5 - 7 December 2019 , Thu - Sat.
GALF 2019 : Speakers | Programme | Partners | Performances | Artwork | Videos
Photo Gallery: Inaugural Day | Day 1 | Day 2
Tilak Devasher
Tilak Devasher is the author of three books on Pakistan: ‘Pakistan: Courting the Abyss’ (December 2016) that was termed ‘easily the best book on Pakistan’ by a noted Pakistani commentator – Khaled Ahmed; ‘Pakistan: At the Helm’ (July 2018). A Pakistani reviewer in Dawn termed it as ‘a book that any future leader of Pakistan ought to have by their bedside, simply because it is the sum of all that has gone before.’ The third book ‘Pakistan: The Balochistan Conundrum’ was published in July 2019.
Tilak retired as Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, Government of India in October 2014. He is currently a member of the National Security Advisory Board (NSAB) and also a Consultant with the Vivekananda International Foundation.
During his professional career Tilak served in J&K, Delhi and abroad. He specialized in security issues, especially pertaining to India’s neighbourhood. Post retirement, he has continued to take a keen interest in such issues with special focus on Pakistan.
Tilak has taken to writing after his superannuation. Apart from his books, he has written articles for a host of newspapers, magazines and think tank journals. He also appears regularly on TV talk shows.
Tilak is an alumnus of Mayo College, Ajmer and St. Stephen’s College, Delhi.
Naresh Fernandes
Naresh Fernandes is the author of Taj Mahal Foxtrot: The Story of Bombay's Jazz Age and City Adrift: A Short Biography of Bombay. He is the editor of Scroll.in, a digital news publication.
Samhita Arni
When she was eight, Samhita Arni started writing and illustrating her first book. The Mahabharata - A Child's View went on to be published in seven language editions and sell 50,000 copies worldwide. Samhita's second book, Sita's Ramayana, a graphic novel developed in collaboration with Patua artist Moyna Chitrakar, was on the New York Times Bestseller list for Graphic Novels. Her third book, The Missing Queen, has been published by Penguin (Viking) and Zubaan. Samhita's fourth book, The Prince, has been published by Juggernaut.
Dadu Mandrekar
Dadu Mandrekar is an Ambedkarite activist, writer, poet, photographer, journalist, and editor of two journals Prajasattak and Paryavaran. He has authored many books, including Bahishkrut Gomantak (a survey and study of Goan Dalits), Shapit Surya (a poetry collection), Satyacha Shodh (a study of the Buddha), Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar: Antarashtriya mahatva ani mahatmya (a study of Dr B R Ambedkar), Bharatiya Savidhan: Antarashtriya Prabhav ani Parinam (On the importance of the Indian Constitution) and two more poetry collections: Umbartha and Onjal Lavachi. His book Shapit Surya won the Goa Marathi Academy literary award, while Bahishkrut Gomantak won the Mahatma Phule ani Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Vichar Pracharak Sanstha literary award. He has won many other awards, for literary works, civil rights, and handicraft production as well, including the Namdeo Dhasal Kavya Puraskar for poetry, Sanvidhan Ratna Puraskar for work on the constitution, Goa Sudarop America award for civil rights, Norman Dantas award for transformative work in Goa, Samrat Ashoka Smriti Mahanayak award from the Mahanayak newspaper, and First Class Award in Handicrafts from the Directorate of Industries and Mines, Goa.
Ramita Gurav
Ramita Gurav is an associate professor at Xavier’s College, Mapusa, where she is teaching Hindi for more than 20 years now. She has also done her Ph.D. in Contemporary Hindi Theatre. She has presented papers on topics related to literature, theatre and media studies to various state, national and international seminars. She has done translations of Konkani poems, short stories and Marathi short stories in Hindi. She has also directed dramatizations of short stories of writer Premchand and poems by Gajanan Madhav Muktibodh.
