DCSAACI

Shashi Tharoor

Sahitya Akademi Award, Member of Parliament, Chairman of the Standing Committee on Chemicals and Fertilizers, ex Under Secretary General at the United Nations, ex-Minister of State for External Affairs. Mr. Tharoor has published many Non-Fiction and Fiction books.

Sheela Murthy

Founder and president of the Murthy Law Firm, Sheela Murthy completed her Master of Laws from Harvard Law School, and has been admitted to practice as an attorney in New York, Maryland, and the U.S. Supreme Court. Located in Baltimore County, Maryland, her firm of approximately 100 professionals concentrates in the area of U.S. immigration law. Murthy practiced with major law firms in New York and Baltimore before launching her own firm in 1994, then known as the Law Office of Sheela Murthy.

Niharika Chibber Joe, Prize Winning Poet, Published Writer

is a United States civil servant. She is also a prize-winning published poet and short story writer. Niharika speaks several languages, but writes in English, and sometimes in Japanese or in Hindi. Most recently, her work has been published in In All the Spaces: Diverse Voices in Global Women’s Poetry (2020), Millennium Poesy (2021), Earth, Fire, Water, Wind (2021), Lockdown Prayers (2021), Paradise on Earth: An International Anthology (2021), the upcoming Ruptured anthology, and in the Setu Online Literary Journal. Niharika is a racial equity, social justice and climate warrior. She holds a B.A and M.A. in Japanese Language and Literature from the Jawaharlal Nehru University in India. She also holds an M.A. in International Relations from the Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, D.C.

Seema Sirohi, Author, Journalist

Seema Sirohi is currently based in Washington as a senior journalist specializing in foreign policy. She received her master's degree in journalism from the University of Kansas, Lawrence, and studied sociology at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. As a journalist, she has covered India–US relations for more than two decades for The Telegraph, Outlook and Anandabazar Patrika. She has reported from various nations around the globe, such as Italy, Israel and Pakistan, and published opinion pieces in The Los Angeles Times, The Christian Science Monitor and The Baltimore Sun. She was also a commentator with National Public Radio and has appeared on BBC and CNN. Her book, Sita's Curse: Stories of Dowry Victims, was published in 2003. Twitter: @seemasirohi

Prashant Jha, Senior Editor

Prashant Jha is the Washington DC-based senior editor of Hindustan Times. Jha has earlier served as the editor of HT Premium, editor-views, and national political editor of the paper. He is the author of How the BJP Wins: Inside India's Greatest Election Machine and Battles of the New Republic: A Contemporary History of Nepal.

Manoj Singh, Executive Director

Manoj, an IT Consultant, has always had a passion for the arts. He has acted in several prominent plays, including: Mere Bachhe, Jisne Lahore Nahi Dekhya woh Jamiya Nahi and A Tryst with Destiny. He is a member of Natya Bharati, the Actors Center, and Storytellers Short Film Club. In 2012, Manoj and his wife Geeta started Ceasar Productions – it has fast become DCs premier company for hosting South Asian TV Talk Show, Theatre, Music, Films and Book-Reading events. In 2018, we started Not for Profit 501 (c)(3) organization DC South Asian Arts Council Inc under which we now host the DC South Asian Film Festival and DC South Asian Literary Festival and soon to add more year round programming.

Dr. Meenakshi Mohan, Professor, Writer

Dr. Meenakshi Mohan is an educator, freelance writer, art critic, children’s writer, painter, and poet. She specializes in Early Childhood Leadership and Advocacy. She has published widely in this area and presented numerous papers and workshops. Some of her academic writings and books include Motivational Learning and Art Integrated Curriculum; What is Education; Art, The Emergence of Literacy and Motivation. Stanford University digitally houses her writings in its initiative of Life in Quarantine. She has been listed twice in the Who is Who Among American Teachers. She authored two children’s picture books, The Rainbow in My Room and The Gift, and edited Tamam Shud, poems of Kshitij Mohan. She recently had a solo exhibit of her paintings in Potomac, Maryland. She is currently on the Montgomery County Library System’s Advisory Committee in its Potomac, Maryland branch. She is on the Editorial Team for Inquiry in Education, a peer-reviewed journal published by National Louis University, Chicago, Illinois.

Gopal Lahiri, Poet, Critic, Editor, Writer, Translator

Gopal Lahiri is a bilingual poet, critic, editor, writer, and translator with 29 books published, (10 books in Bengali and 19 books in English) including six solo/jointly edited books and two joint books. His poetry and prose are published across more than 50 anthologies as well as in eminent journals of India and abroad. His poems are translated in 16 languages and published in 12 countries. He has been nominated for Pushcart Prize for poetry in 2021. He is the recipient of the Poet of the Year Award in Destiny Poets, UK, 2016. Recipient of Setu Excellence Award, 2020, Pittsburgh, US. Recipient of Indology Life-Time Achievement award, West Bengal, India.

Shirish Nene, Director Curator/Moderator/Jury

Shirish Néné has served on the jury of the DC South Asian Film Festival every year since 2016, and can regularly be seen at this and other film festivals in the larger metropolitan area. A brief training period with noted Indian dramatist Badal Sircar, started a love for the visual and auditory story telling arts spanning almost forty years, and expanded from the stage to large and small screens. This passion is a family affair today, finding expression in audition workshops with his daughter an LA based actress, and film-making with a son training to be a film director in Virginia. Most recently he and his wife have joined DC Storytellers a dedicated band of moviemakers in the DC metro area.

