Katha Prize Stories: 12

She has sixteen novels and six books to her credit. She has had her works published in periodicals like Anandamela, Desh, Ananda Bazaar, Bartaman, Manorama and Tathyakendra and has also contributed to Bengali magazines published from the USA. Her translations include two volumes of Somerset Maugham’s works, one volume of D H Lawrence’s short stories, and Shri Aurbindo’s lyrics and sonnets. She has also done English to Bangla translations for Srinvantu magazine. She has a masters in English literature and is a lecturer in English with Krishna Girls College, Howrah in addition to her busy writing career.

Dr Brinda Charry is an Associate Professor of English at Keane State College in New Hampshire, having taught English literature at Mount Carmel College in Bengaluru before her doctoral degree at Syracuse University. Apart from writing, she also enjoys reading and travelling by train, and is extremely fond of animals.

M. Mukundan is a pioneer of modern Malayalam literature. While he was a young boy, Mukundan says, his happiest moments were when he sat in his grandma's lap, savouring stories. He has twenty six books, most of them novels and collections of short stories to his credit. He has also written scenarios for two feature films. He has won many awards including the Katha Award for Fiction.

Mahi is the pen-name of Uma Maheswari, a homemaker with a keen interest in writing. A postgraduate in English literature, her publications include poems and short stories in Tamil literary magazines and volumes of poems and short stories.

Mohammed Khadeer Babu is a Telugu short story writer, journalist and scriptwriter.

Prakash S Pariekar has published more than forty poems and twenty five short stories in leading Konkani magzines. Some of his short stories have been translated into English and other Indian languages. He has coauthored Karbari Konkani, a functional Konkani book.

Salam Bin Razzaq is a short story writer and translator in Hindi and Urdu. He is a recipient of the 2004 Sahitya Akademi Award for his short story collection Shikasta Buton Ke Darmiyan.

Sukhjit has several stories and poems to his credit. A businessman and an agriculturalist, he pursues his interest in literary studies and storytelling. He is the recipient of various awards including the Nanak Singh Award, Bhai Vir Singh Award and the VIRK Award.