International Author, Editor, Foreign Correspondent, Teacher and Senior Strategist for Conventional and New Media,

Pranay Gupte is a well-known international author, editor, foreign correspondent, teacher, and senior strategist for conventional and New Media.

He is a former foreign correspondent and staff reporter of The New York Times and columnist for Newsweek International. Mr. Gupte is also a sought-after collaborator for autobiographies of world leaders and prominent businessmen. He is also often called on to act as master of ceremonies or moderator at prestigious conferences and business events. An elected life member of the prestigious Council on Foreign Relations in New York, Mr. Gupte also speaks widely on the lecture circuit, and has been a panelist or moderator at events organized by renowned organizations such as the World Economic Forum, the World Bank, and the United Nations.

Until January 2011, Mr. Gupte was a senior media advisor for four years to His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates, and Ruler of Dubai. He assisted with Sheikh Mohammed’s forthcoming memoir. More recently, Mr. Gupte was Creator and Editor-in-Chief of Al Arabiya International Network’s English-language Website, and also created the site’s Web TV. He significantly drove up traffic for the site, especially in Western countries, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, the Indian Subcontinent, and elsewhere.

Mr. Gupte has written, co-written or edited 14 books. His new book, “The Healer: Dr. Prathap Chandra Reddy and The Transformation of India,” will be published by Penguin-Portfolio in September 2013. His most recent book on the Middle East, titled “Dubai: The Making of a Megapolis,” was published in November 2011 by Penguin Viking, to mark the 40th anniversary of the founding of the United Arab Emirates. Mr. Gupte’s earlier book, “Mother India: A Political Biography of Indira Gandhi,” was published by Penguin Viking in October 2009 to mark the 25th anniversary of the Indian prime minister’s assassination. (An earlier version was the basis of a documentary on Lifetime TV.) Penguin published a paperback edition of “Mother India” in June 2011. One of Mr. Gupte’s earlier books on Indira Gandhi was the basis of a major television documentary on Lifetime Network in the United States, and received front-page reviews in the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times. Another book, “The Crowded Earth: People and the Politics of Population,” was the source material for a 13-part TV series on public television, “Profiles in Progress.”

Mr. Gupte writes a regular column for The Hindu, India’s national newspaper, and for The New York Sun in the United States. He has also written for Forbes, Condé Nast’s Portfolio, and other major international publications such as Yale Global – the online magazine of the Yale University Center for the Study of Globalization – and Post Global, the Website of The Washington Post. His experience extends to virtually every part of the world, but most especially in the Middle East, Asia, Africa, India, Australia, Europe, and the United States. Mr. Gupte has obtained exclusive interviews with top world leaders in politics, business, arts, culture, media, science, and other fields.  Mr. Gupte is now working on his memoirs of more than four decades in international journalism. The book contains recollections of interviews with top world leaders of the last four decades, and Mr. Gupte’s coverage of wars, coups, earthquakes and disasters in various parts of the world – including conflicts in the Middle East, Afghanistan, and Sri Lanka for The New York Times, Newsweek and Forbes.

In addition to his journalism and books, Mr. Gupte writes exclusive reports on Asia, the Middle East, India-US relations, geopolitics and investment for the American and international business communities. He also co-authors books with major world figures and CEO’s. Mr. Gupte also assembles anthologies. His most recent one was “Global Emirates: An Anthology of Tolerance and Enterprise,” which was published by Motivate in April 2009; the foreword was by His Highness Sheikh Nahayan Mabarak Al Nahayan, the UAE Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research.  Another anthology, “20,” was published in August 2007 to mark the 20th anniversary of the Higher Colleges of Technology in the United Arab Emirates. He is among the contributors to a new book published in October 2007 by Ursinus College in the United States, “The Sands of Thought: Essays on The World of Ideas.”

Mr. Gupte’s daily column “Lunch at The Four Seasons,” was a popular feature of The New York Sun over a two-year period. It profiled leaders in business, finance, industry, banking, investment, law, education, health, politics, diplomacy, media, the arts, entertainment, academe, government, and other fields. Mr. Gupte continues writing opinion articles on Asia, the Middle East, India, trade and business, and multilateral diplomacy for various newspapers. An economics and political-science graduate of Brandeis University in the United States, he also attended the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. Mr. Gupte was a staff reporter and a foreign correspondent at The New York Times for 15 years, covering Africa, the Middle East and Asia. He was subsequently a global-affairs columnist at Newsweek International for 18 years, and a contributing editor at Forbes and Asian Finance magazines.

He also founded and edited The Earth Times, a newspaper focusing on economic development and environmental security, and published the paper from 1991 to 2003. Many of his protégés are working with major news organizations in different parts of the world. Mr. Gupte has been Business Editor of The New York Sun, Business Editor of The Daily Star in Beirut, and Global-Affairs Columnist at The Straits Times, Singapore. He has produced 50 documentaries for public television, and has appeared frequently as a guest commentator on economic and global affairs on CNN, PBS, NBC, ABC, BBC, Fox News, PressTV, WCBS, and various radio stations, including National Public Radio. He hosted an interview show on PBS in New York. Mr. Gupte also founded and led a publishing company, Earth Times Books. He has designed and run Websites for Al Arabiya English, The Earth Times, Present Tense Magazine, and for the Festival of Thinkers in the UAE. He also launched a Website called DubaiDaily.Com.

Mr. Gupte has served as a media consultant for several institutions and commissions, including the United Nations, the World Bank, and the Brundtland Commission on Environment and Sustainable Development. He was the prime force behind the establishment of a private foundation in support of the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro.  He has moderated and appeared in panels at the World Economic Forum’s Davos and regional meetings, Columbia University, the Asia Society, and other institutions. In October 2011, for example, he served as master of ceremonies at the inaugural awards ceremony in New Delhi of the Asian Business Leaders Forum, which was attended by senior government ministers, businessmen and diplomats from all over Asia. Mr. Gupte has written for many widely known magazines, including The Atlantic, Forbes, People, Reader’s Digest, The New York Times Magazine, The New York Times Book Review, and the Harvard International Review.

Mr. Gupte is an elected life member of the Council on Foreign Relations in New York; and a member of the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House, London), and The Asia Society (New York). He is also a member of Gulf2000, the by-invitation-only specialist community of diplomats, scholars and writers established by Columbia University.

Mr. Gupte’s personal Web site is pranaygupte.com. He can be contacted by e-mail at pranaygupte@gmail.com.