Raza Mir, Author, Professor

Raza Mir teaches management at William Paterson University in New Jersey, and holds a PhD in Management from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. His most recent book is "Iqbal: poet of the East" (Penguin, 2022).

Krishna Gubili, Author, Consultant

Krishna Gubili is a data science consultant, based in Easton, PA. His debut book "Viriah" is about his lifelong search for his ancestor, who was one of the 1.3 million Indians sent as indentured labourers to sugarcane plantations in South Africa, Caribbean, Mauritius and Fiji between 1820 and 1920.

Himank Pande, Program Manager

Himank Pande, Himank, is a Technical Program Manager at Amazon with an incredible passion for arts & culture. He is part of the Amazon Leadership team who is responsible for productivity, engagement & team collaboration at Amazon. Associated with the theatre group Yugmanch, Nainital, India, he is a strong proponent of the Kumaoni culture of Uttarakhand (Himalayan Hill State). He has acted in different plays at college level like “Jinne Lahore Nai Vekhya O Jamiya Nai” by Asghar Wajahat and “The man who married a dumb wife” by Anatole France & has been a part of amateur rock bands. His interests include fusing folk music with modern rock, acting, singing & sound engineering. As a volunteer with DCSAACI, Himank is helping with program management, events coordination for DCSAACI at Amazon & its technical support.

Arundhathi Subramaniam, Author, Poet

Described as "one of the finest poets writing in India today" (The Hindu, 2010), and as a "unique poet of our times in a league all by herself" (Indian Literature, 2020), Arundhathi Subramaniam is a leading Indian poet. and writer on the sacred. She is the author of thirteen books of poetry and prose, most recently, the poetry volume, Love Without a Story. Some other works include the well-loved Penguin Bhakti poetry anthology, Eating God; and the bestselling Penguin biography of a contemporary mystic, Sadhguru: More Than a Life. She is the recipient of the Sahitya Akademi Award 2020 (conferred by India’s apex academy of letters), the inaugural Khushwant Singh Prize, the Raza Award for Poetry, the Il Ceppo Award in Italy, the Mystic Kalinga Award, the Zee Women's Award for Literature, and the Homi Bhabha and Charles Wallace fellowships, among others. Her book, When God is a Traveller, was the Season's Choice of the Poetry Book Society, shortlisted for the TS Eliot Prize. Review Excerpts '...a breathtaking and heartwarming book.'-- Poetry Book Society Bulletin, UK 'a unique poet of our times...in a league all by herself.' - Indian Literature ‘The language and imagery in Subramaniam's poetry fairly sizzles...Her approach is always elliptical, ambushing both reader and the subject she is tackling....... it occurred to me that these were the best poetry volumes I have read in half a decade....' - - Keki Daruwalla, The Indian Express ‘One of India’s finest lyric poets offers her signature combination of finesse and largesse...’ - The Wire ‘A tall and elegant collection from a rigorous craftswoman.’ The Hindu

Shruthi Mukund, Curator, Consultant, Speaker

Shruthi Mukund brings more than 20 years of experience in arts programming, research, special events, and grassroots methods together with an equity lens to inform her work in socially accountable community engagement. She has a Master’s in arts management from American University. Shruthi is currently the Director of Community Engagement at Olney Theatre. She runs the Indian Dance Educators Association a volunteer service organization supporting Indian classical dancers, schools, and companies. As a curator, consultant, and speaker, she creates dynamic experiences through arts programming and uses her extensive network to build community and cross-cultural bridges strategically. She has shared her knowledge and experience on many panels and presentations. She sits on grant panels regularly to lend a diverse viewpoint and mentors emerging arts administrators, especially women of color.

Niharika Kalkeri, Intern - Marketing & Administration Coordinator

Niharika Kalkeri is a freshman in college. She is pursuing her passion in computer science and marketing. She is a marketing and admin assistant for DCSAFF. She enjoys the arts and wants to apply her computer science skills to help DCSAFF reach the masses effectively.

Soma Bose, Writer, Storyteller

Soma Bose is a creative writer and visual storyteller. Her affinity for storytelling inspires her to find stories behind the most mundane aspects of life. This talent has led to her website SomTales.com, where she weaves thought-provoking tales around photographs. Soma’s experience of growing up in the coal-mining town of Dhanbad in Jharkhand, India motivates her to write human-centric stories. She started out as a businesswoman, transitioned to the role of a proud homemaker, and is now a writer. This is her first book. As with all her creative work, with this book too, Soma explores subtle and intricate emotions, hoping that her readers appreciate women’s lives and contributions in all their richly varied forms.

Rajiv Paul, Director Web Services

Rajiv is a full time Management Consultant helping organizations with their Digital Transformation. He manages Apni Community web services for South Asian businesses and events. In addition he is passionate about acting and acted in theaters and movies and also is a Radio Jockey, he does his Suno Audio radio shows every weekend. He has been an active volunteer for the DC South Asian Film Festival that is held every year in the Washington DC area.

Shirish Nene, Director Curator/Moderator/Jury

Shirish Néné has served on the jury of the DC South Asian Film Festival every year since 2016, and can regularly be seen at this and other film festivals in the larger metropolitan area. A brief training period with noted Indian dramatist Badal Sircar, started a love for the visual and auditory story telling arts spanning almost forty years, and expanded from the stage to large and small screens. This passion is a family affair today, finding expression in audition workshops with his daughter an LA based actress, and film-making with a son training to be a film director in Virginia. Most recently he and his wife have joined DC Storytellers a dedicated band of moviemakers in the DC metro area.

