is particularly interested in the issue of colonial anthropocentrism in the policy decisions of the post-colonial Indian governments and its implications for the human and non-human forms of life in the tribal areas.

Dr. Samrat Sengupta is an Associate Professorof the Dept. of English, Sidho-Kanho-Birsha University. His research interests include Experimental Bengali Literature. Gender studies, Post-structuralism, Memory Studies and Posthumanism. He has Guest edited a special issue of the International journal Sanglap on “Caste in Humanities”. His first Bengali monograph on Pratibader Pathokrom (Syllabi of Resistance) has been published in 2022. His co-edited volume on Bengali experimental writer Nabarun Bhattacharya titled Nabarun Bhattacharya: Aesthetics and Politics in a World after Ethics has been published from Bloomsbury.

Tamal Bandyopadhyay is one of the most notable contemporary Indian writers of Bengali fiction. He was born on the 12th July, 1978, in the suburban town Krishnanagar in Nadia district of West Bengal. He passed the Madhyamik Examination in 1994 from Krishnagar Collegiate School and obtained M.A. in English literature from University of Kalyani in 2001. From his graduation days he started writing short stories in Bengali, translating English stories into Bengali, and performing in the theatre. He was deeply influenced by the versatile Bengali scholar sudhir chakrabarty and poet and translator Swapan Baran Acharya who happens to be his maternal uncle. Cherishing a penchant for writing time-befitting prose narratives in his mother tongue, Bandyopadhyay has successfully established himself as a popular and critically acclaimed litterateur in the field of modern Bengali fiction. Psychological realism, the subtle nuances of the human personality, and the everyday, commonplace predicaments of the human condition remain the principal thematic concerns of his narratives. His short stories and novels are frequently published in such prestigious Bengali magazines and newspapers as Desh, Anandabazar Patrika, Anandamela, Sananda, and Anandalok. His novels, published as separate books, such as Compasswala, Uttarpurush, Ghatak, Marmamegh, Brahmani and Bhrantidaana, Pataljaal have received sound appreciation from both general readers and critics. His novel Mayakach published in the "Desh" magazine in 2011 earned him the prestigious ‘Barnaparichay Sahitya Samman’ 2011from Sambad Pratidin , for best writer of Bengali fiction of the year. He has also been awarded the ‘Sandipan Chattopadhyay Sammanana’, 2016 for Mayakach (ananda publishers), and ‘Somen Chanda Sammanana’ (by the Bangla Akademi)for his overall contribution to bengali short stories2017, and ‘Rokeya Sahitya Sammana’, 2018. Apart from novels he has authored more than fifty short stories several of which have been translated into different languages i.e English, wales, odiya, marathi, hindi, assamese etc. His short story "apadartho" (the worthless) has found place in the very prestigious 'anandabazar patrika centenary volume' where a great tradition of bengali short story writing starting from Bankimchanda chattopadhyay to Tamal Bandyopadhyay, has been celebrated. An avid reader of both Bengali and English literatures, Bandyopadhyay also takes deep interest in and spends his spare time with painting and music, especially, the songs of Rabindranath Tagore.

Adhir Biswas is one of the renowned names in Bengali and Indian Comparative Literature specialising in Partition, whose works are internationally recognised. Leaving his hometown in Bangladesh, he migrated to India in 1964 and struggled for sustenance. However, his ardent love for literature earned him a job recommendation from Shakti Chattopadhyay, followed by a position in Anandabazar Patrika. In 2005, Adhir Biswas became a distinct face for his extraordinary contribution in the field of Bengali and Partition Literature and for his newly formed publishing house, Gangchil.

Mousumi Mandal is an assistant professor at the Department of English in Presidency University, Kolkata. Her research is based on the historical figure of East Bengali migrant working woman in Post-Partition Calcutta focusing on the emergence of the working “bhadramahila”—a paradox in traditional understanding—following the Partition of Bengal. Her research interests border on understanding the gendered experience of partition, refugee women and laboring women, popular culture, popular religion, Sundarbans, performance studies, translation and folklore.

Uttam Kumar Biswas is an assistant professor at the Department of Bengali in Presidency University, Kolkata. His doctoral work is in the field of Drama with post-independent historical aspects. He has also worked on Modern Bengali Poetry and Fiction. His work Deshbhag o Samakalin Sankat : Bangla Chotogalpo is remarkable in the field of partition literature.

Anwesha Sengupta teaches history at the Institute of Development Studies Kolkata. Her research focuses on experiences of partition and decolonization in South Asia. She is also the coordinator of Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung South Asia funded project “Revisiting the Craft of History writing for children”. The purpose of this project is to produce history books for children in vernacular.

One of the most notable scholars on Graphic Narratives in Kolkata right now, Debanjana Nayek's research explores digital graphic narratives, with a focus on webcomics and the "infinite canvas" of cyberspace. Her extensive work probes into representation, identity, subcultural studies and the evolving culture of graphic storytelling in the digital sphere, drawing on her expertise in Digital Humanities, visual culture theory, and New Media studies. In addition to her scholarly writing, she has also incorporated comics within her pedagogy for a more practice-based research. For her, visual storytelling is not merely a research area but a medium of endless possibilities.

Pinaki De is a graphic illustrator-designer who regularly works for renowned publishers like Penguin Random House, Harper Collins, Hachette, Routledge, Primus, Oxford University Press, Singapore University Press (NUS), Bloomsbury, Orient Blackswan, Worldview, Pan Picador, Simon and Schuster, Permanent Black, Alchemy, Sage, Roli, Sahitya Academy, Rupa, and many others. He has designed almost 500 book covers to date. He is the winner of the PublishingNext prize for the best book cover design in India twice in 2017 and 2019. He won the prestigious Oxford Bookstore prize for the best cover design in India at Jaipur Literary Fest 2017 and finished runners-up in 2021. His layout design on Satyajit Ray's archival manuscripts has drawn accolades from all across the globe. A Charles Wallace Trust Fellow, his Ph.D. is on comics theory. Pinaki is one of the editors of the prestigious annual magazine "Longform" (Volume 1 and Volume 2, published by Harper Collins and Penguin respectively). He is the Indian comics advisor of Mangasia, the biggest-ever exhibition on Asian Comics curated by Paul Gravett for the Barbican, London. Pinaki juggles his creative work with academics as he has a day job as an Associate Professor at Raja Peary Mohan College, Uttarpara. Presently he is working on his book-length work on Partition.

Harsho Mohan Chattoraj is a graphic novelist and illustrator based in Kolkata, India. He has worked in the comics medium for 20 years, on individual projects and for clients in India, UK, Switzerland, Australia and the US. His recently published graphic novels include Ghosts of Kingdoms Past, Chakrapurer Chakkare, Operation Decay, Kolkata Kaleidoscope, Hyderabad Graphic Novel and Destiny Awakes. He has always been a fan of comics since he first dose of Asterix at the age of five. His favourite food is noodles, which reflects in his curvy lines of art.

Bob and Bobby, twin brothers from Kolkata, are filmmakers, animators and illustrators who love to weave stories and art out of things they see around them and things they don't. They have directed and animated the official music video Mask Kho Gaya composed by Vishal Bhardwaj and sung by Vishal Dadlani. They have made AD films for brands like Oral B, Redbull, HDFC and Linc. They have also designed and illustrated for P&G, Scholastic and Greater Than Gin. They are currently developing their animated series and writing their live action feature film.