The Publisher’s Post – April 2011

May 7th, 2011 | By Editors | Category: Newsletters

Happenings
On what’s been happening. If there’s news you have heard of and think it would make for interesting reading, please share it with us.

UN urges debate of publishing trends
Source: newKerala.com
The head of the United Nations agency tasked with preserving the world’s cultural heritage called for a debate to examine the changing trends in book publishing and copyrights, saying new technologies are transforming the industry and having an impact on publishers, authors and readers.

“Change is giving rise also to sharp new debates – about the strengths and weaknesses of different kinds of products, about the nature of copyright today, about the role of libraries relative to online knowledge, about the meaning of ‘authorship’ in a world of blogs and wikis,” said Irina Bokova, the Director-General of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in a message to mark the World Book and Copyright Day (on April 23). Read more »

Upcoming writers find a place in Marathi literature
Source: Times of India
New and unpublished writers are slowly finding a platform to showcase their work, with a host of city-based publishers opening their doors to first-time and new authors, especially in Marathi literature, citing greater market share as one of the main reasons.

Every month, Prakash Ranade from Neelkanth Prakashan receives at least 10 to 15 enquiries from new writers from across the state and beyond. “There is certainly a rise in the number of new writers wanting to get their works published. They belong to various professional fields and choose to write on anything, spanning from social issues, to environment to women’s problems. I prefer manuscripts that address the current reality of life and society,” says Ranade, who has just published five works by first-time writers in Marathi. Read more »

Veteran writer of science, crime in Urdu passes away unsung
Source: Indian Express
Izhar Asar, who died aged 82 on April 15, was a remarkable man, a writer of nearly 1,000 novels in Urdu, who found the time and dedication to teach himself Kathak, and perform for nearly 10 years. He was also a rare Muslim who, after Partition, migrated from Lahore, where he had gone to live in the 1940s, to India.

As a writer in Urdu, Asar was unusual. His repertoire included crime, pulp and science fiction. A rationalist and a progressive, he was part of the Progressive Writers’ Association, PWA. In 2006, he was honoured with the Ghalib Award.

And yet, in his last few years, the Bijnore-based veteran had become, as his eldest son said without a hint of irony, “a general merchant” of the letters – a man who would write on demand, virtually a novel every week. Read more »

Bhutan literature fest, Edition Two
Source: The Assam Tribune
Come May and literature enthusiasts can head to Bhutan, the land of scenic landscapes and fabled dragons for a festival that seeks to bring authors, poets, writers and other celebrities on a common platform.

“We had a resounding success last year when the festival was held for the first time and we are returning again with a lot more programmes,” Mita Kapur, founder director of the festival “Mountain Echoes” to be held in Thimphu.

The five-day festival beginning May 20 seeks to explore and celebrate the rich literary culture of both India and Bhutan and would focus on themes like the need and importance of preserving languages; oral traditions; the contemporary art of science fiction; story writing; ballads; fantasy fiction, among others.
Read more »

India Poised To Emerge As The Global Publishing BPO Services Hub
Source: The Assam Tribune
The 3rd Publishing BPO Services Conference organized by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Chennai Zone on 08th April 2011 at Chennai, deliberated on the “digital wave” in publishing offshoring and how India (Chennai region including Puducherry) as the Global Publishing BPO Services Hub leverage it and move up the value chain.

The Publishing BPO conference this year addressed the increased dominance of digital publishing compared to the traditional print (Hard cover, Books), the increased dependency on technology and changing consumer preferences.

This conference provides the right platform for industry to deliberate, discuss best practices, understand trends and provide directions for publishing BPO vendors to convert this challenge into a big opportunity and continue to sustain India as the Publishing BPO Services hub of the world. Read more »

Navayana-Avarna fellowship for NBT Publishing Course, July 2011
In July 2011, NBT is conducing the annual four-week course in Delhi. Following similar initiatives in 2009 and 2010,Navayana once again seeks to provide fellowships to five dalit/ adivasi students who get selected for the NBT course. The details of the comprehensive course, where the best professionals from the publishing industry teach, are available at this link:
http://www.nbtindia.org.in/download/April2010/BookPub/InfoDelhi.pdf.

Application: http://www.nbtindia.org.in/download/April2010/BookPub/Application%20Form.pdf

Last date for sending applications: 10 June 2011.

Candidates are to apply directly to NBT as instructed on the NBT website. There is no entrance test; any graduate may apply. Navayana shall play no role in the selection of the candidates. Candidates who happen to be Dalit/ Adivasi and are selected by NBT may then apply to Navayana for financial support. Navayana shall pay the course fee (Rs 5,000) for up to five Dalit/ Adivasi candidates. NBT this year is also arranging accommodation for outstation candidates at Rs 3,000 for four weeks. Navayana shall also subsidize this amount. In all, the net value of the Avarna Fellowship shall be Rs 8,000.
NBT also has an internship program for promising students from which the selected Avarna fellows could benefit.

In case of queries, please write to avarna@ navayana.org

Course for Editors in Publishing
The “4th Intensive Course for Editors in Publishing” organized by the Institute of Book Publishing will be held from May 23- 28, 2011 at India International Centre, New Delhi. The Course details and application form is available on the website www.ibpindia.org

Book Releases
To have your book listed here, write to us with all details and a cover image

Influencing India: Lobbying in the world’s largest Democracy
by Sugato Hazra
240p/Hardcover/Rs.495
ISBN:978-93-80637-01-3
Bridging Borders

Lost Years of the RSS
by Sanjeev Kelkar
392p/Paperback
ISBN: 9788132105909
SAGE India

Daughters: A Story of Five Generations
By Bharati Ray, Translated By Madhuchanda Karlekar, Foreword by Amartya Sen
336pp/Paperback/Rs. 399
ISBN: 9780143416487
Penguin India

Islam Translated: Literature, Conversion, and the Arabic Cosmopolis of South and Southeast Asia
by Ronit Ricci
312pp/Hardback/Rs. 750
ISBN: 81-7824-333-4
Permanent Black, Co-published by the University of Chicago Press

Ravana: Roar of the Demon King
By Abhimanyu Singh Sisodia, Illustrated by Sachin Nagar
96pp/Paperback/Rs. 195
ISBN: 978-93-80028-98-9
Campfire

Gandhi in the West – The Mahatma and the Rise of Radical Protest
By Sean Scalmer
254pp/Hardback/Rs. 795
ISBN: 9781107014114
Cambridge University Press

The Cousins
by Prema Raghunath
352pp/Paperback/Rs. 325
ISBN: 9788189884604
Zubaan

Geek Nation
by Angela Saini
288pp/Hardcover/Rs. 499
ISBN: 9781444734096
Hachette India

Down The Road
Edited by Ahmed Faiyaz, Rohini Kejriwal
225pp/Paperback/Rs. 195
ISBN: 9788192040301
Grey Oak Publishers India Pvt. Ltd.

