Happenings

On what’s happened in the industry this last month. If there’s news you have heard of and think it would make for interesting reading, please share it with us.

Indian regional literature to find global audience

Source: newkerala.com
The culture ministry in association with three national akademis – Lalit Kala Akademi, Sahitya Akademi and Sangeet Natak Akademi – is working on a new project, “Indian Literature Abroad”, Jawhar Sircar, secretary in the Ministry of Culture, said at a seminar on “The Book in the 21st Century” to commemorate the 238th birth anniversary of social reformer Raja Rammohan Roy in the capital.

He said the project will globally promote lesser-known vernacular literary genres that have been pushed to the fringe for want of translation. Read more »

Hay festival to be held in Kerala

Source: Daily News and Analysis (DNA)
After wowing audiences around the globe, one of the world’s largest literary festivals – the Hay Festival – is coming to India. This November, from the 12th to the 14th, the festival will be held in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. Read more »

Cultural booster for regional languages

Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com
Considering a tremendous growth in translation industry, the department of English and modern European languages, Lucknow University (LU) has proposed to set up a Centre for Cultural Texts, Records and Translation of Indian Literatures to promote regional languages.

With the flair for regional languages growing by leaps and bounds, the initiative will focus on translation and/or publication of critical editions of texts in English, specifically from Indian dialect in Bhojpuri, Hindi, Awadhi, Sanskrit and Urdu. Read more »

Shortage of professionals in publishing industry

Source: The Hindu
“Publishing houses are really hunting for the right talent. Need is felt in editorial as well as technical areas,” says Sumit Bhattacharjee, assistant director (production), National Book Trust (NBT).

The publishing industry in India has been witnessing faster rate of growth in recent years leading to a plethora of job as well as freelance opportunities. In fact, the industry is grappling with the severe shortage of trained professionals to meet the twin challenges of rising demand and the need to enhance quality. Read more »

Tatas step up focus on the book publishing business

Source: mydigitalfc.com
After selling a minority stake in books and music retailer Landmark to private equity fund TVS Shriram Growth Fund-I, the Tata Group are stepping up focus on the book publishing business run under Westland, a subsidiary of Landmark.

“We are marketing and distributing almost 100 titles this year, of which about half are licensed titles while the rest are original titles that we are bringing to the market,” said Gautam Padmanabhan, CEO, Westland. Read more »

Workshop on Copyright and Dissemination
A 2-day workshop on Copyright, Dissemination and Independent Publishing was organized jointly by the Alternative Law Forum (ALF) and the Independent Publishers’ Distribution Association (IPDA)in Bangalore on the 24th and 25th this month. The Copyright (Amendment) Bill 2010 was discussed as was its implications on the issues of rights and contracts, especially for Independent Publishers. The implications of e-publishing was also debated. Among the speakers were Lawrence Liang (ALF), Arpita Das (Yoda Press), Parnesh Prakash (Centre for Internet and Society) and Brij Singh (Fliplog).

Nobel laureate Saramago dead
Source: The Telegraph
Jose Saramago, the Portuguese writer who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1998 with novels that combine surrealist experimentation and a kind of sardonic peasant pragmatism, died at his home in Lanzarote in the Canary Islands. He was 87.

announcing…
JUMPSTART join the dots 2010
JUMPSTART Join the Dots follows the successful series of individual workshops and seminars that were held through 2010.
This two-day event is open to authors, illustrators, publishers, marketing professionals, booksellers, librarians, teachers, principals…anyone and EVERYONE working with, and interested in Children’s Books.
Email info@ newdelhi.gbo.org with the subject line JUMPSTART for more information and to register!

One Day Seminar
Delhi State Booksellers and Publishers Association and CAPEXIL Books Division is organizing a one-day seminar on Exporting Indian Books: How to Start, Survive and Flourish in International Markets on 2nd July 2010. For more details email info@dsbpa.in before 28th June 2010.

Blogs and Articles

Comments and posts on trends and events in the book industry.

The Paperback Turns 75

Source: business.in.com

Strictly speaking, the paperback is a little older than 75. The first paperback got published in 1931. But this pioneering effort by German publisher Albatross Books failed to attract any takers. It was only in 1935 – when Sir Allen Lane launched the now legendary Penguin Books – that the paperback took off. The high quality books priced at 2.5 pence – the same as a pack of 10 cigarettes – were a runaway success. The age of the paperback was upon us.

