Karthika V.K. is Publisher, Westland Books. She has spent over twenty-five years editing and publishing fiction, non-fiction, translations, poetry and graphic novels. She started her career at Penguin Books India and spent a decade as Publisher, HarperCollins Publishers India before moving to Westland, where she set up Context, an imprint that focuses on literature and politics. She has published several award-winning and commercially successful writers including Anita Nair, Aravind Adiga, Manu Joseph, Manu Pillai, Mirza Waheed, Perumal Murugan, M. Mukundan, Rukmini S. and Shashi Deshpande. 

Karthika was shortlisted for the 2022 IPA Prix Voltaire Prize by the International Publishers Association.