An impressive lineup of Indian talents including writers, famous actors, chefs and doctors will mark their presence during the Sharjah International Book Fair 2015 (SIBF). The region’s cultural event of the year, will take place from November 4 -14 at the Expo Centre, witnessing the active participation of several award winning writers. These include Gurcharan Das, author, commentator and public intellectual whose book, “India Unbound” was described by the Guardian as a ‘quiet earthquake’. Another of his publications, “India Grows at Night: A liberal case for a strong state”, was on the Financial Times’ best books for 2013 and he writes a regular column for five Indian newspapers, including The Times of India, and contributes to Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, Foreign Affairs and the New York Times.Entrepreneur, business leader and bestselling author, Subroto Bagchi will be at the fair to talk about the Malayalam version of his book “The Elephant Catchers”. An interactive session will be led by Bagchi, who is the Co-Founder and Chairman of Mindtree, one of India’s most admired software services companies. He is also a member of the Governing Council of the Software Technology Parks of India and has won acclaim as India’s No.1 bestselling business author. In recognition of his contribution as a business leader and author, the Utkal University granted him the degree of Doctor of Literature.
Indian short story writer, T. Padmanabhan is considered one of the greatest short fiction writers in Malayalam language and he has written 162 stories. His stories have been translated in to many languages and he received the Vaylar Award, the Vallathol Award and Lalithambika Andharjanam Award. T Padmanabhan will be taking part in the Intellectual Program at the SIBF on Saturday 7 November in an interactive session called “Mukhamugham”.Durjoy Datta writes for television and films and is an Indian novelist and entrepreneur having co-founded the publishing house Grapevine India in June 2011. He is also the best-selling author of nine books and in 2009 was recognized as the young achiever by The Times of India. He is one of the highest selling Indian authors in fiction and will be talking about his inspiration to become a writer from an engineer and his upcoming projects on November 10.Malayalam poet, K. Satchidanandan has a doctorate in post-structuralist poetics and was Professor of English at Christ College, University of Calicut, and later the Chief Executive of the Akademi. He has won 21 awards for his literary contribution including Bharatiya Bhasha Parishad Award, Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award (4 times), Kumaran Asan Award, as well as the Knighthood of the Order of Merit from the Government of Italy and the Medallion of Friendship from the Government of Poland. K. Satchidanandan will be taking part in a poetry reading at the festival on 6 November.
Vairamuthu is a Tamil poet and lyricist and the only film lyricist in India, honored with the Presidential National Award for the Best Lyricist six times. He has written 36 books including with ‘Vaikarai Megangal’ (Clouds at Dawn) and ‘Moonram Ulagappor’ (Third World War). He received the prestigious Padma Sri Award and also received Padma Bhushan, the third highest civilian award in India as well as the Sahitya Akademi Award.Also appearing at SIBF is Sudha Murthy an Indian social worker and writer in Kannada and English languages. She is the chairperson of the Infosys Foundation and a member of public health care initiatives of the Gates Foundation. She has founded several orphanages, supported the movement to provide all Karnataka government schools with computer and library facilities, and established the 'The Murty Classical Library of India' at Harvard University.
India’s well known Chartered Accountant and Inspirational Speaker T. N. Manoharan will be at the fair, encouraging people to challenge their limitations instead of limiting their challenges. According to him, each one of us can unlock our potential and shape our future the way we aspire to have it. In 2009 Manoharan won the CNN-IBN "Indian of the Year" award in the business category and in 2010 was awarded the Padma Shri. He is currently the chairman of Canara Bank and was formerly the president of Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI). He has been a visiting faculty for Taxation at the Southern India Regional Council (SIRC) of ICAI and the Reserve Bank of India's staff college and has authored books on Taxation. As well as authors there are chefs, doctors and nutritionists taking part from India. Rujuta Diwekar is a Mumbai-based celebrity nutritionist and winner of the prestigious 'Nutrition award' from the Asian Institute of Gastroenterology (AIG). Diwekar was voted as among the 50 most powerful people in India by People magazine in 2012. She is the author of "Don't Lose your Mind, Lose Your Weight". Rujuta was India's first celebrity nutritionist with a celebrity clientele including industrialist Anil Ambani and Bollywood actors Kareena Kapoor, Karisma Kapoor, Anupam Kher, among others.
One of the finest actors in Indian cinema, Mohanlal will be speaking about his long career on the 9 November at the festival. Mohanlal has acted in over 300 Malayalam films and has also acted in Bollywood, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada films. He has won four Indian National Film Awards – two Best Actor Awards, one Special Jury Award, and one Award for Best Film as producer; along with six Kerala State Film Awards for Best Actor and eight Filmfare Awards for Best Actor. Dr. V. P. Gangadharan, a pioneering Medical Oncologist from Kerala and head of the medical and pediatric oncology department at hospitals in Kerala will be holding an interactive session with students on November 12. Dr. Gangadharan is the patron of the Cochin Cancer Society, which supports the poor and needy cancer patients. He is also among the directors of Alpha Pain Clinic working in the field of palliative care.
Mattanur Sankarankutty Marar is an Indian percussionists credited with taking Thayambaka, traditional percussion ensemble, to the world arena with his awe-inspiring performances. Mattanur will be giving a demonstration and meeting fans at the SIBF on November 6. Other writers, intellectuals and celebrities to be found at the fair include novelist and short story writer N S Madhavan who is a leading writer of contemporary Malayalam literature. Madhavan's novel, “Lanthanbatheriyile Luthiniyakal” was translated into English and published by Penguin Books under the title Litanies of Dutch Battery. It was selected for the Man Asian Literary Prize long list, and won the 2010 Vodafone Crossword Book Award.T D Ramakrishnan is one of the bestselling mystery novelists in Malayalam, receiving several awards including Basheer Award of Bhasha Institute. Poet and lyricist, Murukan Kattakada is well-known for his poem, “Kannada” and has written lyrics for many Malayalam films. Another poet and lyricist appearing at the fair is Engandiyoor Chandrasekharan who became famous through his song in the movie “Urumi”. He has written songs for various movies and received awards including Kumaranasan Smaraka Puraskaram.
Surgical Oncologist and Urologist, Dr.K Chitrathara is a reputed Cancer Surgeon and a brilliant academician specialized in Gynecological, Urological, and Breast Cancer Surgeries. Acclaimed as the first and only lady urologist in Kerala and first uro-gyneac oncology Surgeon, she was awarded the Fellowship of Assoc of Indian Surgeons (FAIS) in 2012. Dr. Daniel Babu Paul IAS, is a writer, orator, lexicographer and former member of the Indian Administrative Service who retired in the rank of a High Court Judge as the Ombudsman of Kerala.Author, public speaker and social entrepreneur, Srijan Pal Singh is an author on the subject of scientific careers for the youth. Indian film actor, director, script writer, distributor, editor, composer, singer and producer Balachandra Menon works in Malayalam cinema. He made a number of popular films in the 1980s and 1990s and won the National Film Award for Best Actor for his role as Ismail in the 1998 film Samaantharangal, which he also directed. Finally two well-known Indian chefs, Nita Mehta and Ummi Abdulla will be holding cooking demonstrations during the fair. For more details on these and many other celebrated guests, visit www.sibf.com