Read more »

Growth of Tamil publishing industry
Source: The Hindu

According to The Book Sellers and Publishers Association of South India (BAPASI) the publishers come up with about 6,000 Tamil books a year, of which 1,000 are re-prints. This means 5,000 new Tamil books enter the market. The publishers can be classified as those who bring out text books, all genres of books, literary and philosophical books, research books meant mostly for libraries, translated works, only astrological books and religious and children’s books.

Read more »

Copyright, copywrong

Source: Business Standard

Many great books, especially histories, biographies, science writing and world literature/poetry/drama in translation will never be stocked in Indian bookshops. Many will come in after six-eight months, or will be prohibitively expensive, or will be stocked in limited copies. For readers, one way around this is to order online or invest in an e-reader, but that’s still restrictive – you lose out on the serendipity of browsing, the accidental happiness of stumbling across books you didn’t know you wanted.

From that perspective, the amendments proposed to the Indian Copyright Act might seem like a great idea. The core principle underlying the amendments applies equally to the Internet, digital media, film and broadcasting, and print publishing. Open up the markets, allow books, films and other media to move freely across countries, and give the Indian consumer and reader a much wider choice. So, why is Indian publishing unhappy about this, and how is the Indian Copyright Act set to change the way you read?

Read more »

Learning the Ropes

Source: Daily News and Analysis (DNA)

According to author Usha KR, “The stories of success that we hear, like a Chetan Bhagat giving up his original occupation to become a writer, may sound romantic but they are individual cases.” She believes writing is perceived more as a hobby than a vocation. In order for it to be recognised as a discipline that can be taught, it needs to be part of a “mature literary environment”, which can be facilitated by courses in writing that follow certain “universal standards and modes of communicating.”

Read more »

Price point every one

Source: livemint.com
Today, every large publishing house in India is focusing on mass-market fiction. Penguin India started its new imprint, Metro Reads, which will only publish mass-market fiction. Hachette India has seven titles this year. HarperCollins has just published Johnny Gone Down, a slick page-turner that jumps from Delhi to Boston, Cambodia, Brazil and back, and has priced it at Rs99. The book has an initial print run of 50,000 copies and stacks of it can be spotted in mass retail chains that sell consumer durables, not books. Mumbai’s Star Bazaar has about 200 copies of the book on a stand next to its magazine rack. Read more »

‘Vanity’ Press Goes Digital

Source: online.wsj.com

Much as blogs have bitten into the news business and YouTube has challenged television, digital self-publishing is creating a powerful new niche in books that’s threatening the traditional industry. Once derided as “vanity” titles by the publishing establishment, self-published books suddenly are able to thrive by circumventing the establishment.

Read more »

Johnny’s Doing Good

Source: livemint.com
The author of ‘Johnny Gone Down’ on writing an intercontinental novel and raising his standards to make it a commercial success.

The relationship between an author and an editor can often be a tenuous one, but in my case, inputs from such experienced editors helped me figure out my own motivations for writing better. I think I understood my characters and story in a lot more depth because of the editing process which I think has led to a more honest novel. Overall, the publishing process has been delightful for me this time over. It also helped that Harper bought the novel within a few hours of submitting the manuscript versus the few months it took the first time.

Read more »

Dirty books no more

Source: Daily News and Analysis (DNA)

When Ruchir Joshi first tried to persuade popular authors to write erotica, some rejected the idea outright. “Me write porn? No f***ing way,” was one reaction. Others simply didn’t respond to his emails. Joshi’s compilation of erotic stories by Indian writers in English, titled Electric Feather, finally came out late last year, its cover a suggestive image of the hardbound book placed delicately between a pillow and a soft-looking bed. The book’s reception exceeded expectations; in fact, so happy is the publisher Tranquebar that a second volume is in the works.

Another publishing house, Zubaan, is now planning an anthology of erotic stories in 2011. This one will feature stories by women writers from Bangladesh, India and Pakistan.

Read more »

At BEA, publishers agree changes are coming

Source: news.yahoo.com
Giants and upstarts of publishing gathered at the annual BookExpo America agree e-books will transform the business, although exactly how it will all shake out remains unclear.

From biggest publishers to newcomers there was agreement on one thing – the big change will come when there is a standard format across which all e-books can be published and shared. Read more »

Tourism goes literary in India
Source: expressindia.com

In Himachal Pradesh there is a proposal to consider developing sites along the Hindustan-Tibet road, where noted author Rudyard Kipling had stayed and penned novels such as the classic “Kim.”