Govind Lahari
by Asuri Vasudevan
192p/Paperback/Rs 260
ISBN: 978-93-80151-82-3
CinnamonTeal Publishing

The Last Prabhu: A Hunt for Roots – DNA, Ancient Documents and Migration in Goa
by By Bernardo Elvino De Sousa
172p/Paperback/Rs.950
ISBN: 9789380739151
Goa 1556

If you have news, articles, blog postings or book launches and reviews to submit, please email us at writetous@ thepublisherspost.com

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

Indian Publishing
Source: Himal Southasian
Himal Southasian, in its May issue, has extensively covered the publishing industry in India and indeed the entire subcontinent. With articles by, among others, Urvashi Butalia and Ameena Saiyid, the issue provides an insider’s perspective on India’s “booming” book industry and that in its neighbours. Sample an article titled “When markets commission” by Akshay Pathak, Director of the German Book Office, New Delhi

The ‘new’ writer, then, has an interesting arena in which to work. With a growing market in the Subcontinent, the old argument of writing for a foreign readership is losing its logic. Chetan Bhagat and Amish Tripathi, each selling over 50,000 copies in India alone, represent a new breed of writers who are able to defy previous notions of what the market demands. Literary quality apart (defined, in any case, by a handful of critics fighting for the scant space the media permits for reviews), the mood that these authors create lends a new flavour to the scope of English-language publishing in India.

Read more »Waiting on Words
Source: Indian Express
Eshwar Rao or ‘Hyderabadi’ as he is popularly known is not your usual hotel employee who just reads off a list of delicacies to help hungry customers make up their minds about what to order. The 53-year-old, who works as a supervisor at Bhagwati Hotel in Charkop, Kandivali after doing a myriad of odd jobs throughout his life, is also a renowned poet.

Rao, a regular at mushairas and other such literary events in the locality, claims to have written over a thousand ghazals and poems. Amongst the various local awards that he has received over the years, his work has earned him the Kavi Ratna Puraskar and Ambedkar National Award from the Dalit Sahitya Akademi – an organisation working to promote Dalit literature, encourage Dalit writers and recognise the services of those engaged in the field of Dalit welfare. Read more »

Art, within and without lines
Source: DNA
While art should encourage open-endedness, imagination and self-expression in children, colouring books too have their merits.

These seemingly-innocent books meet two key parental desires: perfection in the child’s ‘performance’, and secondly, quiet engagement, or ‘timepass’. Like the classes, they leave no room for open-endedness, imagination and self-expression. They also pass on a subtle signal to kids: drawing is grown-up’s work, and should not be attempted by you. You just colour. Neatly and within the lines.

Read more »Untold stories – India’s non-fiction
Source: Business Standard
While art should encourage open-endedness, imagination and self-expression in children, colouring books too have their merits.

Samanth Subramanian, like Sonia Faleiro, is one of the new stars of non-fiction; Following Fish, narrative journalism exploring India’s coastline, remains one of the best food and travel books of recent times. “This is just the beginning,” he says. We both agree that a handful of authors and non-fiction books from the subcontinent isn’t enough to call a movement, yet.

But as Subramanian points out, what may be changing is a sensibility, as our curiosity about our own stories is matched by the willingness to actually go out and tell them.

Few Indian publications support essays longer than 1,500-2,000 words; and even fewer would offer that space to issues other than politics. The Caravan, run by Jonathan Shainin and a crack team of writer-editors, who include author Anjum Hassan and former Random House editor Rajni George, is one of the few magazines that look for and nurture narrative non-fiction, aside from a handful of menâ€™s magazines that occasionally commission lengthy essays.

It’s tempting to see Siddhartha Mukherjee’s Pulitzer triumph as confirmation of the Indian success story in non-fiction; but in a way, Mukherjee’s success as a writer is a very American, not Indian, success. What would it take to have a The Emperor of Maladies come out of India? More supportive publishing houses, more magazines with demanding editorial standards, more imagination and willingness to go after the untold stories on the part of writers? I don’t really have the answers, but it’s an interesting question.

Read more »Mills & Boon to adopt teaser route for e-books
Source: Financial Express
Harlequin Mills and Boon India will be promoting the growth of e-book vertical in the Indian market with a series of customer-centred teaser initiatives, according to Manish Singh, country manager of the publishing company.

“Currently the company derives 2 to 3% revenue from the online and e-book categories. We wish to boost the e-book adoption among Indians with a variety of sops including buy one get one offer, free online access to select titles and other innovative promotions like free mystery gifts to induce the next generation bibliophiles to embrace the tech platform of their choice,” he said in an interview with the Financial Express. Read more »

Silence! The ego is reading
Source: Tehelka
The solitary, brooding writer is nearly extinct. Writers are now public property, but is that good for them or the reading public, asks author Anjum Hasan

Even if one does manage to reconcile writing with speaking, the two are obviously very different kinds of performances. Having learnt about Franz Kafka’s petrifaction and Philip Larkin’s diffidence about reading in public, I’ve always assumed writing and reading must be judged independently. Having seen Orhan Pamuk display, as a speaker, a teacherly style that sits oddly with the lyricism of his prose or heard the seemingly stone-hearted VS Naipaul confess that listening to other people read aloud from his work moves him to tears, I’ve realised that writers as people of flesh, blood and vocal chords are not to be measured exactly against writers as people we encounter in print.

