Time Within Time

HS Shivaprakash retired as Professor of Theatre and Performance Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University in 2018. He is the author of 9 poetry books, 15 plays, and 3 critical works in Kannada, translated into multiple languages including English, Spanish, and German. His work has earned several Karnataka Sahitya Akademi awards, the Rajyotsava Award (2006), Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (1997), Sahitya Akademi Award (2012), and more.

Shivaprakash’s academic interests span theatre/literary history, Indian theatre, Medieval Studies, Comparative Literature, translation, and folklore. He participated in the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa in 2000 and has served as Editor of Indian Literature, Dean at JNU, and Director of The Tagore Centre in Berlin.

He has featured in poetry festivals across India, USA, Latin America, Africa, and Asia, and has traveled widely to lecture and read poetry. His notable English publications include “Like Earth to Stars,” “Guru: Ten Doors to Ancient Wisdom,” “Everyday Yogi,” “I Keep Vigil of Rudra,” and “Traditional Indian Theatre.”

Asha Devi is Professor of Kannada at Maharani University, Bengaluru.  Her publications include the works of literary criticism, Belakiginta Bellage (Whiter than Light, 2016) and Naduve Suliva Atma (The Moving Self Within, 2011).

Rajendra Prasad was born in Kodavaththi village on the border between Mandya and Tumakuru districts of Karnataka, India. He completed his master’s degree in Commerce from the University of Mysore and now lives in Mandya, where he runs a small business. Rajendra has a deep passion for literature, particularly poetry, as well as interests in Carnatic music, history, Buddhist studies, Zen paintings, philosophy, and culinary art. He is a widely read new-generation Kannada poet and also serves as the editor and publisher of the Kannada literary magazine ‘Sankathana’.

Rajendra has published several collections of Kannada poems, including “Bhoomigandha” (2006), “Chandra Neera Hoo” (2013), “Ondishtu Preethige” (2013), “Kovi Mathu Kolalu” (2014), “Laavona Kanasu” (2016), “Brecht Parinama” (2018), “Nirolage Mayada Jolige” (2018), “Preethi mattu Prayaschitta” (2020), and “Uluhina Vrukshada Nelalu” (2020). His work has earned him numerous accolades, such as the Bendre Memorial Book Prize (2014), TOTO Award (2016), Kadengodlu Award for Poetry (2016), Narahalli Literature Award (2019), and a nomination for the DH Change Maker Award (2020).

JV Sreenivasa Murthy is former Professor of Sanskrit, MES College, Bangalore. Founder-director of the Mahabodhi Research Centre in Bangalore, he has recently edited the Sanskrit translation of the complete works of Kanakadasa.

Chandan Gowda is Ramakrishna Hegde Chair Professor of Decentralization and Development at the Institute for Social and Economic Change, Bengaluru. He has recently published, Another India: Events, Memories, People. At present, he is completing a book on the cultural politics of development in the old Mysore and co-translating and editing Daredevil Mustafa, a book of short stories by the Kannada writer, Purnachandra Tejasvi. He is a columnist with Deccan Herald.