“We had proposed to call it the Kipling trail after the famous author who is said to have stayed at various places along the Shimla-Kinnaur route,” says Avay Shukla who was additional chief secretary, forest department of Himachal Pradesh when he forwarded the proposal in 2008.

Read more »

Little Wordsmiths

Source: livemint.com
Indian publishers find a new, fairly lucrative category in books written by tweens and teens

Most of these publishers are serious about promoting their authors. Take Sterling, which launched 18-year-old Anirudh Vasdev with the collection of short stories, Of Ghosts, Wizards and Other Fantasies (in May last year). Vasdev got a launch at the London Book Fair. Says S.K. Ghai, chairman and managing director of Sterling Publishers, “The best way to encourage a young author is to publish him.” Roli’s launch last year of The Mystic Temple, written by Asmita Goyanka, a 14-year-old, Delhi-based author, involved a reading and an interaction with kids at a cafe and a children’s book store. “We’ll also try and do as much Web promotion as we can, because a large percentage of youngsters are very engaged with online activities. We’ll use Facebook, Twitter,” says Pradipta Sarkar of HarperCollins.

Read more »

New Book Releases and Events

This section reports on new book and journal releases, new imprints and other similar events.

An elegant translation of Sangam poems

Source: The Hindu

Though numerous native scholars and western aficionados have attempted to render in English select poems from Sangam anthologies, G.U. Pope, A.K. Ramanujan and George L. Hart represent three types of translation, each with its own idiosyncratic features that accounted for their merits as well as limitations. On his part, Pope contents himself very often with paraphrases. It is his fondness for rhymes that lets him down and, at times, even forces him to introduce a descriptive phrase or a metaphor not found in the original. As for Ramanujan, he scrupulously avoids Victorian English and chooses today’s English, which remains his forte.

Read more »

History of Gujarati Publishing, Now in a Book
Source: Times of India

The first printed book in Gujarati was written by a surgeon 200 years ago. Interestingly, it was written not by a Gujarati but an Englishman Dr Robert Drummond. In 1808, he wrote Illustrations of the grammatical parts of the Guzerattee, Mahratta & English language, which is known as the first printed Gujarati book.

Aspects about Gujarati publishing history such as these are contained in Deepak Mehta’s recently published book, Oganishmi Sadi Gujarati Granth Samrudhhi. The book deals in interesting aspects of Gujarati books and men of letters. This well-researched work has colourful insights and inside stories on Gujarati books.

Read more »

Penning Business Ideas

Source: Business Standard
Penguin India’s CEO & president, Mike Bryan, has some clear-cut plans to expand the company’s publishing business.

Penguin India this month will launch its first branded store in Bangalore called “Penguin Pageturners”.The store will have 80 per cent Penguin books and the rest will be a mix from other publishers. Bryan is in talks with franchisee in Kerala for the next branded store there. The roadmap ahead will depend on how these two stores do.

Read more »

Amar Ujala gets into book publishing

Source: afaqs.com
Publishers of Hindi daily Amar Ujala are getting into book publishing and are all set to launch the publication’s first book, titled Housewife to Homemaker.

Amar Ujala Book Publishing Division plans to launch one book every month and the titles will be distributed at the newsstands and book stores across Uttar Pradesh. All books launched by the division will be in Hindi. Targeted at the middle class segment, the division will focus on issues related to women and children – particularly teenagers. Read more »

Harlequin romance imprint in Penguin-India kitty
Source: Hindustan Times
Harlequin Enterprises Ltd, one of the world’s leading publishers of books for women, has tied up with Penguin-India to promote its popular imprint MIRA in India, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal. Read more »

New book on UK writer’s friendship with Phoolan Devi

Source: ptinews.com
The unlikely friendship between Roy Moxham, a British writer, and India’s ‘bandit queen’, Phoolan Devi, is the subject of a new book that claims to be the only account of the former MP’s life after her release from jail in 1994. The book is based on extensive correspondence between the two, even though Devi did not know English. She dictated her replies to Moxham’s letters and the two became friends.

Titled ‘India’s Bandit Queen and Me’, the book, writer Moxham says, “above all, this is the story of a friendship”. Read more »

With serious goals for journalism

Source: latimes.com
Revenue plummets right along with dreary circulation. Time slashes its staff. Newsweek hovers near extinction. Survival and stable footing seem assured only for the frothiest and most specialized magazines.

Yet one woman looks into this bleak media sea and sees an opportunity, if not to make money, to fill a void with serious, solutions-oriented journalism.

