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Al–An deSouza (they/them)

Professor, Department of Art Practice, UC Berkeley

Al-An deSouza works across disciplines including photography, digital media, and text, exploring colonizing legacies through humor and (mis)translation. Their work has been exhibited globally.
 

Exhibition archive:
https://www.talwargallery.com/artists/al-an-desouza#tab:slideshow

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Ashwini Bhat

Artist

Ashwini Bhat works in the foothills of Sonoma Mountain, California. Coming from a background in literature and classical Indian dance, Bhat works in sculpture, ceramics, installation, and video, developing a unique visual language exploring the intersections between body and nature, self and other.

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Gazelle Samizay

Artist

Gazelle, Born in Kabul, Afghanistan and raised in rural Washington state, Gazelle Samizay’s work often reflects the complexities and contradictions of culture, nationality and gender through the lens of her bicultural identity. 

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Namita Paul

Artist

Bay Area artist Namita Paul explores rupture and repair, migration, and memory in her work, which spans installation, drawing, painting, printmaking, textiles, and photography. She holds degrees from the University of Washington and California College of the Arts, blending personal and collective histories in her art.

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Renluka Maharaj

Artist

Renluka Maharaj, her works are in the collections of The Art Institute of Chicago, Flaten Museum and Bank of America. Her work has also appeared in publications such as Elle India, Harpers Bazaar India, New American Paintings, Coolitude Volume II, Juxtapoz, Hyperallergic and Nourish and Resist (anthology of Caribbean Literature).

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Salima Hashmi

Artist & Activist

Salima Hashmi is an artist curator and contemporary art historian. She taught at the National College of Arts, Lahore for 30 years and was also the Principal for four years and Professor of Fine Arts. She was later founding Dean at the Mariam Dawood School of Visual Arts and Design at Beaconhouse National University.

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Tarik Currimbhoy

Artist

Tarik Currimbhoy, classically trained in arts, industrial design, and architecture, blends ancient techniques with modern minimalism in his sculptures. Educated at Pratt Institute and Cornell University, his work explores gravity, balance, and movement, gracing public spaces and private collections worldwide.

Art Panel

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Author

Anita Felicelli

Anita Felicelli, author of the upcoming How We Know Our Time Travelers (December 2024), also wrote Chimerica: A Novel and the award-winning Love Songs for a Lost Continent. She edits Alta Journal's California Book Club and has contributed to major publications. She served on the National Book Critics Circle Board from 2021-2024.

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Author

Anurag Wadehra

Anurag was the co-author and dramaturg for a play on partition called The Parting. The play was commissioned and produced in 2018 by Vinita Belani, Artistic Director and Founder of Enacte Arts, the premier south asian theater community of San Francisco Bay Area.


Anurag was also the dramaturg for another play on partition, The Night Diary, produced by Children's Theater of Charlotte. That play was based on an award winning young adult novel by Veera Hiranandani. After a career in tech, Anurag now coaches tech founders and companies on growth.

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Artist

Anoop Judge

Anoop Judge is the author of No Ordinary Thursday, The Awakening of Meena Rawat, and The Rummy Club, which won the Beverly Hills Book Award. Her essays and short stories have appeared in the Green Hills Literary Lantern, Rigorous, the Lumiere Review, and Doubleback Review, among others.

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Author

Manreet Sodhi Someshwar

Manreet Sodhi, An award-winning and bestselling author, has written nine books, including the Mehrunisa series, The Long Walk Home, The Radiance of a Thousand Suns, and The Partition Trilogy. Praised by Khushwant Singh and endorsed by Gulzar, she lives in New York City with her husband, daughter, and cat.

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Author

Manjari Jaruhar

Ms. Manjari Jaruhar is one of the first five women police officers in India and the first from the state of Bihar. She has recently published her memoirs 'Madam Sir'. It has been well received and has become a bestseller. 

 

Ms. Manjari Jaruhar is presently an Advisor to Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) based out of New Delhi. Recently she became Advisor to the Committee on Private Security Industry at FICCI.

