Anant Samant was born on 12 August 1952 in Arnala, a tiny village near Mumbai. After completing high school he got a diploma in H.M.C.T. from I.C.T.A.N., Mumbai. He worked in various hotels & M.T.D.C.. He joined the Merchant Navy, worked as a chief steward and Navigating Officer on tankers, container carriers, bulk carriers, live stock carriers, cargo vessels. His literature shocked Marathi readers with its bold style and the never-seen-before world it invoked. His first novel M. T. Aiwa Maru was like a fresh wind gushing in to feed the hunger of younger generations. It was immensely acclaimed and won many prizes too. Even after twenty years it is a bestseller and the only novel of its kind in Marathi literature. Anant Samant has won the Maharashtra Rajya Puraskar four times, the Maharashtra Sahitya Parishad thrice, as well as the Yashwantrao Chavan Mukta Vidyapith, the Mumbai Marathi Patrakar Sangh and Na. Si. Phadke Puraskar, among many others. // Prashant Pethe was born in Pune and went out to sea at the age of 18 after high school. Before he went out to sea, a teacher from school tried to dissuade him from doing so by giving him M.T. Aiwa Maru to read. Reading this novel made Prashant even more determined to becoma a seaman. During his time out at sea he could never forget Aiwa Maru. His desire to ensure that more people read this novel compelled him to finally translate it. Prashant produced a couple of Marathi movies in 2007 and 2008. Both movies, Valu: The Wild Bull and The Damned Rain, were very successful locally as well as internationally