The result is Miller-McCune, a bimonthly journal that focuses on social issues and public policy. Read more »

This newsletter is developed by Dogears Print Media Pvt Ltd. with inputs from various individuals, publishing houses, websites and blogs.

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If you have news to report, please contact us by email at writetous@ thepublisherspost.com with the word “SUBMISSION” in the subject line. News that includes book launches, book signings, launch of new imprints and publishing houses, book fairs, new entrants among publishers, writer and publisher blogs, comments, opinions, relevant job postings, the works. The newsletter is sent every month during the last week of the month.

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To subscribe, email us at writetous@ thepublisherspost.com with the word “SUBSCRIBE” in the subject line. E-mail addresses will not be used for any commercial purpose ]]> http://www.thepublisherspost.com/the-publishers-post-june-2010/feed/ 0 http://www.thepublisherspost.com/the-publishers-post-may-2010/ http://www.thepublisherspost.com/the-publishers-post-may-2010/#comments Fri, 28 May 2010 05:08:35 +0000 Leonard Fernandes http://www.thepublisherspost.com/the-publishers-post-may-2010/

The Publisher’s Post is a monthy newsletter that contains information relating to the book publishing and book selling industry in India.

Dear Reader,
Thanks to your support, we have been encouraged to relaunch the Publisher’s Post. While hoping that you will enjoy the newsletter, we hope you will help us accessing matter that can be included.
Publishers are requested to inform us of new launches and other information we could add. The newsletter has a large readership of 800+ subscribers and this could be a useful way of reaching out to them.
Regards, The Publisher’s Post

Happenings
On what’s happened in the industry this last week. If there’s news you have heard of and think it would make for interesting reading, please share it with us.

Penguin India in Digital Mode

Penguin is getting ready to launch digital content business in India.

With 500 digital titles and counting, John Makinson, CEO of Penguin, is convinced that the publishing house will have a good run delivering books over mobile phones and e-readers.

“India remains a tough market to do business as book prices are low. Besides, pirated editions are already selling at traffic signals before we place our copies at the book stores,” Makinson says.

Lack of physical distribution in Tier 2 and 3 cities has also hit business – reasons that are strong enough for Makinson to turn books into applications with “online communities” for fans, live chat between readers and other multimedia effects. Read More

Sangam House Writer’s Residency Program

Every winter the Sangam House Writer’s Residency Program invites approximately twenty writers to live and work on the Adishakti property outside Pondicherry, on the east coast of southern India. Lodging (single rooms) and food will be provided free of charge. Each writer is responsible for travel costs to and from Pondicherry. However, travel funds and bursaries are available through various cultural organizations.

The next session will run for approximately three months from mid-November 2010 to mid-February 2011.  Residents are selected through an application process. Know more.

Amar Chitra Katha publisher buys IBH

The new entity will be one of the largest integrated publishing and distribution firms in India.

ACK Media, which owns brands such as Amar Chitra Katha, Tinkle and Karadi Tales, has acquired a 100% stake in India Book House Pvt. Ltd (IBH), one of the largest and oldest distribution networks for books and other published material.

The new entity, IBH Books and Magazines Distributors Pvt. Ltd, will be one of the largest integrated publishing and distribution companies in India.

ACK Media, registered as Amar Chitra Katha Pvt. Ltd, is also looking to raise nearly Rs100 crore in the next 18 months to expand its portfolio of products and promote itself in India and abroad.

Read More

The Murty Classical Library

That N R Narayana Murthy, chief mentor and founder of Infosys, and his family, have established the Murty Classical Library to translate Indian classics into English is now well known. What is less known is that the project is close to the heart and mind of Narayana Murthy’s son Rohan Murty.

It was in mid-April this year that the Murtys announced the establishing of the library. To be set up with an endowment from the family’s donation of 5.2 million dollars, the project will translate classical works from Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu, Bengali, Kannada, Bhojpuri, Punjabi and other Indian languages into English for a global audience. Harvard University Press (HUP) has been assigned the work of publishing the translated works.

Rohan Murty explained that the Murty Classical Library will translate Indian literature, and some texts could be as old as 1,500 years from various Indian languages. The library will include fiction, non-fiction and philosophy. Read More

Cyber forum for Indo-Anglian writers

Indo-Anglian writers now have an interactive cyber forum to exchange creative ideas and share their passion for the language. A group of English lovers across the country has taken the initiative to launch an exclusive online journal www.indianruminations.com.