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Author & translator

Moazzam Sheikh

Moazzam Sheikh, born in Lahore, Pakistan, is a librarian at the San Francisco Public Library and a teacher at City College of San Francisco. He writes fiction and translates from Urdu, Hindi, Punjabi, and English. His latest translation is Stories of Intizar Husain. He also edited A Letter from India: Contemporary Pakistani Short Stories.

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Novelist

Nayomi Munaweera

Nayomi Munaweera, an award-winning novelist, wrote Island of a Thousand Mirrors, which won the Commonwealth Book Prize for the Asian Region and was a Target Book Club pick. Her second novel, What Lies Between Us, won the Sri Lankan National Book Award. The Huffington Post praised her prose as "visceral and indelible." She is proud of her writing students from various MFAs and her Writing Covens.

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Author

Parul Kapur

Parul Kapur, Her debut novel, Inside the Mirror, about twin sister artists in 1950s Bombay, won the AWP Prize for the Novel, and is longlisted for the Center for Fiction 2024 First Novel Prize and the 2024 New American Voices Award  has published in The New Yorker, Ploughshares, and The Paris Review. An MFA graduate from Columbia University, she has received fellowships from the Hambidge Center and Kimmel Harding Nelson Center. She resides in Atlanta.

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Author

Priyanka Mattoo

Priyanka Mattoo, a writer, filmmaker, and former talent agent, co-founded Earios, a women-led podcast network. She contributes to The New York Times and The New Yorker and is a MacDowell Fellowship recipient. Mattoo holds degrees in Italian and law from the University of Michigan and lives in Los Angeles with her husband and kids.

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Advocate & Attorney

Rabia Chaudry

Rabia Chaudry, an attorney and NY Times bestselling author of Adnan's Story and Fatty Fatty Boom Boom, is the executive producer of HBO’s The Case Against Adnan Syed. She hosts several podcasts, including Undisclosed and The Hidden Djinn, and practiced immigration and civil rights law before focusing on national security policy.

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Author

Saadia Faruqi

Saadia Faruqi, a Pakistani American author and interfaith activist, writes children's books, including the popular “Yasmin” series and award-winning middle-grade novels like “A Place At The Table." and " The Partition Project." She also edits Blue Minaret, a magazine for Muslim art and prose, and was featured in Oprah Magazine.

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Member of Parliament - India / Author

Dr Shashi Tharoor

Dr Shashi Tharoor, a fourth-term Member of Parliament for Thiruvananthapuram, is the bestselling author of twenty-six books, both fiction and non-fiction, besides being a former Under Secretary- General of the United Nations and a former Minister of State for Human Resource Development and for External Affairs in the Government of India.

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Author

Shehan Karunatilaka

Shehan Karunatilaka won the 2022 Booker Prize for The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida. His debut novel, Chinaman: The Legend of Pradeep Mathew, was part of the UK's 2022 Big Jubilee Read. He lives in Colombo with his family, guitars, and unfinished stories.

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Author

Shyam Selvadurai

Shyam Selvadurai, author of internationally published novels translated into nine languages, wrote Funny Boy, adapted into a film, winning the New York Cinema Independent Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. His new novel, Mansion of the Moon, about the Buddha’s wife, is published by Knopf and Penguin India.

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Poet

Vijay Seshadri

Vijay Seshadri was born in India in 1954, and moved to America at the age of five. He is the author of the poetry books “Wild Kingdom,” “The Long Meadow,” “The Disappearances,” “3 Sections,” and “That Was Now, This Is Then,” as well as many essays, reviews, and memoir fragments. His work has been recognized with a number of honors, including the Pulitzer Prize for poetry. He teaches at Sarah Lawrence College.

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Author / Writer

Vikram Chandra

Vikram Chandra is an Indian-American writer. His first novel, Red Earth and Pouring Rain, won the 1996 Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best First Book. A collection of short stories, Love and Longing in Bombay, was published in 1997 won the Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best Book (Eurasia region). A novel, Sacred Games, was published in 2006 won the Hutch Crossword Award for English Fiction for 2006. In 2016, Sacred Games was chosen by Netflix to be their first original series from India. Geek Sublime: The Beauty of Code, the Code of Beauty was published in the USA in September 2014. The book was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award (USA).

