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.

“A Thinking Person’s Carnival”
The 2011 edition of the DSC Jaipur Literature Festival lived up to its hype and cemented its place among the premier literature festivals of the world. We have put together a small compilation of various articles covering the festival for your reading pleasure. Read more »

Cultures of Peace: Festival of the Northeast
The recent Cultures of Peace festival (28-29 Jan 2011) at the India Habitat Centre was organized by Zubaan and supported by the Heinrich Boll Foundation. The event, showcasing culture, writing, photography, art, poetry and music of India’s northeastern states, coincided with two, very different but very significant, anniversaries: the tenth year of activist Irom Sharmila’s hunger strike against the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act and twenty-five years of feminist publishing in India. No surprise then, that the speakers – 30 in all – returned often to the importance of protest, and of speaking out against injustice.

The terms ‘mainland India’ and ‘northeast’ were discussed and questioned: many felt that these ‘blanket’ terms perpetuated the myth of homogeneity – of both places. Journalist and poet, Monalisa Changkija, pointed out there are over 16 separate tribes in Nagaland alone, each unknown to the other. “There are too many borders to cross; we are very isolated from one another.” Others both lamented the fact that there was not more sharing and dialogue between the different states, whilst simultaneously applauding initiatives like Zubaan’s for opening up dialogues between activists and others from the northeast.

In a fascinating opening discussion on the relationship between violence and creativity, Pradip Phanjoubam pointed out the limitations of his own profession, journalism, compared to the possibilities for creative writers to go beyond the ‘mere’ facts, and look at the psychological and social repercussions of violence. Aruni Kashyap, a novelist from Assam, spoke of his frustration at being ’straight-jacketed’ by others’ expectations that a writer from the northeast should only write about violence and conflict.

If the first day centred on the histories and current conflicts in the region, the second sought to move the discussion beyond looking at conflict at possible futures. Sanjoy Hazarika and Laxmi Murthy spoke inspiringly about how changes, large and small, can be fostered. Laxmi posed a series of suggestive ‘what if’ scenarios which were then taken up by members of the audience in a lively exchange of ideas.

And their session was followed up by a series of short performances, largely by poets reading – and in the case of the guitarist Akhu, singing – their work. Earlier, novelist Temsula Ao posed a key question: “What is our definition of peace? Is it simply the absence of violence?” The term in her own, Naga, language translates more accurately as ‘harmony’, and as such, she said, “cannot be enforced or forced upon us; we have to find it ourselves.” Harmonies were there in abundance in the closing event – a performance of staggering intensity by Shillong-based blues band, Soulmate. With the audience singing and dancing in the aisles, the festival on a note of energy, solidarity and hope.

Pakistan, Indian writers discuss literature
Source: calcuttatube.com
Kolkata witnessed a literary discussion evening with a difference on Friday as writers from Pakistan and India read portions from their works at the Apeejay Kolkata Literary Festival 2011, in a special event named ‘An Evening in Karachi’.

Pakistani writer Shehryar Fazli read out a portion from his book named, ‘Invitation’, while Nighat M. Gandhi read a small portion from his book titled ‘Ghalib at Dusk’. Read more »

Translation course planned at Stephen’s
Source: Times of India
St Stephen’s College inaugurated its Centre for Translations on Thursday thus opening doors for all literary enthusiasts and linguists in the university. The centre aims at translating academics texts and books of cultural importance into vernacular and foreign languages. An initiative of principal Valson Thampu, the centre has already got eminent professors and alumni on board for carrying out translation projects. The centre will also introduce a course on translation in July this year. Read more »

Plans afoot to publish biographies of 100 writers
Source: Times of India
Kannada Book Authority (KBA) president Siddalingaiah spoke of KBA plans to publish biographies of 100 famous authors who have made the language rich with their works.

The work on publishing 25 Kannada books on medicinal literature and introducing important books in Braille is going on, Siddalingaiah said, and added that KBA distributed books worth Rs 4 crore among the students of high schools and colleges. Read more »

Meet on publishing industry held
Source: The Hindu
The Vijayawada Book Festival Society (VBFS) organised a meeting on ‘200 years of printing and publishing industry’ this month. On the occasion, sharing his experiences, famous printer and publisher Paruchuri Hanumantha Rao said that sea changes took place in the publishing industry in the country. The companies here were able to compete with their counterparts in US and European countries. The end product (books etc) were being delivered within few days after manuscript reached the printer or publisher with very less operational losses like waste of paper, he explained.

