Traveling South Asian Literary Festival
The Board
Alka Kurian
Alka Kurian is an Associate Teaching Professor and Faculty Coordinator of Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies at the University of Washington Bothell. She is the author of Narratives of Gendered Dissent in South Asian Cinemas (Routledge: 2014), co-editor of New Feminisms in South Asia (Routledge: 2017), and is currently working on her next book Transnational Fourth Wave Feminism. Alka is a recipient of the 2020-2021 Fulbright US Scholar award to Morocco for research on fourth wave feminism. She is the ED of JLF Seattle, founder of TRASAL (Traveling South Asian Literary Festival), and host of the podcast South Asian Films And Books.
Sumathi Raghavan
Sumathi Raghavan (she/her) works at the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture in development and as staff writer. She has previously served on the boards of Tasveer (a South Asian arts and social justice non-profit) and Lake Washington Girls Middle School. In her free time, she’s making her way through an enormous stack of books acquired during the pandemic, exploring her adopted home of Seattle, and spending time with friends.
Poornima Janakiraman
Poornima Janakiraman is an entrepreneur who owns her own small business. She is also a devoted and innovative executive with extensive business development experience with e-commerce, project and program management, and business operations. Her previous experiences include working as a Program Manager at Microsoft & Amazon. She has volunteered at non-profits like Habitat for Humanity and United Nations. She also volunteered at Bailey-Boushay House in Seattle, WA where she met with critically ill in/outpatients weekly, assisting with daily activities and encouraging involvement in social and recreational events. She also served as a board member at Tasveer.
Rick Simonson
Rick Simonson is a distinguished bookseller, literary advocate, and longtime book buyer and events coordinator at Seattle’s iconic Elliott Bay Book Company, where he has worked since 1976. A central figure in Seattle’s literary community, he established the bookstore’s renowned author reading series, bringing celebrated international writers and emerging voices to local audiences. He has served on the boards of Copper Canyon Press, University of Washington Press, King County Arts Commission, and Central District Forum for Arts & Ideas. His involvement in literary festivals and conferences across the world reflects his longstanding commitment to independent bookstores, diverse literary voices, and connecting writers with readers.
Nishant Kumar Singh
Nishant loves literature, poetry, Cinema and sports. Words and empathetic action can make a much needed impact in our society and raise the quality of community life. Through his volunteer work, Nishant hopes to bring knowledge, culture, joy, happiness and empathetic impact in our society. Nishant and his wife Shaina are active in the local community and are excited about TRASAL’s effort to bring Literature to the Pacific Northwest Community. He has lived in Singapore running Asia business and now lives in the US with his wife and kids.
Shesh Mathur
Shesh believes in solving problems in the most expeditious, simple, and elegant manner. He uses this philosophy as the guiding principle to implement and deliver successful projects for clients. Shesh has held senior leadership positions at Microsoft and AT&T during his 21 years of experience in the IT industry. He has also built and led startups with the goal of disrupting existing paradigms. He has deep experience in Technical Program Management, Quality Assurance & Control, Enterprise Risk Management, and Strategy Development.