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Author

VV Ganeshananthan

V. V. Ganeshananthan is the author of the novels Brotherless Night (winner of the 2024 Women's Prize for Fiction and the 2024 Carol Shields Prize, a New York Times Editors’ Choice, and an NPR Book of the Year) and Love Marriage (longlisted for the Women's Prize and named one of the best books of the year by The Washington Post) Her work has appeared in Granta, The New York Times, and The Best American Nonrequired Reading, among other publications.

Literature Panel

Cinematic Panel

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Anand Iyer

TV Director

Anand has directed over 400 ad films and recently ventured into OTT with the short film THE CLOSURE in the anthology LOVE IN THE TIME OF CORONA on Disney+ Hotstar. In 2022, he made his directorial debut with MIRZAPUR (Season 3) on Amazon. Anand's passion for filmmaking, combined with his respect for the technical and collaborative nature of the craft, drives his success.

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Kausar Munir

Lyricist/Screenwriter

Kausar, an award-winning lyricist and screenwriter, has worked on popular TV shows like Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahin and Bollywood hits including Tashan, Ishaqzaade, and Padman. She became the first woman to win a Filmfare Award for Lyrics in 2022. Her 2023 projects include Rocket Boys and Mrs Chatterjee v/s Norway. Her recent accomplishment are lyricist for DangeMr. & Mrs. MahiChandu ChampionMaharajIndian 2Devara Part 1Kahan Shuru Kahan Khatam.

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Imtiaz Ali

Movie Director

​​Imtiaz Ali is an Indian film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is best known for directing Jab We Met (2007, Love Aaj Kal (2009, Rockstar (2011), Highway (2014, 

Tamasha (2015) and Amar Singh Chamkila (2024.

Epicurean Panel

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Heena Patel

Chef/Co-owner, Besharam in CA

Heena Patel, chef and co-owner of Besharam in San Francisco’s Dogpatch, offers a bold Gujarati cuisine reimagined for California. Recognized as a James Beard Foundation Best Chef California semifinalist in 2022 and Eater San Francisco’s Restaurant of the Year in 2019, she blends personal heritage with culinary innovation.

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Keith Sarasin

Chef and Cookbook Author

Keith has spent over a decade mastering Indian cuisine, studying with experts like Dr. Kurush Dalal and chefs Maneet Chauhan and Chintan Pandya. He has authored six cookbooks and is filming Finding India, a documentary about his culinary journey. His latest project, Aatma, is a pop-up restaurant offering a unique tasting experience that combines vibrant Indian flavors with modern techniques, using fresh ingredients from New England farms.

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Ketki Dandekar & Arshiya Shaikh

Co-founders of Pints of Joy Ice Cream

Ketki Dandekar and Arshiya Shaikh are co-founders of Pints of Joy, a rapidly growing artisanal ice cream brand in the US. Ketki, who has a background in Fintech and a legacy of family entrepreneurship, channels her Mumbai roots into creating nostalgic, authentic flavors. Arshiya is a “third culture kid” who has previously lived in Abu Dhabi, Pune & Scotland, leverages her multicultural experiences to drive the brand's fast & profitable growth. Pints of Joy, founded in 2020 (a Covid baby!) is known for its high-quality, globally inspired ice creams made with real ingredients. After opening their first store in Sunnyvale, the brand is expanding to Fremont by the end of 2024

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Priti Narayanan and Madhuri Anji

Co-Founders, Koolfi Creamery

Priti, a civil engineer turned Chief Ice Cream Engineer, co-founded Koolfi Creamery with her wife Madhuri Anji in 2018 after a bus accident inspired a culinary passion. Rediscovering her love for Kulfi, Priti created unique flavors like Salted Caramel with Mysore Pak using premium Straus Organic dairy. Madhuri’s hotel management and real estate expertise ensure smooth operations. Koolfi Creamery’s bold, luxurious flavors evoke nostalgia and offer new tastes, keeping customers eagerly returning.

