Katha Prize Stories: 3

Abraham Verghese is a physician, teacher and author. He is a popular TED personality and a regular focus of attention in media – both medical and general.

Bhagirath Mishra has a postgraduate degree in Geography from Kolkata and has more than a hundred published short stories to his credit. His short stories have won him the Certificate of Honour (1993), presented by Madhuparni, a distinguished magazine. Earlier, he had won the Sopan Puraskar in 1990 and the Galpamala Puraskar in 1992 for his short fiction.

Bipin Patel has had many of his short stories published in various Gujarati magazines. He translates from English into Gujarati. He works at the Gujarat State Secretariat, Gandhi Nagar.

Cho Dharman won the Ilaikkiya Chintanai Award for "Nasukkam." Several if his short stories have been published in Tamil literary magazines.

Era Murugan is Tamil writer who also works in the computer industry.

Himanshi Shelat had her first collection of short stories, Antaral, published in 1987. It received the Gujarat Sahitya Parishad Award. She received the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1996 for her short stories collection Andhari Galima Safed Tapakan.

Indira Goswami, also known as Mamoni Raisom Goswami, has written fifteen novels, hundreds of short stories and several research papers. Among her major novels are Nilkanthi Broja, Ahiron, Mamore Dhara Tarowal and Tej Aru Dhulire Dhusarita Pristha. She has been honoured with several national and international awards for her creative writings, including the Katha Award for Creative Fiction, the Bharatiya Jnanpith Award, the Sahitya Akademi Award and the International Jury Award for the film Adarya  based on her novel Une Khowa Hawda. She is presently the Head of the Department of Modern Indian Languages and Literary Studies, University of Delhi.

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.

Madhurantakam Rajaram was a teacher by profession. He had won the Sahitya Akademi Best Story Award. Among his publications are the novels Trisankudi Svargam (1970), Chinna Prapandcham- Sirivada (1972) and four anthologies of short stories.

Naiyer Masud was among the foremost contemporary Urdu short story writers in our country. His stories have been published in three volumes – Seemiya, Itr-e-Kafoor and Taus Chaman ki Maina. Recipient of the Presidential Certificate of Honour in 1997 for “outstanding contribution to Persian,” Naiyer Masud also received the Katha Award for Creative Fiction twice, in 1993 and 1997.

Nataraj Huliyar has written many short stories and is a winner of the Shivarama Karanth Award for Creative Writing. He has translated several stories and poems from several languages into Kannada.

Paul Zacharia is a writer in the Malayalam language. He is fellow of the Kerala Sahitya Akademi and is a recipient of the Kendra Sahitya Akademi Award along with the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Short Story.

Prabha Dixit is the author of Communalist: A Struggle for Power and Sampradayikta ka Aithihasik Sandharbh. Several of her research papers have been published in scholarly journals and anthologies. She is also a well-established political commentator in Hindi newspapers and magazines, and currently writes a regular column in Rashtriya Sahara.

Pravin Patkar is a writer, academic and human rights activist, who won the Maharashtra State Award in 1992 for his work Fieldwork and the Shree Da Panwalkar Award in 1991 for the Best Collection of Short Stories. He is a professional social worker and the founder of a globally recognized NGO, Prerana, for child protection and anti-human trafficking.

Sarah Joseph is the author of several collections of short stories including Papathara and Kadinte Sangeetham and the novel Nanmathinmakalude Vriksham. An activist, she formed the first feminist theatre group in Kerala and has directed Stree, an anti-dowry play. She has also served as a Professor of Malayalam in the Government Victoria College, Palghat.

Suma Josson is an Indian-American filmmaker and journalist. Her film won the first prize in the Short Film, Environment category at the 2010 International Film Festival of India.