Experts

Dhaka, Bangladesh
Target Language: Bengali, English

Sabiha Huq graduated from the University of Dhaka with a master's degree in English. She continued her studies and did her M.Phil. and her PhD at the University of Oslo, Norway. Since June 2013, she has been a Professor of English at Khulna University. The areas of her research and teaching interest are diverse, among others Ibsen and Modern Drama, Postcolonial Literatures with thrust on South Asian literature, Cultural Theory and Cultural Studies, Women’s Writings, and Translation and Comparative Literature. A long list of her publications mirror this varied range of interest and expertise, it includes numerous books, newspaper articles, reviews and interviews as well as several translations into Bangla.

Kolkata, India
Target Language: Bengali, English

Subhendu Sarkar graduated from the University of Calcutta with a PhD and currently works as Associate Professor of English at Ranaghat College, West Bengal. His research and writings, in both Bangla and English, focus on varied areas such as theatre (Badal Sircar and Bertolt Brecht), 19th-century liberalism in Bengal, Gandhism, Marxism, and Translation Studies. He has lectured in many institutes of higher learning. So far he has published three books and many articles in edited volumes and scholarly journals and has translated two plays of Badal Sircar into English (published by Oxford University Press).
 

Kolkata, India
Target Language: Bengali, English

After receiving his PhD in Cytogenetics and working in educational institutions, Dr. Tirthankar Chanda joined 'In Search of Children's Theatre', a project by theatre group Nandikar, Kolkata. Following that he has been working with children's theatre groups independently. He compiled his experiences in that field in his first publication on theatre and education, published in1998. As a playwright, he has received some prestigious awards. Around thirty of his plays have been performed by different groups in India and abroad. He has authored several articles on sociological aspects of theatre and has two published memoirs as well. As a co-author, he completed the translation of Paulo Freire's 'The Pedagogy of the Oppressed' in Bengali. Currently, he teaches 'History of Theatre' at the University of Calcutta.
 

Mumbai, India
Target Language: Hindi, English

Abhishek Majumdar is a playwright, director and scenographer. He is a visiting associate professor of arts at NYU Abu Dhabi and Artistic Director of Nalanda Arts Studio, Bangalore. While he writes in multiple languages, his works also have been translated into several European and Asian languages. The director with a versatile theatre approach has been rewarded with several prices and fellowships, such as Shankar Nag Rangakarmi Award and Inlaks Fellowship. Currently, he is working on a number of art projects including a film for NYUAD arts centre, a play for Playco New York and for Royal Court Theatre London, and he is writing a book for Bloomsbury London.
 

Mumbai, India
Target Language: Hindi, English

Ashok Mishra is a playwright, lyricist and screenwriter based in Mumbai. A graduate of the National School of Drama, New Delhi, he has written twelve and directed more than thirty plays. Some of his plays have been published and are performed by theatre groups all across the country. Apart from this, his credits as a playwright include popular plays like 'Stories in a song', 'One on one' and 'Mosambi Narangi'. Ashok Mishra is a two time National Film Award winner for best screenplay for 'Naseem' (1996) and 'Samar' (1999). He also won the Star Screen Award for best dialogues for 'Welcome to Sajjanpur' (2008).

Mumbai, India
Target Language: Marathi, Hindi and English

Irawati Karnik is a writer, playwright, screenwriter, translator, dramaturg and actor based out of Mumbai. She writes in Marathi, Hindi and English. Irawati began her theatre journey by working for the theatre group Awishkar. Since then, she has collaborated with several imminent theatre directors to create plays that have been performed across the country and abroad. An alumnus of Sir J.J. School of Fine Arts, Irawati has also worked towards Research and Documentation of Indian contemporary art. She is the Head of the Department for Dramaturgy at Drama School Mumbai. Irawati has received a number of awards, among others the Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar, the Vinod Doshi Fellowship, Maharashtra Sahitya Parishad Award, Zürcher Kantonalbank Patronage Prize, and Kalakiran Puraskar.


 

Kolhapur, India
Target Language: Marathi, English

Prof. Maya Pandit has been teaching English Language and Literature for more than forty years. Feminist Criticism, Translation Studies and Marathi Theatre have also been her special areas of research. She has published translations of more than 16 books written by internationally acclaimed authors, among which are English translations of autobiographies, Marathi and English translations of plays as well as various other forms of literary texts. Her original works include books such as Gopal Ganesh Agarkar, Adventures with Grammar and Compositions and the poetry collection Talkhali.
 

Chennai, India
Target Language: Tamil, English

Currently,

Gita Jayaraj is a PhD research scholar at the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at IIT-Madras. She graduated with an MPhil from the Centre of Linguistics and English, JNU, New Delhi. She has worked extensively in the fields of academic publishing and technical documentation. For the Asian College of Journalism she worked as a registrar. She is also an independent researcher, editor, and writer with a keen interest in ritual, theatre, society, culture and gender – it is this interest that has brought her back to continue with her research. Some of her writings can be read in various magazines.
 

Sri Lanka
Target Language: Tamil, English

Trained as a historian and lawyer Ponni Arasu has been associated, in myriad capacities, with numerous movements, institutions and networks that work on a range of social justice issues in India and Sri Lanka. Her work as a theatre practitioner is deeply connected to processes of enabling social critique and change. She is also an emerging translator from Tamil to English and vice versa, of poetry, academic prose and theatrical texts. Her performance experience is primarily in Tamil language theatre in Tamilnadu and Eastern Sri Lanka while she has also performed in English, Hindi and Kannada. She now lives in Batticaloa, Sri Lanka.
 

Mumbai, India
Target Language: Urdu, English

Asad Hussain is a writer based in Mumbai. He has written for feature films and television, and he is the author of the original plays 'Song of the Swan' and 'Naqqaash'. Asad's work has been supported by the prestigious MacDowell Fellowship and Writers Bloc, an international playwriting programme facilitated by the Royal Court Theatre, London. He has also been a mentor for the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) Screenwriter's Lab.

Mumbai, India
Target Language: Urdu, English

Mohammed Aslam Parvez has been the editor of the magazine Lokrajya (Urdu edition) for more than two decades. He has written several short stories and literary articles. He has translated into Urdu various short story books and plays written in Hindi, Marathi and Gujarati, including plays by Jayant Pawar. His extensive research on Urdu short story writer Sadat Hasan Manto has resulted in three books interpreting Manto's works. He has written many plays in Hindi and Gujarati, some of which have won multiple awards and had their showings on stage. Mohammed Aslam Parvez has also written dialogues for many short films.
 

Bakalkar is a trained microbiologist and lawyer. Her passion for art management made her give up a lucrative corporate career and join the performing arts industry. After completing a successful stint with one of the most dynamic theatre schools in India “The Drama School, Mumbai”, in 2016 she moved to Pondicherry to work with Indianostrum Theatre in Pondicherry. Currently she looks after producing, and their latest vertical Indianostrum Open Theatre School which was launched in March 2021. In the past she has worked with British Council, Goethe-Institut/ Max Mueller Bhavan, QTP Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. and Tata Literature Live! The Mumbai LitFest. In 2017, she travelled all around India as part of the screening panel to select five theatre productions which were presented in Prithvi Theatre in Mumbai for the youth theatre festival “Thespo” for its 19th edition.