24th September 2024

Dialogues Pavilion

10:30




Changing the narrative on women’s writing and publishing: A Journey

11:30

The relationship between comics and gaming

Anand Ramachandran and Appupen
12:30

Poetry 'I think I can join the big mountains'

Siddhartha Menon
14:30

All Things Gaming: Storytelling, Design, Development and The Future

Loyie Vikennao, Anand Ramachandran and Sameer Pitalwalla
15:30

Overcoming drugs, loss & adversity: The journey of a small-town band in India

Teesta Troupers with Karma Paljor
Old Block

9:30-12:30
13:30-15:30





Storytelling

Shubha Das
Workshop Zone

11:30-12:30
15:30-1630





Dance and Movement

Denis Barwa
Performances


16:30





Saniya MQ

17:00

Teesta Troupers

25th September 2024

Dialogues Pavilion

10:30




Polyphonic melodies from the Borderlands

Vikhar Ahmed Sayeed, Urvashi Butalia, Tongam Rina and Ankush Saikia
11:30

Book Reading & Conversation: The Yellow Sparrow

Santa Khurai and Ranju Dodum
12:30

Humour in history: Comical retellings of historical events

Bakarmax and Vikhar Ahmed Sayeed
14:30

Exploring India’s cultural heritage: Carnatic music, Parsi traditions of Bombay, and languages of Sikkim

Jayanthi Kumaresh, Karma Paljor and Simin Patel
15:30

Interactive session on Traversing the path between commercial and live electronic music

Sapta aka Marti Bharath
Old Block


9:30-12:30





How to get started as a game designer and developer

Anand Ramachandran
10:10-11:30

Dive into the world of Hindi literature: Writing and translating

Priyanka Sarkar
Workshop Zone


10:30-11:30





Dance and Movement

Denis Barwa
12:30-14:30

Making music with fruits

Bottlesmoker (Indonesia)
Performances


16:30





Ajati Mimi

17:00

Saskia Laroo

Speakers

Ankush Saikia

Ankush Saikia is based in Shillong, and is the author of 10 books, including "The Forest Beneath the Mountains" (Speaking Tiger, 2021), an environmental novel set in the borderlands of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. He has also written features and long-form stories on various aspects of the North East for national publications such as The Indian Express, The Hindu, and Hindustan Times, among others.

Karma Paljor

Karma Paljor is an award-winning Indian journalist and entrepreneur who co-founded Atvi Infotainment in 2018. This company includes EastMojo.com, a digital news site focusing on northeast India. Karma has produced, directed, and anchored several award-winning programs for CNN News18. He is a fellow of the Kamalnayan Bajaj Fellowship and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.

Ranju Dodum is a journalist from Arunachal Pradesh writing on issues of environment, governance, and culture of the numerous indigenous communities that live in the eastern Himalayan belt. With over a decade of experience, his reporting has focused on several issues including hydropower, politics, environment, and religion. He is a Pulitzer Center grantee and is also the recipient of the inaugural Kalyan Barooah Award for print media. He has also worked with the WWF-India as a consultant.

Ranju Dodum

Tongam Rina is a journalist who chiefly reports on current affairs and the environment, and writes analyses on a number of issues ranging from hydropower to the dilemmas of environment, governance, and development. Besides her work as the Deputy Editor of the Arunachal Times, Tongam spends her time traveling and teaching. She is a member of the Arunachal Pradesh Women’s Welfare Society and an advisor to the Arunachal Pradesh Union of Working Journalists.

Tongam Rina
Priyanka Sarkar

Priyanka Sarkar is an editor, translator and writer. She has translated Mrinal Pande’s Sahela Re (HarperCollins 2023), Shivani’s Bhairavi (Yoda Press and Simon & Schuster 2020) and Chitra Mudgal’s Giligadu (Niyogi Books 2019). Sarkar’s translations of short stories from Hindi to English have appeared in anthologies published by Yoda Press, Women Unlimited, South Asian Review and Macmillan. Her translations have also featured on Scroll.in and Audible. Her short story was in Sahitya Akademi’s Indian Literature.