Dr. Anita Nahal, Ph.D. CDP, Professor and Author, Faculty, University of the District of Columbia, Washington DC

Anita Nahal, Ph.D., CDP, is a Pushcart Prize-nominated Indian American author and academic. She has four books of poetry, one of flash fiction, four for children, and five edited anthologies to her credit. Her third book of poetry, What’s wrong with us Kali women? (Kelsay, 2021), was nominated by Cyril Dabydeen, Guyanese Indian Canadian, Ottawa poet laureate emeritus, and novelist as the best poetry book in 2021 for Ars Notoria. It’s also mandatory reading in an elective course on multicultural societies at Utrecht University, the Netherlands. Anita is the chair of the Poetry Society of Virginia’s newsletter and secretary of the Montgomery County chapter, Maryland Writers’ Association. Currently, Anita teaches at the University of the District of Columbia, Washington, DC. More on her at: www.anitanahal.com

Meera Narasimhan, Actress

Meera has been performing in theater/films for four decades in India and in the USA. She is actively involved in supporting film festival logistics. She has acted in many community theater productions, in professional plays and in the DC cap-fringe festival in the DC-metro area for over thirty years. She has also acted in numerous feature films, short films, commercials, industrials, and in shows on NBC, HBO, FOX, TV pilots, and in a music video. Meera hosts monthly TV show “Potluck” on FPA/DC-NoVA. Hobbies include collecting degrees (JD, 2xMAs, BS) and careers (medical, educational, journalistic, legal, and acting).

Dr. Basudhara Roy, Professor, Writer, Author

Dr. Basudhara Roy teaches English at Karim City College affiliated to Kolhan University, Chaibasa. Her latest (third) collection of poems is Inhabiting (Authorspress, 2022) that closely follows Stitching a Home (Red River, 2021) and Moon in My Teacup (Writer’s Workshop, 2019). Her latest poetry is featured in EPW, The Pinecone Review, Live Wire, Lucy Writers’ Platform, The Woman Inc., Madras Courier, Berfrois, Yearbook of Indian English Poetry 2020-2021, The Aleph Review, and Setu among others. Drawn to feminist and ecological ideas, she loves, rebels, writes and reviews from Jamshedpur, Jharkhand, India.

Dr. Anita Nahal, Ph.D. CDP, Professor and Author, Faculty, University of the District of Columbia, Washington DC

Anita Nahal, Ph.D., CDP, is a Pushcart Prize-nominated Indian American author and academic. She has four books of poetry, one of flash fiction, four for children, and five edited anthologies to her credit. Her third book of poetry, What’s wrong with us Kali women? (Kelsay, 2021), was nominated by Cyril Dabydeen, Guyanese Indian Canadian, Ottawa poet laureate emeritus, and novelist as the best poetry book in 2021 for Ars Notoria. It’s also mandatory reading in an elective course on multicultural societies at Utrecht University, the Netherlands. Anita is the chair of the Poetry Society of Virginia’s newsletter and secretary of the Montgomery County chapter, Maryland Writers’ Association. Currently, Anita teaches at the University of the District of Columbia, Washington, DC. More on her at: www.anitanahal.com

Snigdha Somani, Writer

Snigdha Somani is a recent graduate from Roanoke College where she graduated with a B.B.A through the Honors Program. She is a freelance writer and specializes in search engine optimization based technical writing. She grew up reading authors like Enid Blyton & Ruskin Bond, and has developed a recent love for authors such as Harlan Coben, Durjoy Dutta and Marie Lu.

Monica Bhide, Author, Coach, Educator

Equal parts storyteller and globe-trotter, Monica Saigal Bhide, an award-winning author, accomplished literary coach, and educator with over 15 years of experience, transcends countless borders—chronological, geographical, religious, and economical—to inspire her readers. Born in New Delhi, raised in the Middle East, and now residing outside Washington, D.C., she currently serves as a corporate storyteller for one of the world’s leading professional services companies. Her prolific portfolio, enriched by the many places she calls home, channels a distinctly cosmopolitan worldview.

Neerja Tripathi, Blogger, Podcaster, Author

Neerja Tripathi is a blogger, podcaster, and author of a book of poetry. She holds a master's degree in History and is currently based in Maryland, USA, where she lives with her husband. Neerja has a podcast named "Slice Of History," where she shares stories and insights about different historical events and personalities. She has been active in the online space for some time, creating content on various topics related to her interests, including history, culture, and social issues. In 2017, she published her book of hindi poetry.

Shirish Nene, Director Curator/Moderator/Jury

Shirish Néné has served on the jury of the DC South Asian Film Festival every year since 2016, and can regularly be seen at this and other film festivals in the larger metropolitan area. A brief training period with noted Indian dramatist Badal Sircar, started a love for the visual and auditory story telling arts spanning almost forty years, and expanded from the stage to large and small screens. This passion is a family affair today, finding expression in audition workshops with his daughter an LA based actress, and film-making with a son training to be a film director in Virginia. Most recently he and his wife have joined DC Storytellers a dedicated band of moviemakers in the DC metro area.