Indianruminations features a collection of poems, essays, interviews, reviews, short fiction, literary criticism and art. “English has come to occupy an important position in the era of globalisation. But much of the writings in the language project Western culture. Most writers themselves are based abroad with only a feeble link to India,” said Ms. Sandhya, an employee with the Kerala Sustainable Urban Development Project (KSUDP). Read More

How to Train Your Dragon

The first lit festival in Bhutan introduced the Bhutanese to their own readership.

Mountain Echoes, the first India-Bhutan literature festival, was unpretentious, informal and made sure that the Indian contingent got a summer vacation out of it in pleasant Thimphu. Read More

New Book Releases and Events
This section reports on new book and journal releases, new imprints and other similar events.

MT’s works in English released

A collection of M.T. Vasudevan Nair’s fiction translated into English and published by Orient Black Swan was released by Kannada writer and critic U.R. Ananthamurthy.

The hardback edition titled ‘The Writings of M.T. Vasudevan Nair’ comprises ‘Mist’ and ‘The Soul of Darkness,’ ‘Kalam,’ and ‘Kuttiedathi and Other Stories.’ ‘Mist’ and ‘The Soul of Darkness’ are translations of Mr. Vasudevan Nair’s highly-acclaimed novels, ‘Manhu’ and ‘Irutinde Atmavu.’

Gita Krishnankutty and V.Abdulla are the translators of the works included in the collection. The volume also features an introduction to MT’s works by P.P. Raveendran, eminent academic and scholar of Malayalam literature. Read More

When Someone’s Wife Did It For the First Time

When Buddhadeva Bose’s Raat Bhorey Brishti (It Rained All Night) was published in 1967, it raked up a controversy in Calcutta (Kolkata). The book was deemed pornographic by a Sessions Judge and the poor author was made to stand in a cage during the course of the court hearings, in retrospect, by a somewhat deranged judge. The Calcutta High Court quashed the charges of pornography brought against Buddhadeva Bose and the novella went on to become a critical as well as commercial success.

Clinton B Seely, scholar of the Bengali language and Emerituus Professor of Bengali at the Department of South Asian Languages and Civilisations, University of Chicago, has done a fine translation of an important Bengali fiction written at a critical juncture in its history.

It Rained All Night reads like an intimate diary written by two people, namely Maloti, a pretty middle class Bengali and her academic husband, Nayonangshu. Each presents a point of view about Maloti’s affair with Jayanto, a journalist and a man of action, who happens to be a friend of the family. The writing is strong and confessional. Read the whole review here

Bi-Monthly Journal Dedicated to Book Publishing

All About Book Publishing (AABP), a bi-monthly trade journal exclusively dedicated to book publishing industry in India, was launched during the World Book Fair that concluded in New Delhi earlier this year. According to its publishers, All About Book Publishing aims to informatically serve the industry associates and enable them to perform effectively. It will be a reliable information source for the book publishing industry.

Blogs and Articles
Comments and posts on trends and events in the book industry.

Spend Less To Stay In Business

A spectre is haunting the Indian book trade — that of rising costs and declining profits. Increased overhead and book-production costs have led to higher prices and reduced volume sales that have cut into the already slender margins of a book. As the shadow lengthens, how does the future shape up and what are the prospects for authors of new books? Read the whole article here

“Own-It-Yourself” Bookstore

fivex5 is a unique retail concept introduced in India, one that encourages individuals to spare a small place in their homes, offices or establishments and sell books from there.

The concept, rolled out in February 2010, affords publishers to reach out to readers in far-off places where distribution of books using the conventional route is still a challenge. Know more….

Delhi’s Indie Book Stop

While still on the subject of unique bookstores…

Located in the belly button of Hauz Khas village, towards the bottom end of its labyrinthine roads, Yodakin offers 400 sq. ft of alternative, independent and interesting titles in music, books and movies. Whether you are looking for eco-friendly activity books for tweens, CDs of alternative rock bands or esoteric art magazines, this is the place to go.

The store is founder Arpita Das’ solution to the problem of alternative books getting lost in large bookstores. Das runs Yoda Press, an independent publishing house that focuses on urban studies, sexuality and gender, among other subjects. Read more…

iPads, Kindles, and the Close of a Chapter in Book Publishing

Few days ago, the first buyers of Apple’s iPad began putting it through its paces, playing games, navigating the Internet, and downloading electronic books.

