Ms. Sujata Prasad

Ms. Sujata Prasad
Author and Former Civil Servant

Sujata Prasad is an author, curator, art columnist and heritage conservationist. Her work and research interest is at the intersection of community health, rural livelihoods, and the visual and performing arts. A former civil servant, Sujata serves as an expert on Government of India’s Scientific Advisory Committee for Heritage Research. She is also the founding director of Ahad Anhad – a forum for creative instigations – which manifested its first edition at the Bihar Museum recently, bringing together words, ideas, performances and the liveliest voices in contemporary writing.

Her journey as a civil servant that began in 1983 included assignments in diverse central ministries and departments, and a long stint with the Government of Bihar. She also served on the advisory board of the National Crafts Museum, the governing body of the Sports Authority of India and the board of governors of the Nehru Yuva Kendra and was the government-nominated director of companies like Coal India, Neyveli Lignite Corporation, Hindustan Copper, Hindustan Zinc, and the Bharat Aluminium Company. More recently she has served as advisor to the National Gallery of Modern Art. A member of the Asia-Pacific chapter of the World Crafts Council, she is closely associated with two not-for-profit organisations working for the disadvantaged.

Her debut biography A Life Like No Other was published in 2017 (Penguin Random House). She has co-edited a volume on Health Security and written a novella for children. Her recent publications include The Dream of Revolution, a biography of Jayaprakash Narayan (Penguin Random House). She has curated exhibitions on modernism in Indian art for the National Gallery of Modern Art and is the founding editor of the Art Journal published by NGMA and other important publications on visual and performing arts.