Ramachandra Guha is an award winning author and historian based in Bengaluru.

Ranjit Hoskote is a poet, translator, cultural theorist and curator based in Bombay. He curated India’s first-ever national pavilion at the Venice Biennale (2011).

Writer especially for children (age group 10-100), writing on natural history, and social subjects where adults behave despicably towards children.

He is the award winning author of ten bestselling books. His first book, ​If God was a Banker won him the Golden Quill readers choice award in 2008.

Rehana Munir is an independent writer on culture and lifestyle, she has a weekly humour column in HT Brunch, and a cinema column in Arts Illustrated magazine.

Award winning writer Robert Harris is the author of fourteen bestselling novels. His books have been translated into forty languages and several have been filmed. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

Robin Dunbar is Professor of Evolutionary Psychology at the University of Oxford, an Emeritus Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford, and an elected Fellow of the British Academy.

Roger Penrose is a mathematical physicist, mathematician and philosopher of science. He shared the Nobel Prize for Physics this year  “for the discovery that black hole formation is a robust prediction of the general theory of relativity”. He is also keenly interested in the connection between fundamental physics and human consciousness, on which he will be speaking at the Festival.

Roland Schimmelpfennig is a German journalist and author.

Roshan Ali is a novelist and a writer. His debut novel was shortlisted for the JCB Prize for Literature, the Shakti Bhatt First Book Prize and the Mathrabhumi Book of the Year Award.

Ruskin Bond is one of India’s most cherished authors. In a literary life of over half a century he has written close to 100 books across genres for children and adults.

Sabin Iqbal is a writer and a journalist with nearly 20 years of experience in mainstream media in India and abroad.

Sachin Ketkar is a bilingual writer, translator and researcher.

Sahir Mehta is an actor/ director from Delhi. He has been involved in theatre for the last 5 years, having initially developed an affinity for the stage in school while compering various school events and participating in multiple improv competitions

Sameera Khan is a Mumbai-based independent journalist, researcher and co-author of the critically acclaimed book, Why Loiter: Women & Risk on Mumbai Streets which examines women’s access to public space.

Seema Sirohi writes mainly on international affairs and India’s place in the world. She is currently a columnist for The Economic Times.

Dr Shashi Tharoor is a third-term Member of Parliament for Thiruvananthapuram and a bestselling author.

Shazia Ilmi is the Delhi State Vice President and National Spokesperson of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). She was a founder-member of the Aam Aadmi Party.  She is also an accomplished documentary maker and a former television journalist.