Neema Nene

Neema Néné is a multifaceted professional based out of the Washington DC Metro area for over thirty five years. Her passion for the arts blended with deep roots in the Indian culture has consistently driven her, even as she navigated a successful career in defense technology and built a nationwide portfolio of real estate investments. She firmly believes that a strong foundation in the arts and cultural activities is essential for the development of young minds. Neema was instrumental in establishing a platform for children to actively participate in Marathi cultural activities from dance, and drama to music. She has always held cinema as an entertainment and educational medium close to her heart and thrives on the team building and collaboration essential to this medium. She has studied the art of making short films under Samar Nakhate, the former Dean of India’s prestigious Film and Television Institute and with world acclaimed director Umesh Kulkarni. Neema leverages this passion to further the cause of the DC South Asian Arts Council which through its Literary, Music, and Film Festivals champions the cause of South Asian artists.

Dr. Ali Madeeh Hashmi, Psychiatrist, Teacher, Writer

Dr. Ali Madeeh Hashmi is a psychiatrist, teacher, and writer. He is a graduate of King Edward Medical College, Lahore and completed his psychiatry training at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. He practiced and taught Psychiatry in the USA for 12 years. He is currently a Tenured Professor of Psychiatry at King Edward Medical University and Professor of Psychiatry at Punjab Institute of Mental Health, Pakistan's largest psychiatric hospital. He has served in leadership roles in both the USA and Pakistan. In the USA, he was Medical Director of the largest community mental health system in the state of Arkansas for 10 years. He was also on the faculty of two medical colleges in the USA and received multiple awards for his teaching. Dr. Hashmi has authored or co-authored over 60 internationally indexed publications in national and international scientific journals as well as numerous book chapters on his areas of interest in psychiatry. In addition to his professional activities, Dr. Hashmi is the author of five books on poetry and literature including the first (and only) biography of his grandfather, the celebrated poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz published in 2016. His essays about mental health, literature, poetry, and history have been published in scientific journals, magazines, newspapers and literary journals in Pakistan, India and the United States. His writings have been published in The News on Sunday, the daily Dawn, Daily Times, Friday Times, and many other publications. He is a Trustee of the Faiz Foundation Trust, Pakistan, and President of Faiz Foundation Inc. USA.

Surinder Deol

Surinder Deol is an author and a literary translator who has published Sahir’s biography titled SAHIR: A Literary Portrait (Oxford University Press, 2019). Working with India’s leading Urdu scholar, Professor Gopi Chand Narang, Surinder has published translations of Urdu poets such as Ghalib and Mir Taqi Mir and several others. Surinder published a book of poems called A Moment In The Universe in 2006 and a novel titled Endless Life in 2012. His book on poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz titled FAIZ: From Passionate Love To A Cosmic Vision (Rupa 2021) has just been published. About his association with Sahir, Surinder says, “I got to know Sahir’s poetry when I was a freshman in college, and his words left a deep impression on my mind. Because of Sahir, I decided to learn the Urdu language which has been a great pleasure of my life. Embracing Sahir’s vision for a better future, I worked hard on charting a course of my own life. His 100th anniversary is an occasion for me to not only reflect on Sahir’s journey but also my own.”

Sohaib

Harish Naval, Author, Professor, Editor

Dr. Harish Naval is a retired professor of Hindi literature at Hindu College, University of Delhi, and he was the head of the department of Hindi. Mr. Naval has authored several Hindi books, articles and screenplays for television. He also works with the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, under the Ministry of External Affairs (Government of India) as chief editor of the international literary journal Gaganachal. He has authored 26 books, all of them in Hindi. Has been the literary adviser (Hindi) to the India Today magazine and served as a consultant for Hindi Programming on the NDTV news channel. Visiting speaker at Sofia University, Bulgaria, and Tokyo University and Osaka University, Japan. Harish Naval has been awarded more than 12 National Level Literary Prizes including the Yuva Jnanpeeth Prize, Govt of India's ‘Gobind Ballabh Pant Prize’, Sahitya Kala Parishad Puruskar, Vyangy Shri Samman, and ‘Urvashi Puruskar. He has been felicitated in Washington by Antar Rashtriya Hindi Samiti Chapter, by ‘Arya Samaj New York USA, and Hindi Speaking Union Mauritius. Naval has represented India as a Hindi author in international literary seminars and cultural trips to 46 countries.

Arindam Ghosh, Arindam Ghosh

Arindam is Artistic Director of Ebong Theatrix, a South Asian theater company which I co-founded in 2014. He received formal training in theater from Jadavpur University, India. He continued my interest in theater after immigrating to the U.S. and have been an active member of the South Asian theater community in Boston and the DC-area for the last fifteen years. He has performed at numerous theater festivals all over the US and in India including the Nadikar Theater festival at Academy of Fine Arts, Kolkata. In addition to theater, he also filmmaker specializing in micro-budget films on Indian stories with global themes. His first film, Shyamal Uncle Turns off the Lights, which he produced, was world premiered in Busan International Film Festival and in the U.S., it was premiered at the Museum of Modern Arts in NY. It has been shown in more than twenty-five film festivals winning the prize for Outstanding International Feature at ReelWorld Film Festival. It is available on Amazon Prime. My second film, Peace Haven, which he co-wrote and co-produced, won the prestigious Script Development Award from the Asian Cinema Fund was on Netflix. His acting credits include “Once Upon a Time in Calcutta”, which is was world premiere at the Venice International Film Festival, 2021.