Read more »World of books hardly lags behind
Source: The Hindu
It is not just the classics or the popular works in contemporary literature that are drawing readers. What is commonly perceived as serious literature is increasingly seeing more takers.

The success of Tamil books mirrors some larger trends in Tamil literature itself, says Sirpi Balasubramaniam, executive board member and convener of the Tamil advisory Board, Sahitya Akademi.

“The field is flourishing in terms of quality in writing and business. It is almost like another Sangam era. Classics are being reprinted. Short stories of writers such as Pudhumaipithan are seeing multiple editions. Many publishers are re-printing the works of Jayakanthan, Sa. Kandasamy and Asokamithran,” he says.

On other genres, Mr. Balasubramaniam says the patronage is equally encouraging. Dalit literature, including the works of writers such as Imayam, Azhagiya Periyavan and Bama, is building a good repository on the lives and reflections of dalits.

“There is a transition from giving accounts of one’s problems to giving a perspective of a Dalit’s life and relationships. There is some very powerful writing coming out,” he adds. Feminist and post-modernist literature, and poetry are seeing some valuable contributions. “Folk and Tamil Diaspora literature is enriching the Tamil vocabulary with rare usages and powerful metaphors.”

Read more »National shelf life
Source: Mint
A store in Delhi’s book publishing hub has the country’s largest collection of non-fiction on India

The bookshop doubles as a publishing and distribution company. Books from here are parcelled daily to Kyoto, Kolhapur, Heidelberg, Prague, Patna, Toulouse, Dublin, Bangalore, Boston, London and Lahore. “We have religion and arts, music and crafts, politics and cultural studies,” says Ajay, the owner’s son. “Which means we are a one-stop shop for academic needs,” adds his father.

What is scholarly for professors could simply be a pleasure read for a lay reader. The shop’s eclectic collection comprises titles that give a tantalizing glimpse into a world right under our noses, yet unexplored. Sample a few: From Sacred Servant to Profane Prostitute; The Social History of Health and Medicine in Colonial India, Muslim Architecture of South India, Boats of South Asia, Pied Pipers in North-East India, Frogs in a Well-Indian Women in Purdah and Criminal Gods and Demon Devotees.

The shop, spread over five floors, has 25,000 books. Many lie locked in the basement. The browsing area on the ground floor is divided by wooden shelves into two rows, with a seating space that has two coffee tables with eight low chairs. The late scholar Simon Digby, who divided his time between Delhi and the UK, was a regular. He would make two piles of books; one for immediate reading went to his apartment in Nizamuddin West, the other would be shipped to England.

New Book Releases and Events
New book and journal releases, new imprints and other similar events.

Blaft announces tie-up with Westland Ltd.
Source: Company Press Note
BLAFT Publications, the newsmaking independent publishing house, has announced a fresh programme in association with Westland Ltd. The association kicks off with a series of four titles by one of the subcontinent’s best-loved fiction writers, Ibne Safi. These will be published, appropriately, under Westland’s literary imprint, Tranquebar. Blaft is confident that the tie-up will enable all [those concerned] to expand and diversify its list of books even more grandly.

Ibne Safi’s Jasusi Dunya is a dysfunctional world of titanic villains, mad-genius detectives, and alluring femmes fatales. With a huge cult following among readers in both India and Pakistan, this series spans 125 novels published between 1952 and 1979. They remain some of the bestselling books in Urdu even today. Blaft and Westland will bring out the evocative – even eerie – titles Poisoned Arrow, Smokewater, The Laughing Corpse and Doctor Dread translated by the renowned Urdu scholar Shamsur Rahman Faruqi.

Westland Limited is a general trade publishing and distribution house, which includes EastWest Books and the newer Tranquebar Press. Our list of titles includes books on literary and popular fiction and non-fiction, food and cooking, erotica, spirituality and self-help, health and wellness, business, management, travel and a host of other subjects including graphic fiction and satire.

Blaft is an independent house based in Chennai has a wide and varied list, including bestselling Indian crime novels, experimental fiction, pulp art, and graphic novels.

Tara book receives special mention in White Ravens Catalogue
Source: Company Press Note
I See the Promised Land, published by Tara Books has been singled out for Special Mention in the White Ravens Catalogue of the world’s best books for young people, released at the Bologna Book Fair.Described by the jury as ‘an extraordinary collaboration between devoted artists from three continents’ it was praised for being, ‘an engaging and challenging graphic novel for a young (and older) audience.’

I See the Promised Land is an unusual, graphic retelling of the life of Martin Luther King Jr. African American performance poet Arthur Flowers tells a masterful story in musical prose, while Manu Chitrakar, a traditional scroll-painter from Bengal, carries the tale confidently into the vivid idiom of Patua art. This is the eighth book by South Indian independent publishing house Tara Books to be included in this prestigious list of noteworthy international books.

NJP Digital Connections Private Limited launches company, www.notjustpublishing.in
Source: Company Press Note
NJP Digital Connections Private Limited has announced the launch of the company and its product, www.notjustpublishing.in. While NJP Digital Connections will provide web and mobile solutions, products, and consultancy for publishing and allied industries, the portal www.notjustpublishing.in is about people in publishing and associated industries, their publishing careers, and lives beyond the office. In a casual chat, the portal will feature a new professional every week in video and text interviews. Through this interactive portal, you can write to the featured personalities and also recommend people to be featured.

And then there were two
Source: Tehelka
The recent reissue of two detective fiction series – the Inspector Ghote mysteries and four Urdu novels in English translation from Ibne Safi’s Jasoosi Duniya series – reminds you of all that is wonderful about the genre

This interest in unpeeling the social world around the crime, the clear-eyed understanding of how class and power operate, influencing even the most intimate relationships, is perhaps the only thing common to these very different styles of fiction. If Inspector Ghote Trusts the Heart unpacks the precarious circumstances created by a rich man being asked to pay a ransom for the tailor’s son who has been kidnapped instead of his own, The Laughing Corpse centres around the kidnapping of a “lowly typist” whose unexpected inheritance had suddenly made her the town’s most eligible girl. The staunchly middle class Ghote, who worries about taxi fares, dreams of cold buttermilk when he watches his rich complainant pour himself a Scotch and must muster all the courage at his command to exert a semblance of authority in the face of social superiors, could not be more unlike Faridi, a man with a private income who comes to detection out of a passion for criminology, has a degree from Oxford and owns a palatial house with its own laboratory and library. But in both Keating and Safi, there is that deepdown stock-in-trade of the best crime fiction â€” an abiding interest in how the world works.