Jolepalem Mangamma, who penned a book titled ‘Printing India’, explaining about the printing and publishing sector, said that printing machines were imported here two centuries ago to publish Bible in Indian languages. The publishing industry began at Srirampur and Kolkata, and later spread out to other regions. The British wrote and published dictionaries, grammar etc of Indian languages, while Bible was first published in 1719, she said. Read more »

Call for New Vision for Promotion of Urdu
Source: Sify.com
Union Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Kapil Sibal on Wednesday said that a new vision and a national strategy is needed in order to preserve the rich cultural heritage of the urdu language, literature and the art forms like calligraphy.

Speaking at the 18th meeting of the National Council for Promotion of Urdu Language (NCPUL) here, Sibal underlined that we need to preserve the past and at the same time need to make the study of Urdu relevant as regards, the aspiration of the youth. Read more »

‘World Sanskrit Book Fair’ a Resounding Success
Source: daijiworld.com
The book fair was the first in the country organized in association with 14 Sanskrit universities, 7 Sanskrit academies, and 16 leading Sanskrit institutes under the aegis of Sanskrit Bharati that had organized Sanskrit conversing camps in 674 places across Bangalore to prepare thousands of activists who worked relentlessly for two months. Read more »

Asian Publishing Conference 2011
Source: Publishing Today
The 5th Asian Publishing Conference will be held in Bangkok from July 7-8, 2011. The theme of the conference is Where Print, Mobile & Online Converge For Profit. About 250-350 publishing industry managers and professionals from more than 20 countries are expected to attend the meet.

Going Desi
Source: outlookindia.com
With publishing houses in the West in a slump, literary agencies have begun to eye the booming Indian market. One of the best-known British agents in India, Gillon Aitken, has just opened an office in India. But that million-dollar advance may still not happen-as yet. The idea is to provide “local support” to the existing list of 14 Indian authors, which includes Pankaj Mishra, Manju Kapur, Aatish Taseer and Tarun Tejpal. And to tap the creative hub that India is fast becoming, churning out new authors by the minute. Shruti Debi, ex-editor of Picador India, will head Aitken Alexander Associates’s India office. She plans to add at least 20 new authors this year to the existing list.

The death of books
Source: Hindustan Times
The proposed amendments to the Copyright Act will spell the end of Indian publishing in English, writes Thomas Abraham, currently Managing Director, Hachette India.

One certain fallout of this is that the author who was planning to get designated royalties by territory will hardly get an income stream. Because royalties on remainders are near zero. Which also means we are placing authors in competition with a third-party non-holder of copyright – the remainder merchant who brings the book in against the author’s wishes because the law permits him to do so – a completely unjust intellectual property system.

Read more »

Much is being debated about the proposed amendments to the Coyright Act and the impact of those amendments on the Indian publishing industry. To know more about the possible fall-outs, Divya Dubey (Gyaana Books) has allowed us to repost a blog she wrote on the subject. View that blog here.

Good + Bad = Verse
Source: Mid-Day
Mixed opinions about the state of Indian poetry in English

Despite short-lived bursts of publicity – when Tishani Doshi’s Countries of the Body won the UK’s big Forward Poetry Prize in 2006, for instance, or Tranquebar Press gave us 2007 winner Daljit Nagra’s, Look We Have Coming to Dover! – publishing poetry in English isn’t exactly a cakewalk.

Add to this a missing tradition of criticism, and the possibility of things changing for the better in future seem rather bleak. Still, Eunice de Souza, one of India’s most respected poets, points out that even well known and very fine poets like Manohar Shetty have just published their own work instead of waiting for publishers.

Sampurna Chattarji, a younger poet whose debut collection Sight May Strike You Blind was published by the Sahitya Akademi in 2007 and reprinted a year later, refers to online journals, and a new print journal in Mumbai called Nether brought out by college students. She also mentions ongoing schemes from the Sahitya Akademi, forthcoming titles from HarperCollins and small presses like Hemant Divate’s Poetrywala, which recently published her second collection, Absent Muses.

Read more »

The decade in literature
Source: Mint
This was a period in which Indian literature went forward and expanded outward at the same time, bringing into its embrace many of the literary riches of its past and present that were hitherto restricted to specialists or speakers of a particular regional language.

Currently, Indian literature is more deep and diverse than it has ever been, but no one newspaper or journal – perhaps not even all the periodicals collectively – is able to take full stock of this on its pages, and many outstanding titles (particularly academic publications, books from small presses, and works in translation) come and go without a trace.