That groan you heard was from dozens of book publishers across the United States, reeling from yet another onslaught against their bread and butter: the paper book. First it was Books on Tape, followed by books on phones, and then the king of business model killers, Amazon.com’s Kindle.

Read the entire post here

A Step in the Dark

John Makinson has been with publishing firm Penguin Group for around 15 years and has been its chief executive since 2002. An expert in digital publishing who is spearheading Penguin’s e-book initiatives, he was in India to launch Shobhaa De Books, Penguin India’s new imprint for books related to lifestyle, the celebrity world, fashion, film and culture.

Makinson spoke about the challenges of being an e-book publisher and the Indian book market. Edited excerpts….

A New Voice

Translation of Bengali novels into English is nothing new. Translated works of Rabindranath Tagore and Satyajit Ray have been steady sellers in most bookshops around the country but it’s only of late that the focus has shifted to other greats of Bengali literature like Sankar, Parashuram and of course Sunil Gangopadhyay. “These books are contemporary and manage to strike a chord with those who aren’t comfortable with Bengali,” says Bishwarup of The Oxford Bookstore.

Read the full article here

Novel adventures

Less than three years ago, [HT Sunday Magazine] Brunch had done a cover story titled Desperately Seeking Writers, about how publishers were looking for writers to do books in all sorts of genres. “How things have changed since then,” says VK Karthika, chief editor of HarperCollins India, who was quoted in that story. “Now there are books by Indian writers in most genres – though I still don’t think you can say there’s enough.” Still, no one who’s walked into a big bookshop recently can have failed to notice that the section called ‘Indian Writing’ has become quite big. Every month, bookshops display more and more novels by Indian writers. English fiction writing in India, it seems, is booming. Read the entire post here

=======================================================
This newsletter is developed by Dogears Print Media Pvt Ltd. with inputs from various individuals, publishing houses, websites and blogs.

News Submissions:
If you have news to report, please contact us by email at at thepublisherspost[@]gmail[.]com with the word “SUBMISSION” in the subject line. News that includes book launches, book signings, launch of new imprints and publishing houses, book fairs, new entrants among publishers, writer and publisher blogs, comments, opinions, relevant job postings, the works. The newsletter is sent every month during the last week of the month.

Unsubscribe:
To unsubscribe, email us at thepublisherspost[@]gmail[.]com with the word “UNSUBSCRIBE” in the subject line

Subscribe:
To subscribe, email us at thepublisherspost[@]gmail[.]com with the word “SUBSCRIBE” in the subject line. E-mail addresses will not be used for any commercial purpose
]]> http://www.thepublisherspost.com/the-publishers-post-may-2010/feed/ 0 http://www.thepublisherspost.com/ancient-language-bo-dies/ http://www.thepublisherspost.com/ancient-language-bo-dies/#comments Tue, 09 Feb 2010 11:29:21 +0000 Leonard Fernandes http://www.thepublisherspost.com/?p=210 Source: mirror.co.uk

The last member of a 65,000-year-old tribe has passed away – and with her the ancient Bo language.

Boa Sr was the only surviving descendant of the Bo people, who inhabited the remote Andaman Islands off the east coast of India.

She died last week aged 83 after living through British rule, Second World War Japanese occupation and the 2004 tsunami.

Delhi-based linguistics professor Anvita Abbi told how Boa lost her sight and had been forced to learn a new language.

He said: “She was the only person left who spoke Bo. At times, she felt very isolated and lonely as she had no-one to talk to in her own tongue. She had to learn an Andamanese version of Hindi in order to communicate.

“But throughout her life she had a very good sense of humour and her smile and full-throated laughter were infectious.”

The Abhayadev Memorial Bhasha Samanwaya Awards instituted by the Bhasha Samanwaya Vedi for Malayalam-Hindi periodicals and writers who undertake translation of literary works that help in boosting cultural unity have been announced.

Kavanakaumudi, published once in three months, received the award in the Malayalam periodicals section for publishing 22 translated poems from various Indian languages. Sadbhavana Darpan, published from Raipur and edited by Girish Pankaj, won the award in the Hindi periodicals section for publishing translated works in all Indian languages.
For translations

U.K.S. Chauhan won the award in translated works section for his translation of Mahakavi Akkitham’s poems into Hindi.

The awards will be distributed on February 9 at Kozhikode by Mahatma Gandhi International Hindi University Vice-Chancellor Vibhoothi Narayan Rai.

