Skip to main content

The Liferarian Conference is hosting three-panel conversations. The panel of speakers will share their view on different topics.  The moderator will guide the conversation which will provide the audience with several thought-provoking takeaways from the panel conversations.

The three-panel Conversations will focus on the following topics:

Panel 1

Librarians’ Partnerships with Parent Community and Beyond

Panel 2

Librarians’ Partnerships with Curriculum, Teaching & Resources

Panel 3

Librarians’ Partnerships with Literacy

Panel 1

Librarians’ Partnerships with Parent Community and Beyond

Fiona Reynolds

Deputy Head of School, the American School of Bombay

Fiona Reynolds is the Deputy Head of School at the American School of Bombay. She has worked and been a leader in international schools for over 20 years in Africa, Asia, Europe, and South America. Her current areas of interest are developing intercultural competence in stakeholders in international schools, developing partnerships between international and local schools, social and emotional learning, and embedding all of this in strategic planning. Read More

Sandhya Gatti

Founder, Director, Teacher Ink

Sandhya Ghatti has been journeying the teacher education space for over three decades. She holds a Bachelor’s in Education and a Masters’ in Social Work, and true to her belief in lifelong learning, she pursues several courses to strengthen her understanding of education and life. She holds two International Baccalaureate Certificates in IB Philosophy & Planning, Teaching and Assessment. She is a Certified Programme Leader for the Cambridge International Diploma in Teaching and Learning and Educational Leadership (Cambridge, U.K). Read More

Priya Iyer

President and Founder of Kids Must Read Ltd.

Priya Iyer is the founder of Kids Must Read Limited, a social enterprise that aims to empower parents to help their children read. An erstwhile banker, she has 14 years of experience in curating and reviewing children’s books and conducting book clubs for children. She has also set up a reading program for a leading school in Mumbai. Priya’s website, KidsMustRead.com, has a unique search engine that generates a list of book recommendations customized to a child’s age, reading level, and interest. Kids Must Read aims to empower parents by educating them through workshops and articles, and equip them with tools and tactics on how they can help their children discover a love for reading.

Neetasha Gurbuxani

Special Ed. Educator & Parent

Neetasha is a passionate educator for special needs students. She holds an International Baccalaureate Certificate in the Middle Years Program and has taught in schools across Chicago and Singapore. Her primary aim has been to optimise the teaching and learning process to enable pupils with learning difficulties to achieve adequate levels of proficiency in literary. Now an ASB parent of two young boys aged 15yrs and 13yrs, her entire happiness lies in seeing her children grow up in good health, and she is willing to do any amount of work to achieve that goal. She believes that the single most important thing a parent can do to help a child is to transmit a love of reading and that books matter.

Moderator

Ms. Gayathri Durairaj

Author & Poet

Gayathri Durairaj is an author, poet, global nomad and an economist by training has run a parents’ writers club in the American school of Bombay from 2016 to 2018. She spearheaded various writing workshops and three anthologies for the school. Her first book of poems titled ‘Quintessential Me’ was published in June 2018 and she is currently working on her second one. She lives in Hong Kong and has published her poems in many magazines like Ariana, Beyond Boundaries, Imprint and the ASB online magazine as well. She finds pleasure in the simplest of things and derives inspiration for her writing from her many travels and experiences. Check out her monthly blog: https://www.gayathridurairaj.com/gy

Panel 2

Librarians’ Partnerships with Curriculum, Teaching & Resources

Dr. Shalini Advani

Principal at Pathways

Dr. Shalini Advani is founding Director of Pathways School Noida. Previously she has been Principal of the British School, New Delhi and Director Education of Learn Today. She has advised on the setup of new schools and is a teacher trainer. She has been a presenter at various conferences including the Salzburg Global Seminar on creating textbooks in conflict zones, the IB Asia Pacific Conference, the IC3 Conference on Career Counselling, as the valedictory speaker at the EdTech Review and the Council of International Schools symposium on Intercultural Learning in Leiden. Read More

Dr. M Madan Mohan

Vice-Principal at the Symbiosis International School

Dr. M Madan Mohan is presently working as a Vice-Principal and IB Coordinator for Diploma Program at Symbiosis International School, Pune since 2006. He completed his BSc [Microbiology] and did his MLISc and PhD [Information Literacy] from Bishop Heber College, Bharathidasan University, Trichy, Tamil Nadu. In the IB world, he has donned many hats,  as a Teacher Librarian, an Extended Essay Coordinator, CAS Coordinator, University Guidance counsellor and now the Vice-Principal of Symbiosis School.

