Prof. Malashri Lal, writer and academic with twenty-one books to her credit, retired as Professor, English Department, and Dean of Colleges,  University of Delhi. Publications include Tagore and the Feminine (2015), and her engagement with mythology in the ‘goddess trilogy’ (co-edited with Namita Gokhale) In Search of Sita (2009, 2018),  Finding Radha (2018) , and Treasures of Lakshmi (2024) . Betrayed by Hope: A Play on the Life of Michael Madhusudan Dutt (2020), co-authored with Namita Gokhale, received the Kalinga Fiction Award Lal recently published Mandalas of Time: Poems  (2023) which has been acclaimed widely. She is   currently Convener, English Advisory Board of the Sahitya Akademi,  and also the Chair, English Advisory Board, Bharatiya Jnanpith.