Hay Dhaka was founded by Peter Florence and Tahmima Anam in 2011, and has taken place annually since then.
Others from the Indian Subcontinent who came for the 2012 Book Fair:- Anupam Kher, Arundhati Roy, Benyamin, Deepti Naval, H. M. Naqvi, Namita Gokhale, Pankaj Mishra, Paul Zachariah, Samrat Upadhyay, Sethu, Shehan Karunatilaka, Tahmima Anam, Vidya Shah and William Dalrymple.