Amrita Nair

Co-Founder of Apni Shala

Amrita Nair with a Bachelors’ degree in Psychology from Mumbai University, and a Masters’ degree in Social Entrepreneurship from TISS, is a part of the founding team of Apni Shala. Before co-founding Apni Shala, Amrita worked with the Akanksha Foundation and Aasara Home for boys. She has also been trained in personal counselling and Rational emotive behaviour therapy. Since 2013, she has been a facilitator of Theatre of the oppressed. She was part of the DBS-TISS Social Entrepreneurship Programme from 2013 to 2016 and a WIPRO seeding fellow (2017). Read More

Colin Kelman

IBDP Coordinator, Neev School

Mr. Colin Kelman has been a teacher in middle school, high school, in pre-university programmes and undergraduate programmes where he has taught English language, literature, Theory of Knowledge, literary criticism and phonetics. His experience goes beyond that of a DP coordinator includes work as a Head of the Department, IGCSE coordinator and examiner in Theory of Knowledge and English with the IB. 

Ms. Gayathri Durairaj

Author & Poet

Gayathri Durairaj is an author, poet, global nomad and an economist by training has run a parents’ writers club in the American school of Bombay from 2016 to 2018. She spearheaded various writing workshops and three anthologies for the school. Her first book of poems titled ‘Quintessential Me’ was published in June 2018 and she is currently working on her second one. She lives in Hong Kong and has published her poems in many magazines like Ariana, Beyond Boundaries, Imprint and the ASB online magazine as well. She finds pleasure in the simplest of things and derives inspiration for her writing from her many travels and experiences. Check out her monthly blog: https://www.gayathridurairaj.com/gy

Panel 3

Librarians’ Partnerships with Literacy

Nalini Sorensen

Award-Winning Children’s Book Author

Nalini loves spending time with children and looking at the world through the wonder of their eyes. She believes that life is too short to not laugh, and seems always to attract highly humorous situations in her real life. She lives in Mumbai, with her husband, two sons, and dog. There is a lot of love, a lot of laughter, and a lotalways going on in their home. Nalini has written books across various age groups for children and has had books published by numerous publishers in India. Read More

Khushnuma Ferzandi

Head of Community Relations at American School of Bombay

Ms. Khushnuma Ferzandi’s primary role is part Head of Community Relations, is to expand and align the American School of Bombay’s social and community initiatives with all of ASB’s stakeholders. Khushnuma is active in IB Asia Pacific as part of the IB Educators Network, PYP Workshop Leader, Consultant and School Visitor. Her consultancy skills have been carefully honed over her years of experience – she’s almost got consultancy down to a fine art! Read More

Rozmeen Saifee

Librarian at JBCN

Rozmeen Saifee is a passionate Teacher Librarian since 2013. Always ready to explore, learn and share. She has learned and applied various techniques and plans in her tenure of teaching. Honest and passionate about her profession and always ready to take up new challenges. She says, “I love what I do. Do what I love!’

Diya Tripathi

8th Grader at ASB

Diya Tripathi is an 8th grader at the American School of Bombay. Some of her favorite hobbies are reading, painting, drawing, cooking, studying, swimming, and writing. Her love of reading was instilled by her first-grade teacher, Ms. Forgie, who helped her find books and encouraged her to read more. Her favorite genre to read is realistic fiction. One of her favorite books is The Thing about Jellyfish by Ali Benjamin, because she found it interesting, informative, and impactful.

Moderator

K. Solomon Raja

Librarian at Shiv Nadar School, Noida

Solomon Raja has a Master’s Degree in Library Science and a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Applications from Bishop Heber College, Trichy. He has been working as a Librarian for the last six years and has attended more than 10 National conferences. Always interested in research and using technology as a tool in making libraries effective centres of learning. He has presented papers related to ICT. He is interested in music and plays the piano.