Read more »Marketing professionals and literary pursuits
Source: The Economic Times
Rama Bijapurkar, independent market strategy consultant, has written, Winning in the Indian Market – Understanding the Transformation of Consumer India and her new book called Customer In The Boardroom? Crafting Customer Based Business Strategy is coming out soon. Marketing consultants Santosh Desai and Harish Bijoor are also prolific writers.

They could be writing a treatise on what they practice – in this case marketing and branding – or it could be totally unrelated, as is the case with JWT’s former creative director Anuja Chauhan’s two bestsellers, The Zoya Factor and Battle For Bittora. Or Publicis Ambience’s NCD, Ashish Khazanchi’s (yet to be published) pictorial prose in the form of very specialised artists books. Whatever be the output, the moot point is the fact that more people from the industry want to tell a story, which may not necessarily be a brand story. Read more »

Reading Satyajit Ray
Source: DNA
On the eve of his 90th birth anniversary, a collection of his film scripts has been translated into English and published in book form.

In 1992, the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences,the Satyajit Ray Society and funding agencies such as the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the India Foundation of the Arts, and other organisations came together to try preserving and restoring Ray’s heritage. Part of this archiving effort has been preserving Ray’s paper archives, for he left extensive ‘Notebooks’ of each of his productions. These have draft storylines, scenarios, draft dialogue, character outlines, musical annotations, story-boards, detailed pictures of costumes, shot breakdowns etc – in short, the entire visual and aural creative process of one of India’s foremost artistes, in detail. There are full musical annotations both in staff notation and in sargam, or all the musical treatments and background music for most of his films.

Read more »Elsewhere…
News from around the world…

Iraq concludes first book fair in 20 years
Source: google.com/hostednews/afp
Iraq’s first book fair in 20 years concluded on Thursday with organisers and attendees hailing it as a return for the violence-wracked country to the global literary scene.

The two-week exhibition featured more than 200 publishing houses from 32 countries displaying about 37,000 books at a massive conference hall in Mansur, west Baghdad, according to the event’s organisers.

The books on offer were mostly in Arabic, but English and French literature was also on sale. Read more »

This newsletter is developed by Dogears Print Media Pvt Ltd. with inputs from various sources. Special thanks to Ms. Jaya Bhattacharji Rose for the many articles she has submitted.

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April 2011

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Happenings
 
On what’s been happening. If there’s news you have heard of and think it would make for interesting reading, please share it with us.

UN urges debate of publishing trends Source: newKerala.com The head of the United Nations agency tasked with preserving the world’s cultural heritage called for a debate to examine the changing trends in book publishing and copyrights, saying new technologies are transforming the industry and having an impact on publishers, authors and readers. ”Change is giving rise also to sharp new debates – about the strengths and weaknesses of different kinds of products, about the nature of copyright today, about the role of libraries relative to online knowledge, about the meaning of ‘authorship’ in a world of blogs and wikis,” said Irina Bokova, the Director-General of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in a message to mark the World Book and Copyright Day (on April 23). <a href=”http://bit.ly/lpz4dF” target=”_blank”>Read more »</a>

Upcoming writers find a place in Marathi literature Source: Times of India New and unpublished writers are slowly finding a platform to showcase their work, with a host of city-based publishers opening their doors to first-time and new authors, especially in Marathi literature, citing greater market share as one of the main reasons. Every month, Prakash Ranade from Neelkanth Prakashan receives at least 10 to 15 enquiries from new writers from across the state and beyond. “There is certainly a rise in the number of new writers wanting to get their works published. They belong to various professional fields and choose to write on anything, spanning from social issues, to environment to women’s problems. I prefer manuscripts that address the current reality of life and society,” says Ranade, who has just published five works by first-time writers in Marathi. <a href=”http://bit.ly/jpEM5G” target=”_blank”>Read more »</a>

Veteran writer of science, crime in Urdu passes away unsung Source: Indian Express Izhar Asar, who died aged 82 on April 15, was a remarkable man, a writer of nearly 1,000 novels in Urdu, who found the time and dedication to teach himself Kathak, and perform for nearly 10 years. He was also a rare Muslim who, after Partition, migrated from Lahore, where he had gone to live in the 1940s, to India. As a writer in Urdu, Asar was unusual. His repertoire included crime, pulp and science fiction. A rationalist and a progressive, he was part of the Progressive Writers’ Association, PWA. In 2006, he was honoured with the Ghalib Award. And yet, in his last few years, the Bijnore-based veteran had become, as his eldest son said without a hint of irony, “a general merchant” of the letters – a man who would write on demand, virtually a novel every week. <a href=”http://bit.ly/kXKWoD” target=”_blank”>Read more »</a>

Bhutan literature fest, Edition Two Source: The Assam Tribune Come May and literature enthusiasts can head to Bhutan, the land of scenic landscapes and fabled dragons for a festival that seeks to bring authors, poets, writers and other celebrities on a common platform. ”We had a resounding success last year when the festival was held for the first time and we are returning again with a lot more programmes,” Mita Kapur, founder director of the festival “Mountain Echoes” to be held in Thimphu. The five-day festival beginning May 20 seeks to explore and celebrate the rich literary culture of both India and Bhutan and would focus on themes like the need and importance of preserving languages; oral traditions; the contemporary art of science fiction; story writing; ballads; fantasy fiction, among others. <a href=”http://bit.ly/mjwF0F” target=”_blank”>Read more »</a>

