Nirmala Govindarajan is a journalist, social sector documentarian and author. Her novel The Community Catalyst, is inspired by the life experiences of a civil servant, and is recommended reading for aspirants of the Indian Administrative Services. In 2010, she conceptualised and co-authored Mind Blogs 1.0, the first blog-to-book initiative. In 2014, she conceptualised and co-curated the debut edition of The Times of India Literary Carnival, Bangalore. She curates the Literary Lounge series at The British Council, and also introduces children to classics at the Library. Her novel Hunger's Daughters, is born out of her experiences as a social sector documentarian. She dabbles in theatre, and also believes in harmonising with the elements through music she plays the western classical piano, violin and guitar.
She lives in a forest hamlet in Orissa. With a father presumed dead and a mother gone missing, Susanthi Bodra is compelled to become a breadwinner at the age of twelve. Eight-year-old Nelli runs away from her mistresss home, but is kidnapped and sold into a brothel in Nagpur. Two decades have passed, and she is yet to return to her hamlet Kithapur. Gowravva, her mother, is on the hunt to find her precious daughter. From the home of the Lesser Known Goddess to the chilli fields of a mother who has long lost her daughter; from the plush residence of a powerful minister to a vedic ashram, Nainika Chandra, a journalist and the narrator in Hungers Daughters, brings together the stories of young breadwinners from the forest hamlets of Jharkhand, Orissa and Karnataka. The book binds the unexplored shades of poverty and power, with an underlying story of love.