Sushil Rattan, Director

Sushil Rattan is an avid theater enthusiast, having been involved with it for the past 45 years. He recently directed, and acted in, a play, “The12” based on Ranjit Kapoor’s “Ek Ruka Hua Faisla”. He also re-wrote the dialogues of the play. He has been one of the most active community theater performers in the DMV area since 2011. He has performed at prestigious venues like the National School of Drama in New Delhi, Bharat Bhawan in Bhopal, Kala Mandir in Kolkata, Ranga Shankara in Bengaluru, and Shakespeare Theater in Washington DC Delhi. In addition, he has performed in Allahabad, New York, Delaware, Dallas, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Vancouver BC. Sushil Rattan is also a well-known Gastroenterologist & Hepatologist in a busy private practice in Maryland.

Manoj Tiwari, Director

Manoj, an avid performing artist who loves the camera, stage, a basement, or a street corner, any place to show his artistry thru his voice, acting skill, or directorial creativity that he has proven over and over from early childhood to his current post-retirement life. His lifelong passion and dream of living a nomadic lifestyle on a stage, in front of a camera, or behind a camera have become a reality in the last couple of years. Manoj has acted in several Hindi and English community theater-organized plays and has done voice-over and films from short to feature films, all as a passionate actor and director. Manoj’s films have played in many domestic and international film festivals, as well as his plays in front of the audience in several US cities from Washington, DC to LA and Canada. Manoj loves challenging opportunities, as a team player, or as a leader, as the situation demands. Stage and films both provide ample opportunities for challenges as well as the creative outlet that every human mind craves but doesn't get the opportunity.

Rajiv Paul, Director Web Services

Rajiv is a full time Management Consultant helping organizations with their Digital Transformation. He manages Apni Community web services for South Asian businesses and events. In addition he is passionate about acting and acted in theaters and movies and also is a Radio Jockey, he does his Suno Audio radio shows every weekend. He has been an active volunteer for the DC South Asian Film Festival that is held every year in the Washington DC area.

Sara Chansarkar, Author, Writer

Sara Siddiqui Chansarkar is an Indian American writer. Born to a middle-class family in India, she later migrated to the USA with her husband and son. A technologist by profession and a writer by passion, her short fiction has been published widely in journals and anthologies including Best Small Fictions 2022. She won first place in the ELJ Micro Creative Non-Fiction Prize, placed second in the Larry Brown Short Story Award, and is the runner-up for the Chestnut Review Chapbook Contest. She is currently a Fiction Editor at SmokeLong Quarterly. Her first book is a short story collection titled Morsels of Purple, and her second is a novella titled Skin Over Milk.

Meera Narasimhan, Actress

Meera has been performing in theater/films for four decades in India and in the USA. She is actively involved in supporting film festival logistics. She has acted in many community theater productions, in professional plays and in the DC cap-fringe festival in the DC-metro area for over thirty years. She has also acted in numerous feature films, short films, commercials, industrials, and in shows on NBC, HBO, FOX, TV pilots, and in a music video. Meera hosts monthly TV show “Potluck” on FPA/DC-NoVA. Hobbies include collecting degrees (JD, 2xMAs, BS) and careers (medical, educational, journalistic, legal, and acting).

Neerja Tripathi, Blogger, Podcaster, Author

Neerja Tripathi is a blogger, podcaster, and author of a book of poetry. She holds a master's degree in History and is currently based in Maryland, USA, where she lives with her husband. Neerja has a podcast named "Slice Of History," where she shares stories and insights about different historical events and personalities. She has been active in the online space for some time, creating content on various topics related to her interests, including history, culture, and social issues. In 2017, she published her book of hindi poetry.

Sunanda Mehta, Author, Editor

Sunanda Mehta is the former Resident Editor of The Indian Express, Pune. With over 25 years of experience in journalism, she was also the first woman editor of a national daily in the city. Sunanda has written for various publications like Hindustan Times, Savvy, Society, Mumbai Mirror, Health & Nutrition, Saveur-a US magazine,  amongst others. A visiting faculty at the Savitribai Phule Pune University, she is a Chevening fellow, has presented a paper at Warwick University in the UK on the portrayal of women in Indian television and featured in an award winning documentary made by a US television team on the changing face of India. One of her articles on Restorative Justice was recently made into a television film `Rubaru Roshini’ produced by actor Aamir Khan. Her first book `The Extraordinary Life And Death Of Sunanda Pushkar’ published by Pan Macmillan has received rave reviews since its release in July 2019 and was also long-listed for the Atta Galatta award for non-fiction and Author award for best debut author. Her latest book Majestic Musings is a translation of the anthology Badshaian, penned in Gurmukhi by her great grandfather the renowned Punjabi poet, writer and journalist Charan Singh. The poems are notable for their simplicity of expression, and a penetrating insight that cuts through artifice and foibles to the underlying human condition.

Shirish Nene, Director Curator/Moderator/Jury

Shirish Néné has served on the jury of the DC South Asian Film Festival every year since 2016, and can regularly be seen at this and other film festivals in the larger metropolitan area. A brief training period with noted Indian dramatist Badal Sircar, started a love for the visual and auditory story telling arts spanning almost forty years, and expanded from the stage to large and small screens. This passion is a family affair today, finding expression in audition workshops with his daughter an LA based actress, and film-making with a son training to be a film director in Virginia. Most recently he and his wife have joined DC Storytellers a dedicated band of moviemakers in the DC metro area.