India Poised To Emerge As The Global Publishing BPO Services Hub Source: The Assam Tribune The 3rd Publishing BPO Services Conference organized by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Chennai Zone on 08th April 2011 at Chennai, deliberated on the “digital wave” in publishing offshoring and how India (Chennai region including Puducherry) as the Global Publishing BPO Services Hub leverage it and move up the value chain. The Publishing BPO conference this year addressed the increased dominance of digital publishing compared to the traditional print (Hard cover, Books), the increased dependency on technology and changing consumer preferences. This conference provides the right platform for industry to deliberate, discuss best practices, understand trends and provide directions for publishing BPO vendors to convert this challenge into a big opportunity and continue to sustain India as the Publishing BPO Services hub of the world. <a href=”http://bit.ly/j3bo1C” target=”_blank”>Read more »</a>

Navayana-Avarna fellowship for NBT Publishing Course, July 2011 In July 2011, NBT is conducing the annual four-week course in Delhi. Following similar initiatives in 2009 and 2010,Navayana once again seeks to provide fellowships to five dalit/ adivasi students who get selected for the NBT course.
The details of the comprehensive course, where the best professionals from the publishing industry teach, are available at this link: http://www.nbtindia.org.in/download/April2010/BookPub/InfoDelhi.pdf. 
Application: http://www.nbtindia.org.in/download/April2010/BookPub/Application%20Form.pdf 
Last date for sending applications: 10 June 2011. 
Candidates are to apply directly to NBT as instructed on the NBT website. There is no entrance test; any graduate may apply. Navayana shall play no role in the selection of the candidates. Candidates who happen to be Dalit/ Adivasi and are selected by NBT may then apply to Navayana for financial support. Navayana shall pay the course fee (Rs 5,000) for up to five Dalit/ Adivasi candidates. NBT this year is also arranging accommodation for outstation candidates at Rs 3,000 for four weeks. Navayana shall also subsidize this amount. In all, the net value of the Avarna Fellowship shall be Rs 8,000. NBT also has an internship program for promising students from which the selected Avarna fellows could benefit. In case of queries, please write to avarna@ navayana.org

Course for Editors in Publishing The “4th Intensive Course for Editors in Publishing” organized by the Institute of Book Publishing will be held from May 23- 28, 2011 at India International Centre, New Delhi. The Course details and application form is available on the website www.ibpindia.org

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Book Releases <!– Source:Scholars Without Borders –>To have your book listed here, write to us with all details and a cover image

<div style=”float:left;border-bottom:1px dashed #CCCCCC;height:auto;overflow:hidden;padding:5px;position:relative;text-align:left;width:180px;”><img src=”http://www.dogearsetc.com/pubpost/images/9789380637013.jpg” style=”width:66px;height:110px;border:1px solid #FFFFFF;margin:1px;padding-right:2px;padding-bottom:14x;float:left;”>Influencing India: Lobbying in the world’s largest Democracy by Sugato Hazra 240p/Hardcover/Rs.495 ISBN:978-93-80637-01-3 Bridging Borders</div>

<div style=”float:left;border-bottom:1px dashed #CCCCCC;height:auto;overflow:hidden;padding:5px;position:relative;text-align:left;width:180px;”><img src=”http://www.dogearsetc.com/pubpost/images/9788132105909.jpg” style=”width:66px;border:1px solid #FFFFFF;height:100px;margin:1px;padding-right:2px;padding-bottom:30px;float:left;”>Lost Years of the RSS by Sanjeev Kelkar 392p/Paperback ISBN: 9788132105909 SAGE India</div>

<div style=”float:left;border-bottom:1px dashed #CCCCCC;height:auto;overflow:hidden;padding:5px;position:relative;text-align:left;width:180px;”><img src=”http://www.dogearsetc.com/pubpost/images/9780143416487.jpg” style=”width:66px;border:1px solid #FFFFFF;margin:1px;padding-right:2px;padding-bottom:20px;float:left;”>Daughters: A Story of Five Generations By Bharati Ray, Translated By Madhuchanda Karlekar, Foreword by Amartya Sen 336pp/Paperback/Rs. 399 ISBN: 9780143416487 Penguin India</div>

<div style=”float:left;border-bottom:1px dashed #CCCCCC;height:auto;overflow:hidden;padding:5px;position:relative;text-align:left;width:180px;”><img src=”http://www.dogearsetc.com/pubpost/images/8178243334.jpg” style=”width:66px;border:1px solid #FFFFFF;margin:1px;padding-right:2px;padding-bottom:20px;float:left;”>Islam Translated: Literature, Conversion, and the Arabic Cosmopolis of South and Southeast Asia by Ronit Ricci 312pp/Hardback/Rs. 750 ISBN: 81-7824-333-4 Permanent Black, Co-published by the University of Chicago Press</div>

<div style=”float:left;border-bottom:1px dashed #CCCCCC;height:auto;overflow:hidden;padding:5px;position:relative;text-align:left;width:180px;”><img src=”http://www.dogearsetc.com/pubpost/images/9789380028989.jpeg” style=”width:66px;border:1px solid #FFFFFF;margin:1px;padding-right:2px;padding-bottom:20px;float:left;”>Ravana: Roar of the Demon King By Abhimanyu Singh Sisodia, Illustrated by Sachin Nagar 96pp/Paperback/Rs. 195 ISBN: 978-93-80028-98-9 Campfire</div>

<div style=”float:left;border-bottom:1px dashed #CCCCCC;height:auto;overflow:hidden;padding:5px;position:relative;text-align:left;width:180px;”><img src=”http://www.dogearsetc.com/pubpost/images/9781107014114.gif” style=”width:66px;border:1px solid #FFFFFF;margin:1px;padding-right:2px;padding-bottom:20px;float:left;”>Gandhi in the West – The Mahatma and the Rise of Radical Protest By Sean Scalmer 254pp/Hardback/Rs. 795 ISBN: 9781107014114 Cambridge University Press</div>

<div style=”float:left;border-bottom:1px dashed #CCCCCC;height:auto;overflow:hidden;padding:5px;position:relative;text-align:left;width:180px;”><img src=”http://www.dogearsetc.com/pubpost/images/9788189884604.jpg” style=”width:66px;border:1px solid #FFFFFF;margin:1px;padding-right:2px;padding-bottom:20px;float:left;”>The Cousins by Prema Raghunath 352pp/Paperback/Rs. 325 ISBN: 9788189884604 Zubaan</div>