Sushila Sawant Mendes
Sushila Sawant Mendes has a PhD in history from Goa University heads the Department of History at the Government College of Arts, Science and Commerce, Quepem (Goa). Her doctoral dissertation was on the impact of Luis de Menezes Braganza on Goa's anti-colonial struggle, and later became a book: Luis de Menezes Braganza: Nationalism, Secularism and Free-thought in Portuguese Goa (2014). She is currently working on a book on the history of Assolna, Velim, and Cuncolim. Sushila regularly presents papers at various seminars in India and abroad, many of which are included in books on Goa’s history. The Government of Goa has appointed her on the Expert Committee for revision of the Goa Gazetteer. The present Std. X history text of the Goa Board was finalized under her guidance as Chairperson. Mendes is a Trustee of the Manovikas Public Charitable Trust, and a Founder Trustee of Silver Star Appeal.
Stacy Rodrigues
Stacy Rodrigues resides in Margao Goa. She completed her education in music. Being visually impaired, she is an artist by profession for the past 6 years and as of now, she is a full-time yoga instructor & a spiritual counsellor. So far she has held 4 solo exhibitions and she has been part of a few group exhibitions in Goa. In the year 2012, on a small scale, she released her poem book entitled "reflections". Recently she has written her first novel "In Search Of" which was launched in the month of October 2019. In Search Of is a book about a visually impaired individual who dared to live a normal life. The experience that life put her through taught her the meaning of life and helped her find her true self.
Ibha Gupta
Ibha Gupta is a doctoral research scholar with the Dept. of English and an assistant professor in the Dept. of French, at Goa University. She specializes in the area of Crossover Fiction, Narratology and Dialogic Criticism. She has presented papers at universities like Jawaharlal Nehru University, Pondicherry University, and St. Aloysius, amongst others. Her paper on the construction of girlhood in the 21st century was published in the book Young Adult Literature: Issues and Trends. She also works with Goan Writing in English. Her paper on Lambert Mascarenhas has been published in a book titled Goa Matters in Lore and Letters: Writings of Land, Loss and Longing, and her paper on Mahabaleshwar Sail has been published in a book titled Probing Perspectives. She has completed a course on Literary Theory under Prof. Roland Greene (Stanford) and Prof. Galin Tihanov (Queen Mary) at Indian and Foreign Languages University. She is also a member of the NGO, Goa Heritage Action Group, and has previously organized talks and events on aspects of Goan Heritage.
Nupur Anand
Nupur Anand is a Mumbai-based journalist from Patna, Bihar. She completed her early education from Notre Dame Academy and St. Joseph’s Convent, Patna. Literature being her favourite subject in school, she actively participated and won several creative writing competitions. She studied English Honours at Miranda House, in Delhi University. Here, theatre struck a chord with her and she joined Anukriti the Hindi Dramatics Society as an actor and scriptwriter. During the three years in college, she and her team bagged over 60 awards. After post-graduation in Journalism from the Indian Institute of Journalism & New Media, Bengaluru, she worked at Bloomberg TV, where within six months, she became the key producer for the primetime news anchored by the channel's Editor-In-Chief. The shows produced by her were always amongst the top-rated shows of the channel. Eventually, she decided to shift gears and move to print journalism. She kicked off her career with The Economic Times, where she was a part of the team that launched India’s first personal finance newspaper, ET Wealth. Next, she joined DNA, where her stories regularly made front-page news, after which she moved to Business Standard in 2014. Currently, she is a writer with Quartz India. Mehboob Murderer is Nupur Anand’s debut work of fiction.
Omaid Sharifi
Omaid Sharifi is a patron of the arts, Co-Founder and President of ArtLords, Founder of Wartists and Rebel Group. Mr. Sharifi is a fellow with Atlantic Council, Asia Society and American Foreign Relations Council/Rumsfeld Fellowship. Mr. Sharifi started his career as a kid selling cookies and cigarettes in the streets of Kabul, he was part of the small team and aide to President of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan Mohammad Ashraf Ghani at Transition Coordination Commission and a Program Manager for Tawanmandi – a multi-million-dollar challenge fund for strengthening civil society in Afghanistan.