Book: ‘Travancore: The Footprints of Destiny’ – Autobiography: Uthradom Tirunal Marthanda Varma, the former king (as told to Uma Maheswari); Publisher: Konark Publishers; Price: Rs.2,000

In 1924, when Mahatma Gandhi asked young Chithira Tirunal, the 12-year-old prince of the erstwhile princely state of Travancore in Kerala, if he would remove untouchability and throw open the temples to all castes when he became king, the boy answered, ‘Of course’. And he lived up to his word.

The former princely state of Travancore in Kerala, a staunch Hindu bastion, has always stood apart from the rest of 19th century royal India for its progressive ideas and non-alignment which were way ahead of its time.

Uthradom Tirunal Marthanda Varma, 88, the last ruler of Travancore, gives many glimpses of life as it was then in the first-ever autobiography of a former ruler from the erstwhile princely state, in ‘Travancore: The Footprints of Destiny’.

When Chithira Tirunal met Mahatma Gandhi in 1924 at the Pattom Palace, the prince was accompanied by his regent mother Maharani Sethu Lakshmi Bayi. As promised, on his 25th birthday, Nov 12, 1936, the prince issued the Temple Entry Proclamation, which was a landmark event in the history of India.

The momentous decision that allowed devotees cutting across caste lines to enter an upper caste Hindu shrine set a precedent in India.

The autobiography, which chronicles all the major events in India and in Kerala since the birth of the surviving former ‘Rajah’ throws rare insights into Kerala’s engagement with the rest of the country – and the 20th century world at large – during the British Raj and post- Independence.

It is also a testimony to Kerala’s rich cultural heritage through detailed descriptions of the state’s festivals, palace rites, religion and life inside the portals of the ornate palace.

Central to the book, however, is the spiritual driving force of the 12th century (former) royal state – a temple of Lord Padmanabha, an incarnation of Mahavishnu – the presiding deity of Travancore.

The book, which has a foreword by former president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, is divided into 11 chapters that covers Travancore and its heritage, the Vishnu temples and its rituals, birth and childhood of the Uthradom Tirunal Marthanda Varma, the life of his parents, Travancore’s military tradition, the royal weddings and the power shift to democracy.

The short texts are accompanied by rare pictures from the royal archives and blurbs to highlight important events.

The book, dictated by the 88-year-old former king to Kerala-based journalist-writer Uma Maheshwari, will be released by Abdul Kalam Jan 5.

Maheshwari, whose forefathers migrated to Thiruvananthapuram centuries ago to serve the temple of Padmanabhaswami, says ‘humility was the hallmark of the erstwhile Travancore royalty’.

The former south Indian principality, one of the most ancient in India dating back to the Chera dynasty, was spread across 7,625 sq miles with a coastline 168 miles.

In a major initiative, 50 rare work of English, Persian and Sanskrit would be translated into Gojri. “Fifty rare works of English, Persian and Sanskrit are chosen to be rendered into Gojri in order to widen the access to classic and modern languages,” Dr Javaid Rahi a senior functionary of Jammu and Kashmir Academy of Art, Culture and Languages said here today.

He said that this long-term project was initiated to bring world class and landmark works into Gojri to enrich this ancient tribal languages spoken by the Gurjar tribe. Under this project, 21 classics were already published in Gojri, which include world famous work like Mathnavi Moulana Rumi, “Gulistan-e-Saddi” Rubiyat-e-Umar Khayam, Karwan-e-Madina, Shakespeare’’s Othello and King Lear, Sanskrit’’s Neelmat Puran, the autobiography of Mahatma Gandhi “My Experience with Truth”, Shahan-e-Gurjars and others.

“This project is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2011″, Rahi said.

Contemporary Santhali literature has taken off in a big way since it became an official language of Jharkhand in 2003, but it has not come of age because the government has not added it to the list of official Indian languages, says a pioneer of the Santhali book trade.

“Contemporary tribal literature does not get government grants – and flourishes on personal and individual enterprise,” Mangal Manjhi told IANS in an interview.

His modest Adim (ancient) Book Centre — which sells Santhali works written in the traditional Ol Chiki script — was set up 15 years ago in the tribal-dominated area of Parsudih on the outskirts of the steel city of Jamshedpur.

“It was the lone tribal bookshop in the region and also the first tribal shop to take part in the prestigious Jamshedpur Book Fair in 1994. Till today, Adim Book Centre is the only tribal representative at the fair,” Manjhi said.

