Sudhir Chandra is a historian based in Delhi, India. He has been associated with several universities and centres of advanced learning, such as the Nantes Institute for Advanced Studies; Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla; Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities, Edinburgh; Banaras Hindu University; Aligarh Muslim University; Jamia Millia Islamia; Maison des Sciences de l'Homme, Paris; Melbourne University; Bellagio Study and Conference Center; University of Chicago; Cornell University; Tokyo University of Foreign Studies; Indian Council of Historical Research; and Indian Council for Social Science Research, New Delhi. Among his publications are The Oppressive Present: Literature and Social Consciousness in Colonial India (2014/1992) and Enslaved Daughters: Colonialism, Law and Women's Rights (1998).

Chitra Padmanabhan is an independent journalist and writer based in New Delhi, India. In her 30-year career, she has worked in an editorial capacity with The Economic Times, Hindustan Times, The Pioneer, Tehelka, the Women's Feature Service and Katha. As a freelance journalist, her articles have appeared on the edit pages and as feature essays in The Hindu, Times of India, Economic & Political Weekly, The New York Times' India Ink and The Wire. Her interests have focused on art and culture, social change and political behaviour and the economic and environmental costs of development.