GN Devy is a Professor of Eminence at Somaiya University, Mumbai. He writes in Marathi, Gujarati, and English. He has received many awards and honours including the Padma Shri. He initiated and led the People’s Linguistic Survey of India (50 volumes) with a team of over 3000 field linguists and volunteers, covering over 780 living languages of India. More than 110 books have either been authored or edited by him, the latest being The Indians: Histories of a Civilization. He has taught at M. S. University Baroda, National Centre for Biological Sciences, and Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bangalore.