<div style=”float:left;border-bottom:1px dashed #CCCCCC;height:auto;overflow:hidden;padding:5px;position:relative;text-align:left;width:180px;”><img src=”http://www.dogearsetc.com/pubpost/images/9781444734096.jpg” style=”width:66px;border:1px solid #FFFFFF;margin:1px;padding-right:2px;padding-bottom:20px;float:left;”>Geek Nation by Angela Saini 288pp/Hardcover/Rs. 499 ISBN: 9781444734096 Hachette India</div>

<div style=”float:left;border-bottom:1px dashed #CCCCCC;height:auto;overflow:hidden;padding:5px;position:relative;text-align:left;width:180px;”><img src=”http://www.dogearsetc.com/pubpost/images/9788192040301.jpg” style=”width:66px;border:1px solid #FFFFFF;margin:1px;padding-right:2px;padding-bottom:20px;float:left;”>Down The Road Edited by Ahmed Faiyaz, Rohini Kejriwal 225pp/Paperback/Rs. 195 ISBN: 9788192040301 Grey Oak Publishers India Pvt. Ltd.</div>

<div style=”float:left;border-bottom:1px dashed #CCCCCC;height:auto;overflow:hidden;padding:5px;position:relative;text-align:left;width:180px;”><img src=”http://bit.ly/dN9DSq” style=”width:66px;border:1px solid #FFFFFF;height:100px;margin:1px;padding-right:2px;padding-bottom:20px;float:left;”>Govind Lahari by Asuri Vasudevan 192p/Paperback/Rs 260 ISBN: 978-93-80151-82-3 CinnamonTeal Publishing</div>

<div style=”float:left;border-bottom:1px solid #CCCCCC;height:auto;overflow:hidden;padding:5px;position:relative;text-align:left;width:180px;”><img src=”http://www.dogearsetc.com/pubpost/images/9789380739151.jpg” style=”width:66px;height:110px;border:1px solid #FFFFFF; height:100px;margin:1px;padding-right:2px;padding-bottom:12px;float:left;”>The Last Prabhu: A Hunt for Roots – DNA, Ancient Documents and Migration in Goa by By Bernardo Elvino De Sousa 172p/Paperback/Rs.950 ISBN: 9789380739151 Goa 1556</div>
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If you have news, articles, blog postings or book launches and reviews to submit, please email us at writetous@ thepublisherspost.com
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Blogs and Articles
 
Comments and posts on trends and events in the book industry.

Indian Publishing Source: Himal Southasian Himal Southasian, in its May issue, has extensively covered the publishing industry in India and indeed the entire subcontinent. With articles by, among others, Urvashi Butalia and Ameena Saiyid, the issue provides an insider’s perspective on India’s “booming” book industry and that in its neighbours. Sample an article titled “When markets commission” by Akshay Pathak, Director of the German Book Office, New Delhi <blockquote style=”background-color:#F9F5E1; margin: 1em 0.5em; border-left: 2px solid #999; padding-left: 0.5em; padding-right: 0.5em;”>The ‘new’ writer, then, has an interesting arena in which to work. With a growing market in the Subcontinent, the old argument of writing for a foreign readership is losing its logic. Chetan Bhagat and Amish Tripathi, each selling over 50,000 copies in India alone, represent a new breed of writers who are able to defy previous notions of what the market demands. Literary quality apart (defined, in any case, by a handful of critics fighting for the scant space the media permits for reviews), the mood that these authors create lends a new flavour to the scope of English-language publishing in India.</blockquote> <a href=”http://bit.ly/iSAZTU” target=”_blank”>Read more »</a>

Waiting on Words Source: Indian Express Eshwar Rao or ‘Hyderabadi’ as he is popularly known is not your usual hotel employee who just reads off a list of delicacies to help hungry customers make up their minds about what to order. The 53-year-old, who works as a supervisor at Bhagwati Hotel in Charkop, Kandivali after doing a myriad of odd jobs throughout his life, is also a renowned poet. Rao, a regular at mushairas and other such literary events in the locality, claims to have written over a thousand ghazals and poems. Amongst the various local awards that he has received over the years, his work has earned him the Kavi Ratna Puraskar and Ambedkar National Award from the Dalit Sahitya Akademi – an organisation working to promote Dalit literature, encourage Dalit writers and recognise the services of those engaged in the field of Dalit welfare.</blockquote> <a href=”http://bit.ly/jiKgeN” target=”_blank”>Read more »</a>

Art, within and without lines Source: DNA While art should encourage open-endedness, imagination and self-expression in children, colouring books too have their merits.<blockquote style=”background-color:#F9F5E1; margin: 1em 0.5em; border-left: 2px solid #999; padding-left: 0.5em; padding-right: 0.5em;”>These seemingly-innocent books meet two key parental desires: perfection in the child’s ‘performance’, and secondly, quiet engagement, or ‘timepass’. Like the classes, they leave no room for open-endedness, imagination and self-expression. They also pass on a subtle signal to kids: drawing is grown-up’s work, and should not be attempted by you. You just colour. Neatly and within the lines. </blockquote> <a href=”http://bit.ly/mqaesV” target=”_blank”>Read more »</a>

Untold stories – India’s non-fiction Source: Business Standard While art should encourage open-endedness, imagination and self-expression in children, colouring books too have their merits.<blockquote style=”background-color:#F9F5E1; margin: 1em 0.5em; border-left: 2px solid #999; padding-left: 0.5em; padding-right: 0.5em;”>Samanth Subramanian, like Sonia Faleiro, is one of the new stars of non-fiction; Following Fish, narrative journalism exploring India’s coastline, remains one of the best food and travel books of recent times. “This is just the beginning,” he says. We both agree that a handful of authors and non-fiction books from the subcontinent isn’t enough to call a movement, yet. But as Subramanian points out, what may be changing is a sensibility, as our curiosity about our own stories is matched by the willingness to actually go out and tell them. Few Indian publications support essays longer than 1,500-2,000 words; and even fewer would offer that space to issues other than politics. The Caravan, run by Jonathan Shainin and a crack team of writer-editors, who include author Anjum Hassan and former Random House editor Rajni George, is one of the few magazines that look for and nurture narrative non-fiction, aside from a handful of men’s magazines that occasionally commission lengthy essays. It’s tempting to see Siddhartha Mukherjee’s Pulitzer triumph as confirmation of the Indian success story in non-fiction; but in a way, Mukherjee’s success as a writer is a very American, not Indian, success. What would it take to have a The Emperor of Maladies come out of India? More supportive publishing houses, more magazines with demanding editorial standards, more imagination and willingness to go after the untold stories on the part of writers? I don’t really have the answers, but it’s an interesting question.</blockquote> <a href=”http://bit.ly/iSQwbf” target=”_blank”>Read more »</a>

