First Sun Stories

Amanda Suutari is an artist, illustrator and sustainability researcher.

Easterine Iralu's writings are based around the lived realities of the people of Nagaland in India, through which she attempts to preserve the folktales. She also takes interest in Jazz poetry with her band Jazzpoesi.

Kynpham Sing Nongkynrih lives in Shillong, Meghalaya. He belongs to the Khasi tribe and writes in both Khasi and English. His poetry and short fiction draws on a wide range of themes. He writes with equal passion, of love, cherries, winter oranges and the ancient rocks of his land.

Ludmilla Chakravarty was born in Russia. After her marriage, Ludmilla is pursuing a career here in India as an artist and a book illustrator, as well as a writer of children’s stories.

Mahasweta Devi was a significant Bangla fiction writer best known for her short story “Draupadi”. She was a socio-political activist who worked at the grass root level for the landless labourers and women. In her crucial works- Bitter Soil, Mother of 1084, After Kurukshetra, Jhansi Rani, Imaginary Maps among others- one witnesses her blatant refusal of the contemporary historical material conditions imposed on women and her rebellious protest against the injustice done to the marginalized sections.

One of the finest writers from the North-east, Mamang Dai has collected and written many folktales from the magical story-world of Arunachal Pradesh that reflect the rich culture and landscape of the place. Dai lives in Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh.

A post graduate from the College of Art, New Delhi, Neeta Gangopadhyay has
illustrated several books for children. She has represented India at the Biennial of Illustrations, Bratislava in 1995. Her illustrations are included in the book Once Upon a Time in India, which has been nominated for the IBBY honours List in 2006.

Nityan Unnikrishnan is a painter from Kerala, popular for his surreal works.

Prashanta Kumar Nayak is an illustrator with his works showcasing a slice of life from his homeland.

Shantanu Phukan has a doctorate from the University of Chicago and is an Assistant Professor of Humanities at the San Jose University.

Sonali Biswas is a freelance illustrator based in Delhi. For the book One Lonely Unicorn, she received the Chitra Katha Award 2003 for Outstanding Illustrations. She has also received the runner-up award from Noma Concours for Children’s Book Illustrations in 2000 and an honourable mention at the Biennial of Asian Illustrators, Japan, in 2002.

Sujata Singh is an illustrator based out of New Delhi. Sujata studied at the Central School of Art and Design in Khartoum, Sudan, and also at the Wimbledon School of Art and Design.

T Bijoykumar Singh is a bilingual writer, poet and translator from Manipur.

Taposhi Ghoshal graduated from the College of Art, New Delhi in 1989. She has illustrated several books for children as a freelance illustrator and designer. Presently she is working for many NGO's and leading publishing houses.

Uma Krishnaswamy is an eminent children's author.