Read more »

With a little help from others
Source: The Telegraph
Academic authors, even experienced ones, seldom use literary agents to place their manuscripts. Since scholarly books rarely sell in large numbers and as agents receive a percentage of the royalties as remuneration, authors are reluctant to share their modest royalties with agents, and agents are averse to investing time and effort for the small fee it will bring. Read more »

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

Unique experiment at Tara Books
Source: Tara Books Blog
Written by African American performance poet Arthur Flowers, the blog explains how he became involved in an extraordinary cross-cultural project to use traditional Patura art from Bengal to depict the life of Martin Luther King Jr. in the format of a graphic novel.

The art is by Manu Chitrakar, a scroll painter from the Bengal Patua tradition, who speaks only Bengali, and some broken Hindi. This is the first book he’s ever done. When we told him Martin Luther King’s story during a visit to Tara, we were astonished by his deep reserves of understanding. Manu had never heard about the Civil Rights Movement, but he grasped the universal significance of it right away, and was excited about painting it for us. Working with him was a joy – we pulled out visual references, talked about what it all meant, and watched as he effortlessly converted the material into his own visual idiom.

Read more »

44-year-old authors her life’s struggle, challenges
Source: Hindustan Times
“The birth was hugely traumatic, and the pediatrician in charge kept repeating to himself ‘it was a mistake, I should have carried out a caesarean…let’s see if she survives…I am not sure if she will survive…at the most 72 hours’. I survived.” These are lines from the opening chapter of One Little Finger, published by Sage, whose author Malini Chib writes about her birth. Not only did the 44-year-old Chib, who suffers from cerebral palsy survive, she has also inspired many others to do so with her grit and determination.

A trustee of Able Disabled All People Together (Adapt), formerly known as the Spastic Society of India, Chib has a double master’s degree in Women’s Studies from London University. She made her debut as an author with the launch of her book on Friday, which she wanted to coincide with the International Day of Persons with Disabilities. One little finger is what Chib used for about 250,000 times to type 50,000 words tell the tale of her life so far. Read more »

Malayalam novel, English translation to release together
Source: indianexpress.com
For the first time in Indian publishing history, Kendra Sahitya Akademi Award-winning Malayalam writer Sarah Joseph’s latest novel – to be published by Current Books – will have its English counterpart, translated by Thampu, being brought out concurrently by Harper Collins. Read more »

Morange
Source: blog.prathambooks.org
“Morange” is the monthly magazine of children’s creative writing published by the Rural Education Center, Sawai Madhopur. Published since July 2009 the magazine has till now published eight volumes. The stories are written by students studying in the four community centres run by the Centre. Read more »

Bamboo goes bookish
Source: The Telegraph
An artisan from Sivasagar district has come forward with an ambitious plan of publishing 100 bamboo books.

Mohan Saikia, 51, from Na Nath village, has proved that bamboo is not only a source of income for the poor who eke out a living by making traditional objects but can also be used to create fanciful objects to grab urban customers.With dexterity, Saikia has prepared pages for his books from kako bah (Dendrocalamus hamiltonii), a kind of bamboo used by Assamese craftsmen to make domestic objects like dola and saloni.

He dreams of opening the world’s first bamboo library this year on the branches of a tree where all the bamboo books will be preserved. Readers and visitors will be able to reach it with a bamboo lift.Saikia has covered poetry, lyrics, two chapters of Kirtan Ghoxa, history of his village, Ahom literature and philosophy in his books. “Excluding the leaves and roots, every part of bamboo tree can be utilised,” he said. Read more »

Elsewhere…
News from around the world…

White Egrets awarded 2010 T.S.Eliot Prize for Poetry
Source: The Guardian, UK
Nobel laureate Derek Walcott was named winner of the TS Eliot prize for the best new collection of poems published in the UK or Ireland.

He took the prize against competition from an eclectic group of poets, including fellow Nobel laureate Seamus Heaney, Iraq war veteran Brian Turner and Sam Willetts, whose debut collection came after 10 years lost to addiction to and recovery from heroin.

Valerie Eliot, widow of TS Eliot, awarded Walcott £15,000 at a ceremony at the Wallace Collection, London.

The winning collection, White Egrets, was described by the chair of judges, poet Anne Stevenson, as “moving and technically flawless”. Read more »

Amazon Continues Its Push into Publishing
Source: libraryjournal.com
Amazon.com is showing every sign that its ambition no longer just to distribute books but also to publish them is very real and growing.

The company has announced, in the past two week,s a publishing list for the spring and early summer that includes 16 books in its AmazonEncore imprint and eight books in its AmazonCrossing imprint, which focuses on translations. Read more »