Shovon Chowdhury (1964–2021) was a writer with a razor-sharp wit whose work blended the bizarre with the profound. His first novel, The Competent Authority, was a finalist for the Hindu Literary Prize, 2014, Shakti Bhatt First Book Prize, 2014, Crossword First Book Award, 2014, and Tata Literature Live! First Book Award, 2013.

Urmila Chowdhury is Director, Education, at Peepul, an education focused non-profit. She has thirty-three years of varied experience in education as a teacher, school leader, teacher trainer, a drama in education practitioner, and an ELT consultant. Urmila has worked in the social sector since 2009 with the belief that every child regardless of their background deserves a great education. She was married to Shovon Chowdhury for thirty-two years. Shovon took a deep interest in Urmila’s work and was her biggest cheerleader.

Sandipan Deb is an independent writer and editor. He has been editor of the Financial Express, managing editor of Outlook, and founder-editor of Outlook Money, Open, and Swarajya magazines. He is the author of several books, including The IITians: How an Indian Institution and Its Alumni Are Reshaping the World; Fallen Angel: The Making and Unmaking of Rajat Gupta; and The Last War, a novel reimagining the Mahabharata in the modern Mumbai underworld. He was the editor of Momentous Times, a volume to commemorate 175 years of the Times of India. His writings cover a broad spectrum, from economics to quantum physics, cricket to geopolitics, cinema to the future of technology.