Mills & Boon to adopt teaser route for e-books Source: Financial Express Harlequin Mills and Boon India will be promoting the growth of e-book vertical in the Indian market with a series of customer-centred teaser initiatives, according to Manish Singh, country manager of the publishing company. ”Currently the company derives 2 to 3% revenue from the online and e-book categories. We wish to boost the e-book adoption among Indians with a variety of sops including buy one get one offer, free online access to select titles and other innovative promotions like free mystery gifts to induce the next generation bibliophiles to embrace the tech platform of their choice,” he said in an interview with the Financial Express. <a href=”http://bit.ly/iuTnyP” target=”_blank”>Read more »</a>

Silence! The ego is reading Source: Tehelka The solitary, brooding writer is nearly extinct. Writers are now public property, but is that good for them or the reading public, asks author Anjum Hasan<blockquote style=”background-color:#F9F5E1; margin: 1em 0.5em; border-left: 2px solid #999; padding-left: 0.5em; padding-right: 0.5em;”>Even if one does manage to reconcile writing with speaking, the two are obviously very different kinds of performances. Having learnt about Franz Kafka’s petrifaction and Philip Larkin’s diffidence about reading in public, I’ve always assumed writing and reading must be judged independently. Having seen Orhan Pamuk display, as a speaker, a teacherly style that sits oddly with the lyricism of his prose or heard the seemingly stone-hearted VS Naipaul confess that listening to other people read aloud from his work moves him to tears, I’ve realised that writers as people of flesh, blood and vocal chords are not to be measured exactly against writers as people we encounter in print.</blockquote> <a href=”http://bit.ly/mqLYb8″ target=”_blank”>Read more »</a>

World of books hardly lags behind Source: The Hindu It is not just the classics or the popular works in contemporary literature that are drawing readers. What is commonly perceived as serious literature is increasingly seeing more takers. <blockquote style=”background-color:#F9F5E1; margin: 1em 0.5em; border-left: 2px solid #999; padding-left: 0.5em; padding-right: 0.5em;”>The success of Tamil books mirrors some larger trends in Tamil literature itself, says Sirpi Balasubramaniam, executive board member and convener of the Tamil advisory Board, Sahitya Akademi. ”The field is flourishing in terms of quality in writing and business. It is almost like another Sangam era. Classics are being reprinted. Short stories of writers such as Pudhumaipithan are seeing multiple editions. Many publishers are re-printing the works of Jayakanthan, Sa. Kandasamy and Asokamithran,” he says. On other genres, Mr. Balasubramaniam says the patronage is equally encouraging. Dalit literature, including the works of writers such as Imayam, Azhagiya Periyavan and Bama, is building a good repository on the lives and reflections of dalits. ”There is a transition from giving accounts of one’s problems to giving a perspective of a Dalit’s life and relationships. There is some very powerful writing coming out,” he adds. Feminist and post-modernist literature, and poetry are seeing some valuable contributions. “Folk and Tamil Diaspora literature is enriching the Tamil vocabulary with rare usages and powerful metaphors.” </blockquote> <a href=”http://bit.ly/iAraOw” target=”_blank”>Read more »</a>

National shelf life Source: Mint A store in Delhi’s book publishing hub has the country’s largest collection of non-fiction on India <blockquote style=”background-color:#F9F5E1; margin: 1em 0.5em; border-left: 2px solid #999; padding-left: 0.5em; padding-right: 0.5em;”>The bookshop doubles as a publishing and distribution company. Books from here are parcelled daily to Kyoto, Kolhapur, Heidelberg, Prague, Patna, Toulouse, Dublin, Bangalore, Boston, London and Lahore. “We have religion and arts, music and crafts, politics and cultural studies,” says Ajay, the owner’s son. “Which means we are a one-stop shop for academic needs,” adds his father. What is scholarly for professors could simply be a pleasure read for a lay reader. The shop’s eclectic collection comprises titles that give a tantalizing glimpse into a world right under our noses, yet unexplored. Sample a few: From Sacred Servant to Profane Prostitute; The Social History of Health and Medicine in Colonial India, Muslim Architecture of South India, Boats of South Asia, Pied Pipers in North-East India, Frogs in a Well-Indian Women in Purdah and Criminal Gods and Demon Devotees. The shop, spread over five floors, has 25,000 books. Many lie locked in the basement. The browsing area on the ground floor is divided by wooden shelves into two rows, with a seating space that has two coffee tables with eight low chairs. The late scholar Simon Digby, who divided his time between Delhi and the UK, was a regular. He would make two piles of books; one for immediate reading went to his apartment in Nizamuddin West, the other would be shipped to England.</blockquote> <a href=”http://bit.ly/iAraOw” target=”_blank”>Read more »</a>

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New Book Releases and Events
 
New book and journal releases, new imprints and other similar events.

Blaft announces tie-up with Westland Ltd. Source: Company Press Note BLAFT Publications, the newsmaking independent publishing house, has announced a fresh programme in association with Westland Ltd. The association kicks off with a series of four titles by one of the subcontinent’s best-loved fiction writers, Ibne Safi. These will be published, appropriately, under Westland’s literary imprint, Tranquebar. Blaft is confident that the tie-up will enable all [those concerned] to expand and diversify its list of books even more grandly. Ibne Safi’s Jasusi Dunya is a dysfunctional world of titanic villains, mad-genius detectives, and alluring femmes fatales. With a huge cult following among readers in both India and Pakistan, this series spans 125 novels published between 1952 and 1979. They remain some of the bestselling books in Urdu even today. Blaft and Westland will bring out the evocative – even eerie – titles Poisoned Arrow, Smokewater, The Laughing Corpse and Doctor Dread translated by the renowned Urdu scholar Shamsur Rahman Faruqi. Westland Limited is a general trade publishing and distribution house, which includes EastWest Books and the newer Tranquebar Press. Our list of titles includes books on literary and popular fiction and non-fiction, food and cooking, erotica, spirituality and self-help, health and wellness, business, management, travel and a host of other subjects including graphic fiction and satire. Blaft is an independent house based in Chennai has a wide and varied list, including bestselling Indian crime novels, experimental fiction, pulp art, and graphic novels.

