Journalism at Yale: Poynter Fellows Somini Sengupta and Pranay Sharma Lecture on South Asian Issues

Yale University’s Poynter Fellowships in Journalism bring the best and most talented media faces to share their experiences and opinions with the Yale community. Established by Nelson Poynter (Yale M.A. 1927), the fellowship draws distinguished reporters, editors, and other media figures to the University. Yale students and faculty have the opportunity to interact with these outstanding individuals through lectures, symposia, and conferences on a variety of issues of public interest. The South Asian Studies Council of the MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies is pleased to present talks by two Poynter fellows, Somini Sengupta and Pranay Sharma, as part of the South Asia Colloquium lecture series.

Somini Sengupta served as Delhi Bureau Chief for The New York Times from 2005 to 2009, covering South Asia sensitively and analytically. She has traveled widely throughout the region in pursuit of news, �infusing each story with her elegant prose, eye for detail and passion for social issues,� according to Times Foreign Editor Susan Chira. Sengupta was born in Calcutta and raised in California, where she went on to attend the University of California at Berkeley, majoring in English and Development Studies. Though she originally planned to become an English professor, she ended up as a newspaper reporter, working as a cocktail waitress, radio producer, and a community organizer in the interim before she settled on a career in media. She studied politics one summer at Worcester College, Oxford University, which may have led to her interest in foreign affairs. Sengupta won the George Polk Award for international reporting in 2004. Now living in Amsterdam, she is currently on book leave. On February 10, 2010, she will be speaking on the topic of, �Freedom’s Future: Learning and Destiny in India Today.�

Pranay Sharma is the Associate Foreign Editor of Outlook Magazine, one of India’s top-selling English weekly news publications. He has twenty-seven years of experience as a journalist, working in print as well as in audio visual formats. His former positions include Senior Assistant Editor for Foreign Affairs with The Telegraph newspaper, Diplomatic Editor of Kolkata TV, Executive Editor of The Hardnes Magazine and the Foreign and Strategic Affairs Editor of the Indo-Asian News Service. Sharma’s lifelong interest in foreign affairs and his long history in media has established him as a respected voice on issues of international relations. He will be giving a lecture titled, �China, in India’s Troubled Neighborhood� on February 17, 2010.

Yale University is delighted to host these distinguished professionals with the help of its many generous sponsors; the Poynter Fellowship in Journalism, the South Asian Studies Council, the Rustgi Family Fund for South Asian Studies, the MacMillan Center, Stanley T. Woodward Lectureship Fund, Isaac H. Bromley Lectureship, and the Charles Gallaudet Trumbull Lectureship.