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SECOND ANNUAL IAAC LITERARY FESTIVAL
in collaboration with The English Department, Hunter College (West Building) at 68th Street and Lexington Avenue
OCTOBER 22-25, 2015 |
| October 25th, 2015 - 2:15 – 3:15 pm |
Session 3B
Fiction writers
Authors: T Dasu, Rahul Deokar, Zubin Shroff, Sameer Pandya
Moderator: Nayana Currimbhoy
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 Rahul Deokar grew up in Juhu, a western suburb of Mumbai, India, famous for its sprawling beach and home to Bollywood celebrities. He graduated with top honors from VJTI, one of the oldest (founded in 1887) engineering colleges in Asia. He emigrated to USA as a student pursuing a Masters in Computer Engineering and later an MBA at Iowa State University, New York University, and Santa Clara University. Rahul rode the customary roller coaster start-up journey in the Silicon Valley technology industry, being eventually acquired by a leading software company. Today as a seasoned executive, the excitement of innovation and passion continue to enthrall him. In his debut novel, he brings together two worlds, and takes you on a thrilling romantic adventure where East meets West, technology talks to tradition, and hope dances with despair. He currently lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his loving Wife 1.0 and two adorable kids. |
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 Quest for Kriya - SILICON VALLEY meets SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE. A Thrilling Romantic Adventure where East meets West, Technology talks to Tradition, and Hope dances with Despair. Haunted by tragic loss in the 1993 India earthquake, a broken Shakti with a tenuous hold on life is sheltered by her soul-sister Kriya. But when Kriya vanishes without a trace, Shakti is unwittingly swept into a cataclysmic vortex of greed, lust and betrayal. Shakti meets Shiva, a struggling Silicon Valley entrepreneur, and discovers that love is an enigmatic cosmic force. Shakti and Shiva are thrust on a frantic race against time through the dark Mumbai underbelly, forbidden Thailand islands, and treacherous cliffs in the Andaman Sea, where danger lurks in every shadow. As they get closer to the truth, they realize that millions of innocent lives are at stake. Quest for Kriya is an epic saga of love, friendship and sacrifice. The journey is incredible. The emotions are real. The transformation is eternal. |
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 Zubin J. Shroff writes unique, entertaining, eclectic novels, many of which contain elements of satire, drama, and surrealism. He was born in 1975 in India, and he studied the sciences at the Cathedral School in Mumbai, philosophy at Lawrence University in Wisconsin, and the fine arts (of business) at Columbia University in New York City. He lives in Minnesota, USA. |
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 The Gandhian Adventures of Raj & Iqbal - Meet Raj Kumar Reddy and his best friend and brother in life, Iqbal Ali Mohammad Khan . . . They are Gandhians--followers of Mahatma Gandhi, lovers of peace, and seekers of the truth. They live in that greatest city of Mumbai, and their lives are simple and calm. But things change when they decide to seek the truth about onion prices in India. As their journey gets increasingly surreal, they meet an Indian freedom fighter presumed dead in 1945, learn the secret to wrinkle-free skin, and finally embark on a dangerously silly encounter with a Pakistani extremist group on the high seas off the coast of India. Shamelessly trivializing everything from Indo-Pakistan relations and terrorism to food-shortages and foreign- policy, The Gandhian Adventures is a quirky, desi satire about friendship and patriotism in the Indian subcontinent. |
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 Sameer Pandya was born in India and came to California when he was eight. He earned a BA from the University of California, Davis and a PhD from Stanford University. His fiction has appeared, among other places, in Narrative Magazine, Other Voices, and Faultline, and his non-fiction has appeared in The Atlantic, ESPN, Salon, and Sports Illustrated. Pandya currently teaches literature and creative writing in the Department of Asian American Studies at UC Santa Barbara. The Blind Writer: Stories and a Novella is his first book. |
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 The Blind Writer - Together, the five stories and novella in The Blind Writer: Stories and a Novella follow the lives of first- and second-generation Indian Americans living in contemporary California. The characters share a similar sensibility: a sense that immigration is a distant memory, yet an experience that continues to shape the decisions they make in subtle and surprising ways as they go about the complicated business of everyday living. The collection is anchored by the title novella about a love triangle between an aging, blind writer, his younger beautiful wife, and a young man desperate to start a writing life. Over several months, the three will get to know one another and move toward a moment that will change the lives of each of them forever. |
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 T. Dasu is a published author of both nonfiction and fiction, including Spy, Interrupted: The Waiting Wife,which came out in November 2014 and is the first in the Spy, Interrupted trilogy.
She enjoys classic stories of love and longing, such as Gabriel Garcia Marquez's Love in the Time of Cholera, and is hooked on literary espionage, exemplified by Graham Greene's Our Man in Havana. By day, Dasu is a research scientist working on problems in statistics, stream mining, and machine learning, which allow her to put her PhD in mathematical statistics to good use. |
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 Spy, Interruped: The Waiting Wife - Jane Austen meets John le Carre in the riveting international romantic thriller, which follows a newlywed couple on an emotionally wrought journey rife with love, intrigue and suspense.
When Nina Sharma falls in love with and marries the reclusive, New England aristocrat Stephen Edward James, she expects life will change. But she could not anticipate how. After six months of seemingly serene wedded bliss, a trip to India begins to unravel the secrets of Stephen’s hidden life - and the truth will have the pair evading terrorists and narrowly escaping with their lives. As Nina grapples with the truth about the stranger she married, Stephen must do everything in his power to keep his wife alive and bring down the men he’s hunting - and who are hunting him. |
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 Nayana Currimbhoy is a New York based writer and journalist. She has written articles film scripts and published three works of non-fiction. Miss Timmins' School for Girls is her first novel. Nayana grew up in India, and lives now in New York City with her husband and teenage daughter. |
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