Urvashi Butalia

Urvashi Butalia is co-founder of India's first feminist publishing house, Kali for Women, and she now heads Zubaan, set up when Kali shut down in 2003. She has a long involvement in the women's movement in India, and writes and publishes widely on women and gender. Among her best known publications is the award winning history of Partition, The Other Side of Silence: Voices from the Partition of India. She is currently completing a book on the life of a hijra, Mona Ahmed.

She is a gender rights activist and scholar and Secretary of All Manipur Nupi Maanbi Association (AMANA). She work with various national and international organization including United Nations for the protection and promotion of LGBTIQ+ human rights. She is a poet and author of "The Yellow Sparrow". A few of her published work are Pheida - Gender at Periphery, The Forbidden Prophecies, The Dwindling Identity and some published poems.

Santa Khurai

Sameer is currently the Head of Gaming, APAC at Google Cloud and the former Territory Head of Epic Games, ASEAN, and South Asia. He was the Co-founder and CEO of Culture Machine. He is also is a National Award-winning film producer, ‘Forbes 30 under 30’ in 2017, and holds 3 US technology patents to his name.

Sameer Pitalwalla
Dr. Jayanthi Kumaresh

Dr. Jayanthi Kumaresh, a sixth-generation Veena virtuoso, started playing the National Instrument of India, the Saraswathi Veena at the age 3 and is a ten-time recipient of the "Award for Veena" bestowed by The Music Academy, Chennai, India. Jayanthi has performed at many international festivals, including the San Francisco Jazz Festival, Darbar Festival London, Celtic Connections in Scotland, and at prestigious venues such as United Nations, the Palladium, and Theatre de la Ville.

Dr. Simin Patel

Simin, also known as MISS BOMBAYWALLA, is the founder of Bombaywalla Historical Works, an organisation that showcases Bombay’s built environment and social history. Bombaywalla explores how local establishments like bakeries, laundries and lodging houses have negotiated change through colonial and contemporary settings. It tells the stories of these establishments through photographic essays and little movies.

Loyievi Kennao is the co-founder and music composer at Redimension Games. She has been composing music for some short films and games over the years. She joined Redimension Games at 2020 while still pursuing her Bachelor’s Degree in Music at college. After three years, Redimension Games won the IGDC 2023 Upcoming Game of The Year award for the game “Sojourn Past”.

Loyievi Kennso

Writer and artist Appupen has been making comics since 2005. Appupen's latest graphic novel 'Dream Machine', with AI scientist Laurent Daudet, is being published worldwide in English, French and German. He is currently working on a multilingual graphic book with Perumal Murugan. Appupen's graphic novels like 'Moonward', 'Aspyrus', and others explore an original mythical realm called Halahala.

Appupen
Vikhar Ahmed Sayeed

Vikhar Ahmed Sayeed is an award-winning journalist with Frontline magazine and is based in Bengaluru. Sayeed has built up an eclectic corpus of longform reportage on a mind-boggling array of themes. He regularly reports on politics and social processes in Karnataka, apart from environmental and historical issues. Prior to becoming a journalist Sayeed studied History at JNU and the University of Oxford. When not scurrying behind an elusive source, Sayeed is busy explaining the complex social mores of Peppa Pig to his kids.

Teesta Troupers are a collective of musicians, rappers and songwriters that came to life in a jam room situated below a garage on the Teesta highway. Their music draws from their experience of growing up along the highway, and reflects the hope, hustle and melancholy of life in the Teesta valley.

Siddhartha Menon is a poet and teacher. He has worked for more than 30 years in schools run by the Krishnamurti Foundation India and is currently based at The Valley School in Bengaluru. He has published five collections, of which the most recent is The Compass Bird (January 2024). His poems have featured in journals including the Little Magazine, Nether, Almost Island, Indian Quarterly, Verseville and Yapanchitra.

Anand Ramachandran is a game designer with over two decades of experience making games across genres and platforms. From working on games with large companies like Zynga and Disney, to smaller, independent projects at Tiny Mogul Games, Bigfatphoenix Interactive, Game Design Plus, and Visceral - he's worked on games spanning shooters, role-playing and strategy titles, puzzle, sports, educational and kids games. He's also dabbled in comics, children's stories and political and social satire.

Anand Ramachandran