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Srijith Gopinath

Chef / Cookbook author

Srijith is known for developing the Cal-Indian culinary genre. His cooking quickly gained the attention of the international culinary scene, and the restaurant earned its first Michelin star in 2011, with a second star in 2014. Most recently, he has opened Copra in San Francisco, serving a deeply personal menu that pays homage to the coastal cuisines of India’s southernmost states

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Suvir Saran

Chef / Cookbook author

Suvir is a chef, cookbook author, educator as well as a farmer who specializes in bringing Indian cooking to the American kitchen. In n 1997 joined the staff at Department of Food and Nutrition at New York University's Professional Development and Continuing Education Program. Later becoming an executive chef at Dévi on East 18th Street in New York City, appearing on Bravo's Top Chef: Masters (season 3) and writing several best selling cookbooks. On 10 November 2015, Suvir Saran hosted an evening of bold Indian cuisine as part of the University of Notre Dame's prestigious celebrity chef series.

Journalism Panel

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Anita Ramaswamy

Journalist

Anita Ramaswamy, a San Francisco-based analysis columnist at The Information, covers technology business trends. She previously worked at Breakingviews, TechCrunch, and Business Insider, and was an investment banker. Anita holds an M.A. from NYU and a B.A. from Tufts. Originally from Arizona, she enjoys masala vadai and warm weather.

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Deepa Fernandes

Journalist

Deepa Fernandes, an award-winning journalist and co-host of NPR’s Here and Now, has worked across Sydney, Latin America, and New York. She founded People's Production House, earned a master’s from Columbia, and was a JSK fellow at Stanford. She lives in Alameda with her family and dog.

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Paresh Dave

Journalist

Paresh Dave, a senior writer at WIRED, covers big tech companies, focusing on app and gadget impacts and amplifying underappreciated voices. He has worked at Reuters, the Los Angeles Times, and was a Maynard Institute investigative reporting fellow. His diverse work includes esports, Olympics baseball, and tech industry ethics.

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Shwanika Narayan

Journalist / Moderator

Shwanika Narayan is an Assistant Arts Editor at the San Francisco Chronicle, overseeing arts and culture coverage. Prior to this, she spent a decade as a business reporter covering tech, small business and inequity issues.

Social Issues & Mental Health

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Aniket Bhagwat

Landscape Architect

Aniket Bhagwat, a third-generation landscape architect from India, leads M/s. Prabhakar B. Bhagwat, a top environmental planning and design firm. Globally respected, he is also a teacher, writer, and poet. Aniket engages in projects through LEAF (Landscape Environment Advancement Foundation), focusing on research and public initiatives.

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Jessi Kaur

Author & Poet

Jessi Kaur, an author, poet, and international speaker. She has spoken at the Parliament of World’s Religions multiple times and featured in TV shows and award-winning documentaries. She produced a children's musical based on her book, The Royal Falcon. Her latest book, Home of the Beloved, encapsulates the Sikh holy scripture's core message in fifty spiritual concepts.

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Arjun Bhagat

Entrepreneur

Arjun Bhagat is the Chairman of Calibrated Group and a partner in Marymount Investors, LLC. He has a rich history of building and leading successful companies, including the spin-off and growth of RMSI into a global operation. Arjun is deeply committed to his spiritual journey and seeks to inspire others through his writings. His work is imbued with a profound sense of introspection and spiritual exploration. Arjun believes in the power of storytelling to touch hearts and transform lives.

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Prof. Apurva Bhatt

Psychiatrist and Assistant Professor at Stanford

Dr. Apurva Bhatt, a  psychiatrist at assistant professor at Stanford University, specializes in early psychosis evaluation and treatment. She works at Lucille Packard Children's Hospital and Stanford Health Care, contributes to early psychosis programs, and is a mentor through various psychiatric associations. Her research focuses on early psychosis, youth mental health, and suicide prevention.

