The Publisher’s Post: Vol I Ed. XXX

Dated: 23rd Mar. 2008

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

News This Week

Print gets bigger inspite of net
Source: Publishing Today / Capexil

About 10 million Indians use English as their first language. The figures for the Indian publishing industry are nebulous, but estimates suggest sales of Rs 7,500 crore - between 40% and 45% of which is English publishing. Of this, school and higher education books account for Rs 2,300 to Rs 2,700 crore (about 25% to 35%) while general publishing is in the range of Rs 800 crore (about 12%). The industry is growing at between 10% and 15% annually. Around 16,000 publishers in India publish 75,000 titles and exports have grown from 3,300 lakh in 1991 to approximately Rs 38,000 lakh in 2006-07. Rough estimates put the Indian outsourcing story in the organised sector at around $440 million (in 2006). This is set to cross the $1 billion mark by 2010. The organised sector currently employs around 30,000 people and is set to cross the 80,000 mark by 2010.

Indian literary works to be translated into Arabic
Source: centralchronicle.com

A project to translate major Indian literary works into Arabic is on the anvil as part of India’s efforts to project its soft power in the Gulf. ‘We propose to translate major Indian literary works - fiction, non-fiction and poetry - into Arabic as part of our larger vision to improve ties in the cultural area in the Gulf,’ India’s Ambassador to the UAE Talmiz Ahmad said.

Around 20 to 50 Indian titles are being planned to be translated a year in the next couple of years.

The translation project is part of a three-pronged approach the Indian embassy in this Gulf nation is taking in the literary area as part of a major cultural diplomacy drive.

‘We are also planning to significantly increase India’s participation in the annual Abu Dhabi Book Fair - maybe double or triple the number of Indian publishers who participated in this year’s fair,’ the ambassador said.

At the 18th Abu Dhabi Book Fair held March 11 to 16, 32 Indian publishers participated as a group with special support from the UAE government. The UAE government gave 30 percent concession in the stall rentals to the Indian participants and even waived off their visa fees.

The third plan is to invite noted Indian litterateurs for dialogues with their Arabic counterparts.

Blogging in Sanskrit binds Indian students overseas
Source: indiaedunews.net

Guess what’s keeping together our high-tech gizmo Indian students at various US universities, pursuing higher studies? It’s an online Sanskrit magazine.

Indian students, alumni and faculty from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), University of Maryland (UMD), Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), Caltech, Purdue and so on are bringing out an online Sanskrit magazine under the banner of Campus Samskritam Network (CSN). Hosted on the www.speaksanskrit.org website, the webzine is called ‘Vishvavani’ (the voice or the language of the world).

Last week the third issue of Vishvavani was released, featuring a wide range of topics. It had an article on ancient Indian mathematics by Prabha Mandyam, (Ph.D. student at Caltech), another on Swami Vivekananda by Harichandan Mantripragada (Ph.D. student at Carnegie Mellon University) and a travelogue by Dr. Jyotsna Kalavar (associate professor at Penn State University).

The webzine is enriched by a ’subhashitam’ (wise saying) and even a Sanskrit crossword puzzle. Sowmya Joisa and Avinash Varna, editors of the magazine, say that even though it is not the first online Sanskrit magazine it is currently the only active one available online.

The group has been inspired by the first online Sanskrit magazine ‘Apoorvavani’, which is not active any more, and by a monthly print magazine ‘Sambhashana sandesha’ - both brought out by Samskrita Bharati. In addition to a document format uploaded on the web, the contents of the magazine are also published on a blog to make it easier for readers to comment on and give feedback, according to a statement.

New Book Releases & Events

One to One

Publishing Today, a monthly newsletter by the Institute of Book Publishing, remains a venerable source of information on the Indian Publishing Industry. Besides reporting news, every issue also features an interview of leading figures of the publishing industry. In his book, One to One: Glimpses of Indian Publishing Industry, author S.K. Ghai has compiled 14 such interviews and the work makes for interesting reading. The personalities interviewed include publishers, editors, booksellers and literary agents. The author hopes that his book “will be helpful in encouraging new entrants in the world of publishing and be a guide to budding industry professionals”.

For orders contact:
Institute of Book Publishing
Tel: 26387070, 26386209 Fax: 91-11-26383788
email: mail@ibpindia.org website: www.ibpindia.org

Fiction rooted in rural ethos
Source: The Hindu (Book Review)

Madhuranthakam Rajaram Kathalu — Vol. 4
by Visalaandhra Publishing House, Hyderabad

Over 300 stories written by Madhuranthakam Rajaram (1930-99) are collected in five volumes. In this volume of 42 stories most of the characters are drawn from rural and semi-rural backgrounds.

Whether it is a school teacher of the remote village Rangapuram, mechanic Kamesam, postal clerk Anandarao, bus-driver Ganguli, headmistress Vimaladevi or orphan Chinnarao who is hopeless in studies but likes to earn his food with his own sweat, they are all sketched with striking detail. Their simple lives and the extraordinary way in which they respond to life’s trials and tricky situations, their ungrudging and unselfconscious kindness and support to others in distress are portrayed with unpretentious warmth. But it is mastery over the craftsmanship of story telling that earned Madhuranthakam an outstanding position in modern Telugu literature. As the writer himself tells us in the preface his fascination for story-telling has its roots in the epic tales, ballads and various other folk-presentations he listened to in his childhood.

