Ghalib Shiraz Dhalla

Los Angeles-based writer-director-producer, Ghalib Shiraz Dhalla was born in Kenya where he sold his first article to a national magazine at age 13. He has since written for various national magazines and his literary/film work have been celebrated at MIT (2004), the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (2009) and at the prestigious Master's Tea at Yale (2011). Shiraz's critically acclaimed debut novel, "Ode to Lata" (2002) was hailed by the L.A. Times as "an achievement" and by Library Journal as "brilliant." In 2008, Shiraz adapted and produced his novel into the motion picture "The Ode. Shiraz's second novel, "The Two Krishnas" ("The Exiles" in India) (Harper-Collins) was praised as "exquisite" by best-selling author Lisa See and "riveting" by LGBTQ lit icon, Andrew Holleran. It was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award (2012). Dhalla's short film, "Embrace" which he wrote, produced and directed, was the first ever dramatization of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks. It was awarded the Audience Choice Award for Best Director at IFFCA (2014). Shiraz is the co-founder of the 501 (c) non-profit, Satrang, a support group empowering and advocating for the rights of the South Asian LGBTQ community in Southern California, and the South Asian Program at APAIT which provides free community health education, testing and support to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS. For his activism, Shiraz was awarded the Satrang Visionary Award (2013) and received a letter of acknowledgment from President Obama (2015).