Bio

Dr. Krithi K. Karanth has conducted extensive research on conservation issues in India since 2001 focusing on mammal extinctions, effects of anthropogenic pressures, voluntary resettlement of people, tourism trends, human-wildlife conflicts, resource and land use change around Indian parks. She has published 16 scientific articles in several international journals and co-edited a special issue on conservation issues in India for Biological Conservation. Her work has been covered by The Hindu, Times of India, Indian Express, Monga Bay and more then fifty other international and national newspapers and science blogs.

She holds bachelors degrees in Environmental Science and Geography from the University of Florida, masters degree in Environmental Science from Yale University, doctoral degree in Environmental Science and policy from Duke University and was a postdoctoral fellow with Columbia University.

She was awarded a Ramanujan fellowship from 2011-2016 by the Indian government’s Department of Science and Technology. She has received the Cambridge Hamied award, Society for Conservation Biology Best Student Award, Wildlife Conservation Award, Duke Outstanding Paper and other honors. She currently works with the Centre for Wildlife Studies, National Centre for Biological Sciences and Columbia University.

Bio

Stephen Alter is the author of twenty books of fiction, non-fiction and children’s literature. His most recent novel, In the Jungles of the Night: A Novel about Jim Corbett was shortlisted for the 2017 DSC Prize for South Asian Literature. His most recent non-fiction book, Becoming a Mountain: Himalayan Journeys in Search of the Sacred and the Sublime received the 2015 Kekoo Naoroji Award for Himalayan Literature. From 1995-2004 he was writer-in-residence at MIT and from 1988- 1994 he was director of the writing program at the American University in Cairo. From 2006-2016, he founded and directed the Mussoorie Mountain Festival. Among the honours he has received are a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Fulbright Senior Research Grant and fellowships from the East-West Centre in Hawaii and the Banff Centre for Mountain Culture. He lives and writes in Landour.

Bio

Kartik Shanker was inspired to a career in ecology by an ancient reptile, a sea turtle that crawled ashore late one night in Madras. As faculty at the Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, he indulges his fascination for ecology and evolution, working with students on frogs, reptiles, birds, plants and marine fauna. He also has long term research programmes on olive ridley, green and leatherback turtles.
 
Shanker is a founding trustee of Dakshin Foundation, which works with coastal communities on natural resource conservation and management. He is a founding editor of the magazine, Current Conservation and author of the book From Soup to Superstar, a historical account of sea turtle conservation in India. In his spare time, he seeks to distract young minds from more serious pursuits with books such as Turtle Story, The Adventures of Philautus Frog, Moonlight in the Sea, and Lori’s Magical Mystery.