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To complement the Meet the Author series, the Sahitya Akademi started another series entitled People and Books in 1989, in which distinguished persons from interdisciplinary areas are invited to give lectures. For example, a nuclear scientist, a surgeon, a musician, a painter, a dancer, a mathematician or a legal expert is requested to speak on literary books which he/she has enjoyed reading or which has given him/her new insights. The speaker is requested to speak for about 40 minutes after which the audience interacts with him/her.

The following celebrities have so far participated in this programme:

• Jagannath Pattanaik Former Advocate General, Government of Odisha)
• Jhanak Jhankar Narzary (Eminent Sculptor)
• Anand Mohan Soren (Well-Known Physician)
• Prabhakar Kolte (Well-known painter spoke on the books which have influenced him the most)
• Vishini Israni (Renowned Sindhi Singer and Folk Dancer)
• I.D. Soni (Eminent Educationalist and Social Activist)
• H. Nandakumar Sarma
• D.N. Munikrishna
• Shyam Sundar Hansdah
• Dayanidhi Marandi
• Ni. Umakantha (Eminent writer)
• Lalit Gobay (Eminent theatre artist)
• Ananta Mohapatra (Eminent film-maker)
• Laxman Majhi (Politician)
• Shashikala Kakodkar (Politician, Former CM of Goa)
• Neelpawan Baruah (Eminent Painter)
• Anant Amembal (Eminent Music composer & researcher)
• Chandrakant Kulkarni (Eminent Film Maker)
• Sivakumar (Eminent film Actor & Painter)
• Bikas Sinha (Eminent Scientist)
• Lalit Mansingh (Veteran Administrator and reader)
• N. Manimozhian (Hotelier and Industrialist)
• Arun Khopkar (Eminent Film-maker)
• Sundarshan Iyengar (Distinguished Scholar and Educationist)
• Ashok Kumar Thakur (Veteran Engineer)
• Nityanada Hembram (Eminent Writer and Social Activist)
• Datta Damodar Naik (Eminent Scholar and Businessman)
• Pratapchandra Chandra (Eminent Educationist)
• Shimoga Subbanna (Eminent Singer)
• Anil Shah (Eminent administrator)
• Digambar Hansda (Santali writer)
• Jabbar Patel (Renowned theatre and Film Director)
• Motilal Jotwani (Eminent writer)
• Marudhar Mridul (Eminent lawyer, poet and social worker)
• Sobha Brahma (Eminent artis)
• Tapan Sinha (Eminent Film Maker)
• Ariban Shyam Sharma (Film Maker)
• Sitakan Mahapatra (Distinguished Poet)
• Suvaprasanna (well known artis)
• Krishna Kumar
• Leena Fernandes
• Nandkumar Kamat (Eminent Scholar and Sociologist)
• M.P. Prakash (Eminent Writer and Politician)
• Adoor Gopalakrishnan (Film Maker)
• R.V. Vaidyanatha Ayyar (Culture Theorist)
• Dilip Padgaonkar (Eminent Journalist)
• B.P. Singh (Culture Theorist)
• Madhu Dandavate (Freedom Fighter)
• Veerappa Moily (Kannada Writer and Eminent Politician)
• Nabendu Ghosh (Playwright)
• Vasant Sathe (Eminent politician)
• Atal Bihari Vajpeyi (Eminent politician)
• E.M.S. Namboodripad (Eminent politician)
• K.M. George (Eminent scholar)
• Andre Betaille (Eminent social anthropologist)
• Shreeram Lagoo (Distinguished actor)
• Chintamani Kar (Distinguished sculptor)
• Salil Chowdhuri (Distinguished composer)
• Suchitra Mitra (Eminent singer)
• L.M. Singhvi (Eminent lawyer and diplomat)
• Karan Singh (Eminent historian and philosopher)
• Soumitra Chattopadhyay (Versatile actor)
• Vijay Raghav Rao (Eminent flutist and music director)
• Mrinalini Sarabhai (Distinguished dancer)
• Jayant Narlikar (Distinguished scientist)