Yashpal (1903-1976) began to write while serving a life sentence for his participation, as a comrade of Bhagat Singh and Chandrashekhar Azad, in the armed struggle for India's independence. What he wrote formed his first collection of short stories, Pinjare ki Udan, published in 1938. After his release Yashpal dazzled Hindi readers with the political journal, Viplava, which he founded and published with the help of Prakashvati, a revolutionary, whom he later married in prison. He wrote more than fifty books including collections of short stories, novels, essays, a play and memoirs of his revolutionary days.
Arjun Dangle, born in Mumbai in 1945, is an important name in the politics and literature of Maharashtra. A founder member of the militant Dalit youth organization, the Dalit Panthers, he has also
Nausheen Jaffery was a historian trained at the University of Delhi and Jamia Millia Islamia. Her book Jahan Ara Begum: A Biographical Study (1614–1681) was published in 2011.
Ranjani Murali is a Chicago-based writer and artist. She received her MFA in poetry from George Mason University in 2010. She currently teaches undergraduate literature and writing courses. She was
