Jayasri Burman : A Mythical Universe

Partha Mitter (Hon. D.Lit. Courtauld Institute, University of London), Professor Emeritus, Art History at the University of Sussex and member of Wolfson College, Oxford. He has been a Fellow of Clare Hall, Cambridge; Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton; Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts, National Gallery of Art, Washington DC; Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Mass. and Getty Research Institute. He was also Radhakrishnan Memorial Lecturer at All Souls College, Oxford. His Books include Much Maligned Monsters: History of European Reactions to Indian Art, Clarendon Press, Oxford 1977: Chicago University Press Paperback, 1992; Art and Nationalism in Colonial India 1850-1922, Cambridge University Press, 1994, Indian Art, Oxford University Press, 2002; The Triumph of Modernism: India's Artists and the Avant-Garde 1922-1947, Reaktion Books 2007, and numerous articles. He has been an adviser to the Guggenheim Museum. Ina Puri is an author, columnist, independent curator and film producer. She began her journey by putting together alternate theatre festivals and innovative, contemporary shows by little-known artists in Kolkata. Contemporary art soon became her prime obsession and, for over a decade now, Ina has focussed her energies on the art scene in modern India. Her work as an independent curator and impresario, with practically every leading artist of the day, has allowed Ina to understand and view the contemporary scene from very different vantage points.She also produced Antardhwani (directed by Jabbar Patel), a film on Sharma, which also won the national award. Her recent project, 'Faces of Indian Art, published by Art Alive Gallery focusses on studio spaces of 52 artists over the last 50 years. This definitive book of portraitures has received critical recognition and appreciation from artists and the ordinary reader. Ashok Vajpeyi, a Hindi poct-critic, translator, editor and culture-activist, is a major cultural figure of India. With more than 13 books of poetry, 7 of criticism in Hindi and 3 books on art in English to his credit, he is widely recognised as an outstanding promoter of culture and an innovative institution-builder. Over the years he has worked tirelessly to enhance the mutual awareness and interaction between Indian and foreign cultures. A frequent presence at some of the major conferences, seminars and poctry-festivals, he has raised his voice for the autonomy of literature as against contemporary tyrannies of ideologies, markets and fundamentalism. Meanwhile as editor of many prestigious journals he has done much to promote critical awareness of contemporary and classical arts and young talent in poetry and criticism. Pritish Nandy is a poet, journalist, politician, television personality and film producer. He is a member of Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian parliament. He has published a number of poetry books and translated poems by other writers from Bengali into English. Nandys first book of poems Of gods and Olives was published in 1967. Three further volumes followed in the 1960s and a further 14 volumes were published in the 1970s. In July 1981, Nandy was nominated as a Poet Laureate by the World Academy of Arts and Culture at the Fifth World Congress of Poets in San Francisco. In 1982, Nandy became a full-time journalist. He was publishing director of The Times of India from 1982 to 1991, and editor of The Illustrated Weekly of India from 1983 to 1991. He has also served as the editor of The Independent and Filmfare. He served concurrently as the publisher of The lillustrated Weekly of India, The Independent, and Science Today.