Swati Chaturvedi, Founder. Author. Community Builder

Swati’s mission is to inspire joy, empower individuals and bring people together via the vehicle of Indian dance. She is the founder of Community Bollywood Dance Project (est. 2009). Taking a culturally-informed approach, Swati showcases Indian culture and celebrates diversity. She has collaborated with organizations such as Musicopia, The Cancer Support Community of Greater Philadelphia, Nationalities Service Center, The Alzheimer’s Association - Delaware Valley Chapter, The Asian Arts Initiative, Gershman Philadelphia Jewish Film Festival, and The Mainline Indian Association (PA), among many others. Swati is a two-time author-contributor to the “88+ Ways Music Can Change Your Life” books, sharing her profound experience working with ‘Royer Greaves School for the Blind’ during the Pandemic.

Dr. Meenakshi Mohan, Professor, Writer

Dr. Meenakshi Mohan is an educator, freelance writer, art critic, children’s writer, painter, and poet. She specializes in Early Childhood Leadership and Advocacy. She has published widely in this area and presented numerous papers and workshops. Some of her academic writings and books include Motivational Learning and Art Integrated Curriculum; What is Education; Art, The Emergence of Literacy and Motivation. Stanford University digitally houses her writings in its initiative of Life in Quarantine. She has been listed twice in the Who is Who Among American Teachers. She authored two children’s picture books, The Rainbow in My Room and The Gift, and edited Tamam Shud, poems of Kshitij Mohan. She recently had a solo exhibit of her paintings in Potomac, Maryland. She is currently on the Montgomery County Library System’s Advisory Committee in its Potomac, Maryland branch. She is on the Editorial Team for Inquiry in Education, a peer-reviewed journal published by National Louis University, Chicago, Illinois.

Dr. Basudhara Roy, Professor, Writer, Author

Dr. Basudhara Roy teaches English at Karim City College affiliated to Kolhan University, Chaibasa. Her latest (third) collection of poems is Inhabiting (Authorspress, 2022) that closely follows Stitching a Home (Red River, 2021) and Moon in My Teacup (Writer’s Workshop, 2019). Her latest poetry is featured in EPW, The Pinecone Review, Live Wire, Lucy Writers’ Platform, The Woman Inc., Madras Courier, Berfrois, Yearbook of Indian English Poetry 2020-2021, The Aleph Review, and Setu among others. Drawn to feminist and ecological ideas, she loves, rebels, writes and reviews from Jamshedpur, Jharkhand, India.

Neerja Tripathi, Blogger, Podcaster, Author

Neerja Tripathi is a blogger, podcaster, and author of a book of poetry. She holds a master's degree in History and is currently based in Maryland, USA, where she lives with her husband. Neerja has a podcast named "Slice Of History," where she shares stories and insights about different historical events and personalities. She has been active in the online space for some time, creating content on various topics related to her interests, including history, culture, and social issues. In 2017, she published her book of hindi poetry.

Narendra Chauhan, Author

Narendra Chauhan is a practicing Advocate at the High Court of Judicature at Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, India. He travels to other courts to represent his clients. He is pharmaceutical enthusiast, having spend many years in the industry. He has coined the word “Glycomet” when associated with the company and which is now one of the highest selling antibiotics and now has a turnover of $4 Billion dollars. The author also takes interest in “Transactional Analysis” in various fields and has lectured on the subject. Currently he is writing a book on partition of India and feelings of the people during the period from 1930 to the present day. He hopes to complete the book soon.

Dr. Sanjeev Singhal, Psychiatrist

Sanjeev graduated from Maulana Azad Medical College in New Delhi and finished his Residency from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. He has been practicing outpatient psychiatry for over 20 years. Major part of his career has been as Medical Director for Behavioral Health Partners of Frederick (a division of Sheppard Pratt health systems and Frederick Memorial Hospital). Now he is in a solo Private Practice.

Swati Chaturvedi, Founder. Author. Community Builder

Swati’s mission is to inspire joy, empower individuals and bring people together via the vehicle of Indian dance. She is the founder of Community Bollywood Dance Project (est. 2009). Taking a culturally-informed approach, Swati showcases Indian culture and celebrates diversity. She has collaborated with organizations such as Musicopia, The Cancer Support Community of Greater Philadelphia, Nationalities Service Center, The Alzheimer’s Association - Delaware Valley Chapter, The Asian Arts Initiative, Gershman Philadelphia Jewish Film Festival, and The Mainline Indian Association (PA), among many others. Swati is a two-time author-contributor to the “88+ Ways Music Can Change Your Life” books, sharing her profound experience working with ‘Royer Greaves School for the Blind’ during the Pandemic.

Sunayana Kachroo Bhide, Poet, Film Writer, Lyricist

Sunayana Kachroo is an award-winning Poet, Filmwriter, Producer, Lyricist, and a Columnist. Her oeuvre has been vast and impressive, encompassing Poetry, Films, collaboration with other artist including musicians, dancers, and poets. She has written for various award-winning movies, which have been screened at many prestigious film festivals like Cannes, MAMI and Austin Film Festival. Sunayana expresses herself through diverse styles of writing in English, Hindi, and Kashmiri language. She continues to explore various themes ranging from Love, Home, Loss, Nature, Mythology, Healing, Women’s empowerment, Prejudices and much more. Sunayana has performed across the world through Poetry shows and recitations. She engages the audience with her unique style of expressing poems as compelling visual images, laced with observations and anecdotes.”

