Urvashi Butalia

In 2017, the German Federal Republic awarded Butalia the Goethe Medal, an official distinction that "honors individuals who have displayed exceptional competence of the German language as well as in international cultural exchange."

In 2011, Butalia and Menon were jointly awarded the Padma Shri, India's fourth highest civilian order, for their work in Literature and Education.

In 2011, Butalia was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India.

In 2003, co-founders Urvashi Butalia and Ritu Menon parted ways due to unresolvable differences. Both went on to set up their own imprints under the banner of Kali for Women, with Menon establishing Women Unlimited and Butalia founding Zubaan Books.

Originally set up as a non-profit in 2003, Zubaan now operates as the private company, Zubaan Publishers Pvt. Ltd., with five stakeholders: Butalia (Founder and CEO), Anita Roy (Editor), Preeti Gill (Editor), Shweta Vachani (Editor) and Satish Sharma (CFO).

The Other Side of Silence won the Oral History Book Association Award in 2001 and the Nikkei Asia Award for Culture in 2003.

In 2000, Butalia won the Pandora Award for Women in Publishing.

Apart from several newspaper articles and op-ed pieces dealing with feminist issues, Butalia has authored or co-authored several books (listed below). Of these, The Other Side of Silence (1998) is believed to be her most popular work. The book, which is the product of more than seventy interviews that Butalia conducted with survivors of the Partition, is being used as an academic text in some Indian universities. The Goethe Institute has described the work as "one of the most influential books in South Asian studies to be published in recent decades...It emphasises the role of violence against women in the collective experience of tragedy."

Along with Ritu Menon, she co-founded Kali for Women, India's first exclusively feminist publishing house, in 1984. In 2003, she founded Zubaan Books, an imprint of Kali for Women.

Kali for Women, India's first exclusively feminist publishing house, which Butalia co-founded with and Ritu Menon, was set up in 1984 as a trust to increase the body of knowledge on women in the Third World, to give voice to such knowledge as already exists, and to provide a forum for women writers, creative and academics.

Butalia started her career working with Oxford University Press in Delhi. She later worked for a year at their Oxford headquarters, before moving briefly to London-based Zed Books as an editor in 1982. She then returned to India and, along with Ritu Menon, set up a feminist publishing house, Kali for Women, in 1984.

Butalia earned a BA in literature from Miranda House, Delhi University, in 1971, a Master's in literature from Delhi University in 1973, and a Master's in South Asian Studies from the University of London in 1977. She speaks various Indian languages (Hindi, Punjabi and Bengali) along with English, Italian and French.

Urvashi Butalia (born 1952) is an Indian feminist writer, publisher and activist. She is known for her work in the women's movement of India, as well as for authoring books like the path-breaking The Other Side of Silence: Voices from and the Partition of India and Speaking Peace: Women's Voices from Kashmir.