His shop is currently one of the two surviving tribal bookshops in Jharkhand. “All the others have downed shutters because of resource crunch over the last five years. A couple of tribal hawkers sell books door-to-door in Ghatshila in East Singhbhum,” he said.

Since 2003, after Santhali — along with Maithili, Bodo and Dogri — was put in the Eighth Schedule of the constitution, contemporary literature has witnessed a spurt of new writers, Manjhi said.

Inclusion in the Eighth Schedule means the government is now under obligation to take measures for the development of the language. A candidate appearing for a public service examination is entitled to answer questions in the language.

“On an average, 50 new Santhali books are published every year. They are books on drama, poetry, novels, historical tales and religious texts,” Manjhi said. “The number of books can go up two-fold if the government recognises Santhali as an official Indian vernacular language like Bengali, Punjabi and Oriya under Article 345 of the Constitution.

“Tribal children are not encouraged to study Santhali — even in schools — because it’s not official.”

The writer-bookseller — who has written two books, “Hasur Bera” (The Last Fence) and Molong Anol (The Circle of Fate) — is now campaigning for it, along with a handful of intellectuals in Jharkhand and West Bengal.

“Santhali should be taught in every government school in tribal pockets,” Manjhi said. “We have managed to introduce it in a few schools on personal initiative.”

Santhals are the biggest tribal group in the Chhotanagpur region of which Jharkhand is a part — they form nearly 27 percent of the population.

Talking about his shop, Manjhi said: “Classical Santhali literature is still the most popular. Two books of drama by the creator of Ol Chiki script, Raghunath Murmu, titled ‘Kherowar Bir’ and ‘Bidu Chadan’, are still in demand.”

Murmu, who was born in 1905, felt the need to create a script because Santhali was written in the Roman script before that. By 1925, Murmu created Ol Chiki, the only tribal script without any compound words. “The creation of Ol Chiki gave birth to Santhali literature,” Manjhi said.

The dream to sell Santhali books was sown in Manjhi’s mind when he first visited the Jamshedpur Book Fair.

“I wanted to buy some Santhali books but I could not get any. It was a disappointment because the state was mine, but it did not have books in our language. I decided to sell my own books. Four years later, I was back at the fair as the lone tribal book shop owner in the region.”

Manjhi sells about 45,000 to 90,000 books priced between Rs.200 and Rs.4,500 (for the dictionaries) every year. “But it is difficult to procure rare Santhali books, though I have built a small stock of vintage texts over the years.

“As there is no help from the government, unlike in the other states, we fall back on small printing units in Kolkata to print tribal books at low cost.” He spends money out of his pocket to publish Santhali books and manage his book shop.

“Publishing each book costs Rs.16,000 to Rs.17,000,” he said.

Listing some of the most popular contemporary Santhali writers, Manjhi said: “Rameswar Murmu, Bhogla Soren, Barka Kisku, Yashoda Murmu, Joba Murmu and Barilal Tudu are now being read widely.”

(Madhusree Chatterjee can be contacted at madhu.c@ians.in)

In a unique revolution in the publishing world, two Indian books have made their debut in the virtual world. Converted into the e-book format, both these books can now be downloaded on the e-book reader, Kindle.

Published by Indian publishing house Wisdom Tree, Mantras: The Sacred Chants by Swami Veda Bharati and Yogini: Unfolding the Goddess Within by Shambhavi Chopra can now be downloaded within minutes on the e-book reader.

The e-book versions, which have been uploaded on online retailer Amazon’s website, can only be downloaded on Kindle.

Talking about the response to the e-books since last week, Shobit Arya, publisher at Wisdom Tree, said: “The results in the first week itself are absolutely amazing. We sold the first Kindle version of Mantras within hours of it being available and sold eight copies within the first three days itself.”

Wisdom Tree has sent 15 of its books to be e-formatted on Kindle of which two have been done successfully while the rest are still in the pipeline, Arya added.

The only hitch in this is that Kindle is still not very popular in India unlike in the US. But according to Arya, it’s just a matter of time before the rage catches up here and these e-book reader gadgets are readily available here.

In Aspiring writers from India in The Guardian Anita Desai contrasts the situation there in the 1950s and 60s (”when it was an act of solitary confinement and the actual existence of writers was no more than a rumour spread by their books”) with the post-Midnight’s Children boom.
But there’s still a sense of nostalgia for the bad old days, where:

In this distinctly discouraging atmosphere, one could only withdraw to write without any hope of there being publishers who might want to publish what one wrote, still less of readers who might wish to read it