Lopa Banerjee, Author, Poet, Translator, Editor

Lopamudra Banerjee is an author, poet, translator, editor with eight books and five anthologies. in fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. She has received the Journey Awards (First Place category winner) for her memoir ‘Thwarted Escape: An Immigrant’s Wayward Journey,’ the International Reuel Prize for Poetry (2017) and other honors. Her poetry has been published in renowned. platforms including ‘Life in Quarantine’, the Digital Humanities Archive of Stanford University. She has been a Featured Poet at Rice University, Houston in November 2019. ‘Bakul Katha: Tale of the Emancipated Woman’, her English translation of Ashapurna Devi’s award-winning Bengali novel has received Honorable Mention at London Book Festival. Her poetry collection ‘We Are What We Are: Primal Songs of Ethnicity, Gender & Identity’ (2022) is a collaboration. with Mexican American poet Priscilla Rice.

Himank Pande, Program Manager

Himank Pande, Himank, is a Technical Program Manager at Amazon with an incredible passion for arts & culture. He is part of the Amazon Leadership team who is responsible for productivity, engagement & team collaboration at Amazon. Associated with the theatre group Yugmanch, Nainital, India, he is a strong proponent of the Kumaoni culture of Uttarakhand (Himalayan Hill State). He has acted in different plays at college level like “Jinne Lahore Nai Vekhya O Jamiya Nai” by Asghar Wajahat and “The man who married a dumb wife” by Anatole France & has been a part of amateur rock bands. His interests include fusing folk music with modern rock, acting, singing & sound engineering. As a volunteer with DCSAACI, Himank is helping with program management, events coordination for DCSAACI at Amazon & its technical support.

Dr. Rakhshanda Jalil, Writer, Critic, Literary Historian

Rakhshanda Jalil is an Indian writer, critic, and literary historian. She is known for her book on Delhi's lesser-known monuments called Invisible City: The hidden Monuments of India and a well-received collection of short stories, called Release & Other Stories (HarperCollins). Her PhD on the Progressive Writers' Movement as Reflected in Urdu Literature has been published by Oxford University Press as Liking Progress, Loving Change. Jalil runs an organization called Hindustani Awaaz, devoted to the popularization of Hindi-Urdu literature and culture. Jalil graduated from Miranda house, Delhi University in 1986. She started her career as a lecturer in Khalsa College. After that she worked at Aligarh Muslim University as lecturer, editorial assistant at Tata McGraw-Hill Book Publishing Company, sub-editor in the Publications Division of the India International Centre, assistant editor in the Publications Division of the India International Center. She later joined Jamia Millia Islamia and worked there as director of the outreach program.

Dr. A. Abdullah

Uday Kamath

Niharika Chibber Joe, Prize Winning Poet, Published Writer

is a United States civil servant. She is also a prize-winning published poet and short story writer. Niharika speaks several languages, but writes in English, and sometimes in Japanese or in Hindi. Most recently, her work has been published in In All the Spaces: Diverse Voices in Global Women’s Poetry (2020), Millennium Poesy (2021), Earth, Fire, Water, Wind (2021), Lockdown Prayers (2021), Paradise on Earth: An International Anthology (2021), the upcoming Ruptured anthology, and in the Setu Online Literary Journal. Niharika is a racial equity, social justice and climate warrior. She holds a B.A and M.A. in Japanese Language and Literature from the Jawaharlal Nehru University in India. She also holds an M.A. in International Relations from the Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, D.C.

Swati Chaturvedi, Founder. Author. Community Builder

Swati’s mission is to inspire joy, empower individuals and bring people together via the vehicle of Indian dance. She is the founder of Community Bollywood Dance Project (est. 2009). Taking a culturally-informed approach, Swati showcases Indian culture and celebrates diversity. She has collaborated with organizations such as Musicopia, The Cancer Support Community of Greater Philadelphia, Nationalities Service Center, The Alzheimer’s Association - Delaware Valley Chapter, The Asian Arts Initiative, Gershman Philadelphia Jewish Film Festival, and The Mainline Indian Association (PA), among many others. Swati is a two-time author-contributor to the “88+ Ways Music Can Change Your Life” books, sharing her profound experience working with ‘Royer Greaves School for the Blind’ during the Pandemic.

Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, Professor Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni is an award-winning and bestselling author, poet, activist and teacher of writing. Her work has been published in over 50 magazines, including the Atlantic Monthly and The New Yorker, and her writing included in over 50 anthologies, including Best American Short Stories, O.Henry Prize Stories and the Pushcart Prize Anthology. Her books have been translated into 29 languages, including Dutch, Hebrew, Bengali, Russian and Japanese; many have been used for campus-wide and city-wide reads. Several of her works have been made into films and plays. She lives in Houston with her husband Murthy and has two sons, Anand and Abhay. She loves to connect with readers on Facebook, Twitter (@cdivakaruni) and Instagram (@divakarunichitra).

Sara Chansarkar, Author, Writer

Sara Siddiqui Chansarkar is an Indian American writer. Born to a middle-class family in India, she later migrated to the USA with her husband and son. A technologist by profession and a writer by passion, her short fiction has been published widely in journals and anthologies including Best Small Fictions 2022. She won first place in the ELJ Micro Creative Non-Fiction Prize, placed second in the Larry Brown Short Story Award, and is the runner-up for the Chestnut Review Chapbook Contest. She is currently a Fiction Editor at SmokeLong Quarterly. Her first book is a short story collection titled Morsels of Purple, and her second is a novella titled Skin Over Milk.