Tara book receives special mention in White Ravens Catalogue Source: Company Press Note I See the Promised Land, published by Tara Books has been singled out for Special Mention in the White Ravens Catalogue of the world’s best books for young people, released at the Bologna Book Fair.Described by the jury as ‘an extraordinary collaboration between devoted artists from three continents’ it was praised for being, ‘an engaging and challenging graphic novel for a young (and older) audience.’ I See the Promised Land is an unusual, graphic retelling of the life of Martin Luther King Jr. African American performance poet Arthur Flowers tells a masterful story in musical prose, while Manu Chitrakar, a traditional scroll-painter from Bengal, carries the tale confidently into the vivid idiom of Patua art. This is the eighth book by South Indian independent publishing house Tara Books to be included in this prestigious list of noteworthy international books.

NJP Digital Connections Private Limited launches company, www.notjustpublishing.in Source: Company Press Note NJP Digital Connections Private Limited has announced the launch of the company and its product, www.notjustpublishing.in. While NJP Digital Connections will provide web and mobile solutions, products, and consultancy for publishing and allied industries, the portal www.notjustpublishing.in is about people in publishing and associated industries, their publishing careers, and lives beyond the office. In a casual chat, the portal will feature a new professional every week in video and text interviews. Through this interactive portal, you can write to the featured personalities and also recommend people to be featured.

And then there were two Source: Tehelka The recent reissue of two detective fiction series – the Inspector Ghote mysteries and four Urdu novels in English translation from Ibne Safi’s Jasoosi Duniya series – reminds you of all that is wonderful about the genre <blockquote style=”background-color:#F9F5E1; margin: 1em 0.5em; border-left: 2px solid #999; padding-left: 0.5em; padding-right: 0.5em;”>This interest in unpeeling the social world around the crime, the clear-eyed understanding of how class and power operate, influencing even the most intimate relationships, is perhaps the only thing common to these very different styles of fiction. If Inspector Ghote Trusts the Heart unpacks the precarious circumstances created by a rich man being asked to pay a ransom for the tailor’s son who has been kidnapped instead of his own, The Laughing Corpse centres around the kidnapping of a “lowly typist” whose unexpected inheritance had suddenly made her the town’s most eligible girl. The staunchly middle class Ghote, who worries about taxi fares, dreams of cold buttermilk when he watches his rich complainant pour himself a Scotch and must muster all the courage at his command to exert a semblance of authority in the face of social superiors, could not be more unlike Faridi, a man with a private income who comes to detection out of a passion for criminology, has a degree from Oxford and owns a palatial house with its own laboratory and library. But in both Keating and Safi, there is that deepdown stock-in-trade of the best crime fiction — an abiding interest in how the world works.</blockquote> <a href=”http://bit.ly/iow8Kb” target=”_blank”>Read more »</a>

Marketing professionals and literary pursuits Source: The Economic Times Rama Bijapurkar, independent market strategy consultant, has written, Winning in the Indian Market – Understanding the Transformation of Consumer India and her new book called Customer In The Boardroom? Crafting Customer Based Business Strategy is coming out soon. Marketing consultants Santosh Desai and Harish Bijoor are also prolific writers. They could be writing a treatise on what they practice – in this case marketing and branding – or it could be totally unrelated, as is the case with JWT’s former creative director Anuja Chauhan’s two bestsellers, The Zoya Factor and Battle For Bittora. Or Publicis Ambience’s NCD, Ashish Khazanchi’s (yet to be published) pictorial prose in the form of very specialised artists books. Whatever be the output, the moot point is the fact that more people from the industry want to tell a story, which may not necessarily be a brand story. <a href=”http://bit.ly/mwbCp3″ target=”_blank”>Read more »</a>

Reading Satyajit Ray Source: DNA On the eve of his 90th birth anniversary, a collection of his film scripts has been translated into English and published in book form. <blockquote style=”background-color:#F9F5E1; margin: 1em 0.5em; border-left: 2px solid #999; padding-left: 0.5em; padding-right: 0.5em;”>In 1992, the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences,the Satyajit Ray Society and funding agencies such as the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the India Foundation of the Arts, and other organisations came together to try preserving and restoring Ray’s heritage. Part of this archiving effort has been preserving Ray’s paper archives, for he left extensive ‘Notebooks’ of each of his productions. These have draft storylines, scenarios, draft dialogue, character outlines, musical annotations, story-boards, detailed pictures of costumes, shot breakdowns etc – in short, the entire visual and aural creative process of one of India’s foremost artistes, in detail. There are full musical annotations both in staff notation and in sargam, or all the musical treatments and background music for most of his films.</blockquote> <a href=”http://bit.ly/kDM4KC” target=”_blank”>Read more »</a>
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Elsewhere…
 
News from around the world…

Iraq concludes first book fair in 20 years Source: google.com/hostednews/afp Iraq’s first book fair in 20 years concluded on Thursday with organisers and attendees hailing it as a return for the violence-wracked country to the global literary scene. The two-week exhibition featured more than 200 publishing houses from 32 countries displaying about 37,000 books at a massive conference hall in Mansur, west Baghdad, according to the event’s organisers. The books on offer were mostly in Arabic, but English and French literature was also on sale.</blockquote> <a href=”http://bit.ly/l7lcOK” target=”_blank”>Read more »</a>

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This newsletter is developed by Dogears Print Media Pvt Ltd. with inputs from various sources. Special thanks to Ms. Jaya Bhattacharji Rose for the many articles she has submitted. 
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