His language has the earthiness of the region (Rayalaseema) and its people. These volumes offer good reading material for those who enjoy reading and for aspiring writers.

A Re-examination of Jihad in South Asia
Partisans Of Allah: Jihad In South Asia
by Ayesha Jalal
Permanent Black

The idea of jihad is central to Islamic faith and ethics, and yet its meanings have been highly contested over time. As the line drawn between Muslims and non-Muslims becomes more rigid, Ayesha Jalal seeks to retrieve the ethical meanings of this core Islamic principle in South Asian history.

Drawing on historical, legal, and literary sources, Jalal traces the intellectual itinerary of jihad through several centuries and across the Middle East and South Asia. She reveals how key innovations in modern Islamic thought resulted from historical imperatives. The social and political scene in India before, during, and after British colonial rule forms the main backdrop.

Partisans of Allah surveys a rich and tumultuous history and its critical contribution to the intellectual development of the key concept of jihad. Analysing the complex interplay of ethics and politics in Muslim history, the author effectively demonstrates the pre-eminent role of jihad in the Muslim faith today.

81-7824-231-1 / Publishing in Summer 08 / Co-published with Harvard University Press

Other Recent Releases
Bollywood: A History
by Mihir Bose
Roli Books, New Delhi
ISBN: 8174365087
====
Apu and After: Re-reading Ray’s Cinema
Edited by Moinak Biswas
Seagull Books, Calcutta
ISBN: 1905422261
====
Swept Off The Map: Surviving Resettlement and Eviction in Bawana JJ Colony
by Kalyani Menon and Gautam Bhan
Yoda Press, New Delhi
ISBN: 978-81-906186-1-8

Blogs and Articles

“Mythology is like a jigsaw puzzle”
Source: indiaedunews.net

He is a medical doctor by training, a marketing consultant by profession and an author by passion. With five books on the anvil and 12 books on the shelves, Devdutt Pattanaik is a man who loves his subject - Indian mythology.

And his target audience is the fashion-conscious, technology-savvy youth of today. “The youth simply love my books,” Pattanaik told IANS from Mumbai.

“Youngsters today have one foot here and the other in the West. To regular tales on mythology they don’t respond because they simply don’t relate to the stories. When they ask questions they are turned away by their parents who just give them one answer - it’s tradition.

“My books go beyond the apparent. Instead of sermonising, I try and narrate like a story. That’s the trick to hold one’s attention.”

Pattanaik’s latest book is a work of fiction called “The Pregnant King”.

“All my other books are non-fiction but with ‘The Pregnant King’, I enter the fiction genre. In this story, a childless king, Yuvanashva, accidentally drinks a magic potion meant for his queens and gives birth to a son.

“The amazing thing is that this has been narrated twice in the Mahabharata in a very nonchalant manner. Why? Is Yuvanashva the child’s father or mother? Should this have happened today, what would have been the socio-political implication?

“These are some of the questions I seek answers to and give the entire mythological episode a contemporary sensibility by addressing insecurities, which existed 5,000 years back and even today,” he said.

Bhumika
Source:blogbharti.com

In 1993 in Hyderabad a group of women from different feminist organisations decided to venture into the challenging terrain of publishing a feminist magazine in Telugu and the first issue of Bhumika came out in the month of Jan1993.

Bhumika Women Collective emerged in the context of the women’s movement as a felt need to make feminist writings and analysis accessible to women who were not privileged from urban/English educational background. Women from the Bhumika collective come from diverse backgrounds, and the common felt need is one of creating awareness and disseminating ideas on women’s issues and social issues in a simple language to reach out to a wider audience. The challenge is to generate articles on relevant issues that would be understood by the masses – both men and women in rural and urban areas of Andhra Pradesh. A core group of women from the collective guide the activities in the production and distribution of the magazine.

Satyavati, Editor and Publisher of Bhumika, says one of its most important contributions was in ‘reframing the public discourse on what is a women’s issue in the context of popular women magazines that stereotype women and gender issues’. Great post, or concept note, as Satyavati calls it. Though the tone the blogger adopts is mostly impersonal, one can sense the degree of commitment and hard work that must have gone into making a niche magazine ‘relevant’ and ‘useful to everyone’, across class, caste and location, for fifteen long years.

Other Announcements

“Open Book Reviews”
Those interested may sign up for our review section where original reviews of books will be posted, details of which are available here. A database that lists all service providers is also open for those interested.

Associate Service Provider
CinnamonTeal Print & Publishing Services offers partnership opportunities through their Associate Service Provider (ASP) initiative. For details, visit this page.

Organizations and Publishing Houses willing to advertise for various positions related to publishing are invited to do so in this section.
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This newsletter is developed by Queenie Fernandes and Leonard Fernandes, founders of CinnamonTeal Print & Publishing Services with inputs from various individuals, publishing houses, websites and blogs.

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