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Deepak Ramola

Award-winning educator.

Deepak Ramola, a wisdom historian and award-winning educator, co-teaches MIT's ‘Meaning of Life’ course. A Harvard GSE graduate, he was the Kindness Ambassador for UNESCO MGIEP. Founder of Project FUEL, Deepak has collected life lessons from 195 countries and authored three bestselling books.

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Radha Jagannathan

Psychotherapist, MA, LMFT

Radha Jagannathan is a psychotherapist in the Bay Area. For close to four decades she has worked with children, adolescents, adults, couples and families with a wide range of mental health challenges. Over the last 20 years her focus has been in teaching, training and mentoring the next generation of therapists. She has served as a clinical director at a Bay Area community mental health agency and an adjunct professor at USF’s graduate program of counseling psychology.

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Sahaj Kaur Kohli

Author

Sahaj Kaur Kohli, MAEd, LGPC, author of But What Will People Say?, is the founder of Brown Girl Therapy, a mental health community for adult children of immigrants. She is a therapist, international speaker, and Washington Post columnist, with features in Today, CNN, and The New York Times.

Moderators

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Dr. Apurva Bhatt

Dr. Apurva Bhatt, a psychiatrist at assistant professor at Stanford University, specializes in early psychosis evaluation and treatment. She works at Lucille Packard Children's Hospital and Stanford Health Care, contributes to early psychosis programs, and is a mentor through various psychiatric associations. Her research focuses on early psychosis, youth mental health, and suicide prevention.

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Deepak Ramola

Deepak Ramola, a wisdom historian and award-winning educator, co-teaches MIT's ‘Meaning of Life’ course. A Harvard GSE graduate, he was the Kindness Ambassador for UNESCO MGIEP. Founder of Project FUEL, Deepak has collected life lessons from 195 countries and authored three bestselling books.

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Dr. Dinsha Mistree

Dinsha Mistree is a Research Fellow at the Huntington Program on Strengthening U.S.-India Relations at the Hoover Institution, an affiliated scholar at the Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law, and an affiliated scholar at the Neukom Center on the Rule of Law at Stanford Law School.

 

Dr. Mistree studies the political economy of development, with a special focus on India. In this context, he works on topics related to education, healthcare delivery, economic growth, political rights, and institutional reform. He also maintains a policy focus on the US-India relationship. Dr. Mistree holds a Ph.D. and an M.A. in Politics from Princeton and an S.B. and an S.M. from MIT.

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Ferose VR

Ferose heads the SAP Academy for
Engineering in San Ramon. He formerly headed the Globalization Services unit and
was responsible for enabling the global adoption of SAP products worldwide. Ferose co-authored the #1 Bestseller The Invisible Majority: India’s Abled Disabled and another best-selling book GIFTED: Inspiring Stories of People with Disabilities. Along with that Ferose is the founder of the India Inclusion Foundation a Bengaluru based nonprofit that aims
to bring the topic of inclusion to the forefront in India.

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Jaya Padmanabhan

Jaya Padmanabhan is an editor at the USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism, working with journalists in California to cover health and health equity issues for communities of color. She is a veteran journalist with bylines in The New York Times, PBS Next Avenue, The San Francisco Examiner, The Boston Globe, Forbes, Seattle Times, India Currents, Ethnic Media Services, The Hindu, and more. Jaya is the author of “Transactions of Belonging,” a collection of short stories published in 2014. Several stories from the collection received individual awards, including the prestigious Lorian Hemingway Prize for short fiction. Over her career, she has garnered over 30 accolades in journalism and fiction, most recently the Writer's Digest Award for an essay on caregiving and the PageTurner Award for her novel in progress.

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Kaustuv Basu

Kaustuv Basu is a journalist in Washington, D.C., where he works as a reporter for Bloomberg Industry Group. He has covered the U.S. Congress, tax policy, the Maryland state house in Annapolis and even city council meetings in Saratoga. In his spare time, Basu likes to bike, go birding and watch gangster movies.