Sudha Gopalakrishnan is currently Executive Director, International Research Division, India International Centre, New Delhi. She steers Sahapedia, an open, online encyclopedic web resource on Indian cultures and the arts. From 2003 to 2007, she was founder director of India’s National Mission for Manuscripts, where she led a nation-wide effort to document, conserve and digitize a million manuscripts. She has previously worked with institutions such as the Sahitya Akademi (India’s National Academy of Letters) and the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts.
Sudha Gopalakrishnan has a special interest in the pre-modern cultures of Kerala with emphasis on Indian performative and literary traditions. Her books with a Kerala focus include Kathakali: Tradition, Innovations and Transitions in the Dance Drama of Kerala (2025), Kutiyattam: The Heritage Theatre of India (2010), Kaikottikkali Pattukal (2004, with Radha Madhavan), Nalacaritam (2001, translation of the Kathakali text as well as the performance manual from Malayalam), translation of Krishnagiti (1998, text of Krishnattam). She is a trained dancer of Kathakali.