Himank Pande, Program Manager

Himank Pande, Himank, is a Technical Program Manager at Amazon with an incredible passion for arts & culture. He is part of the Amazon Leadership team who is responsible for productivity, engagement & team collaboration at Amazon. Associated with the theatre group Yugmanch, Nainital, India, he is a strong proponent of the Kumaoni culture of Uttarakhand (Himalayan Hill State). He has acted in different plays at college level like “Jinne Lahore Nai Vekhya O Jamiya Nai” by Asghar Wajahat and “The man who married a dumb wife” by Anatole France & has been a part of amateur rock bands. His interests include fusing folk music with modern rock, acting, singing & sound engineering. As a volunteer with DCSAACI, Himank is helping with program management, events coordination for DCSAACI at Amazon & its technical support.

Farah Ali, Writer

Farah Ali is from Pakistan. She is the writer of the short-story collection People Want to Live. Her work has been anthologized in Best Small Fictions and the Pushcart Prize where it has also received special mention. Her stories have appeared in Shenandoah, Kenyon Review, Ecotone, and elsewhere. Her novel, The River, The Town, is forthcoming in 2023.

Dur e Aziz Amna, Writer

Dur e Aziz Amna is from Rawalpindi, Pakistan, and now lives in Newark, USA. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, Financial Times, and Al Jazeera, among others. She was selected as Forbes 30 Under 30 in 2022 and won the 2019 Financial Times / Bodley Head Essay Prize. She is a graduate of Yale College and the Helen Zell Writers', Program at the University of Michigan. Her debut novel, AMERICAN FEVER, won the 2023 APALA Award for Literature.

Anum Asi, Writer

Anum Asi’s fiction has been published in Virginia Quarterly Review, Necessary Fiction, Cherry Tree, Indiana Review and elsewhere and recently won the Emily Clark Balch Prize for Fiction. She studied Sociology and Education at Teachers College, Columbia University as a Fulbright Scholar and completed her MFA in Creative Writing from Cornell University. She now writes and teaches in Karachi.

Amna Chaudhry, Writer and Activist

Amna is a writer and activist. Her work has been published in Guernica, Himal Southasian and Caravan. In 2021 she was awarded a South Asia Speak fellowship for her novel in progress, Parlour Girls.

Naheed Phiroze Patel, Author

Naheed Phiroze Patel is a graduate of the MFA program at Columbia University’s School of the Arts. Her writing has appeared in the New England Review, The Guardian, Lit Hub, Poets & Writers, Chicago Review of Books, HuffPost, Scroll.in, BOMB Magazine, Public Books, PEN America, The Rumpus, Asymptote Journal and elsewhere. Her debut novel, "Mirror Made of Rain" was published by Unnamed Press in May 2022.

Sonal Kohli, Author

Sonal Kohli is the author of the book 'The House Next to the Factory', which was longlisted for the Tata Literature Live! First Book Award. She holds an MA in Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia, UK, and a BA in Economics from Shri Ram College of Commerce, Delhi University. She has received fellowships from Virginia Center for the Creative Arts and Sangam House. Her stories have been shortlisted for the Bristol Short Story Prize and Fish Short Story Prize. Sonal grew up in Delhi and now lives in Washington, D.C.

Vandana Narang, Director/DCSALF

Vandana Narang is a member of the Storyteller Film Club. She enjoys writing, script development and directing. Her debut film The Ring,which she wrote and directed, won the Audience Choice Award at the 2014 DCSAFF. In 2017 she wrote and directed The Girl on the Bridge and in 2019 A Night at the Bar both of which were also shown at DCSAFF. She has adapted two screenplays ( Relativity and Mango Party) from short stories that were made into films by the Storytellers Film Group. She owns her own interior design firm and is a running coach.

Surinder Deol

Surinder Deol is an author and a literary translator who has published Sahir’s biography titled SAHIR: A Literary Portrait (Oxford University Press, 2019). Working with India’s leading Urdu scholar, Professor Gopi Chand Narang, Surinder has published translations of Urdu poets such as Ghalib and Mir Taqi Mir and several others. Surinder published a book of poems called A Moment In The Universe in 2006 and a novel titled Endless Life in 2012. His book on poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz titled FAIZ: From Passionate Love To A Cosmic Vision (Rupa 2021) has just been published. About his association with Sahir, Surinder says, “I got to know Sahir’s poetry when I was a freshman in college, and his words left a deep impression on my mind. Because of Sahir, I decided to learn the Urdu language which has been a great pleasure of my life. Embracing Sahir’s vision for a better future, I worked hard on charting a course of my own life. His 100th anniversary is an occasion for me to not only reflect on Sahir’s journey but also my own.”

Vandana Narang, Director/DCSALF

Vandana Narang is a member of the Storyteller Film Club. She enjoys writing, script development and directing. Her debut film The Ring,which she wrote and directed, won the Audience Choice Award at the 2014 DCSAFF. In 2017 she wrote and directed The Girl on the Bridge and in 2019 A Night at the Bar both of which were also shown at DCSAFF. She has adapted two screenplays ( Relativity and Mango Party) from short stories that were made into films by the Storytellers Film Group. She owns her own interior design firm and is a running coach.