The Publisher’s Post: Vol I Ed. XXXI

Dated: 6th Apr. 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

Publishers told to learn to hug trees too
Source: The Statesman

Though Indian publishers are rated among the best in the world in terms of quality, there is urgent need to adapt to today’s needs and move towards cleaner and greener technology, Delhi chief minister Mrs Shiela Dikshit said today.
“The time has come to introspect on what to do in the publishing industry as cleaner and greener practices come up,” Mrs Dikshit said inaugurating a conference on environment-friendly publishing, organised by The Energy Resources Institute.

Mrs Dikshit exhorted the publishers and printing industry to look at ways and means to reduce pollution as well as lower the consumption of precious raw material. The CM called on the stakeholders to look at new technology to reduce this dependence on polluting know-how. Speaking on the occasion, the Union minister of state for environment, Mr Namo Narain Meena said while the government has set out stringent norms for the paper and pulp industry, the publishing industry needs to look at new technology and solutions to check pollution. “They must add recycled paper to the list of technology for the future,” he suggested.

The day-long conference brought together leading publishers, including from the newspaper industry, paper manufacturers and printers for a debate on environmental issues plaguing the industry.

Translate and go global
Source: The Telegraph, Calcutta

Indian authors writing in English have been the toast of the town for a while now, but authors expressing themselves in regional languages hardly get noticed.

Discussions on the challenge before regional authors to get the same kind of attention from a global or national audience was the topic for discussion in the three-day national convention of Indian publishers that ended here last night.

The Indian publishing industry has an annual turnover of Rs 100,000 million and rolls out 80,000 titles every year in languages, including English. However, India’s regional literature tends to be accessible to a select few. Many authors writing in regional languages feel they are marginalised because their work is not available in translation.

“There is need to get books translated from one regional language to the other and to English,” said P.K. Arora, executive director of Federation of Indian Publishers. “A publisher should come up with at least two publications of translated works in a year,” Arora suggested.

The three-day convention that took off on Thursday brought together publishers from different parts of the country along with authors.

The event was organised by the Federation of Indian Publishers and Orissa Publishers and Booksellers Association on the occasion of the Cuttack Book Fair.

Jnanpith winner and poet Sitakant Mohapatra was the chief guest at one of the sessions. Mohapatra said publication of translations would help check marginalisation of regional authors.

“More so, as translations are vehicles for promotion and national integration in a country known for its language diversity,” he added.

He also indicated that governments should have a role to play in this endeavour.

During discussions, quality of translations and fund crunch were cited as chief problems before the authors as well as distributors. The president of the Federation of Indian Publishers, R.C. Grovil, however, stressed that such problems could be overcome by adopting a definite policy on the two matters.

Book mall in publishing hub
Source: Hindustan Times

Ansari road in Daryaganj has always been associated with book publishing. But a lot is going to change in the area and for the better.

The Capital would soon get its first book mall where reading enthusiasts and those in the book business will get one-roof solution for all their reading needs. And what better location than Ansari Road, from where at least 80 per cent of India’s book publishers operates.

The 12-storied four-tower mall would come up at 5, Ansari Road, on a 10,000 square-metre plot. Named Delhi Heritage Centre, the mall will have two towers with publishing activities with a common bookstore, while the other two towers will have institutions of art, culture, education and urban administration.

For easy access to desired subject, cataloguing would be done according to subject and not the publisher. The towers would also have museums and guesthouses.

The MCD has come with the ambitious project to re-organise nearly 600 publishers, publishing houses and related activities at one place which are scattered at present.

Govt to launch Rs 300-crore awareness programme on IPR
Source: Business Standard

In what can be seen as a positive step in protecting the rights of those who collect and disseminate information, The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), the nodal department that handles intellectual property rights (IPR) related matters under the commerce ministry, is launching an ambitious Rs 300-crore project to sensitise all stakeholders, including law enforcement agencies, scientists, companies, ministries and the general public on IPR issues.

According to sources, DIPP wanted an update on all current and emerging issues in IP from ministries like education, health, information and broadcasting, chemicals and petrochemicals and agriculture.

Among the current issues that were discussed by these ministries were optical disc legislation (an initiative by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting), copyright on internet (a matter pending with the department of higher education) and the protection of traditional knowledge.

Under the shine of Rabi
Source: Hindustan Times

In Delhi for the last one week, Bengali writers and artists from India, Bangladesh, the Bengali diaspora worldwide, as well as leading foreign translators and scholars of Rabindranath Tagore have gathered for a ‘Tagore Utsav’.

Therefore, revisiting Tagore’s ‘last poems’ is perhaps a good point of departure for this group review on writings from Bangladesh. Tagore’s Final Poems (George Braziller, $22.50, pp 72) is sparingly translated by American poet Wendy Barker and Saranindranath Tagore, the great-grandson of the painter Abanindranath Tagore and nephew of Rabindranath.

This excellent book of final poems - from his last four volumes, Sickbed, Recovery, On My Birthday and Last Poems - reveals hitherto-hidden aspects of his writing: introspection and quietude articulated through minimalism, and sadness that accompanies someone’s dying days.

The poems are made vivid and alive by these new translations that are deft, sensitive, tightly wrought, lucid and idiomatically very modern. It is a superbly contemporary collection.

New Book Releases & Events

New Release from ISDL (International School Of Dravidian Linguistics)
Collected Papers On Malayalam Language And Linguistics
B. Gopinathan Nair (Ed.), 2008, Hard Cover

A collection of 42 research papers related to various aspects of Malayalam language and Linguistics, authored by several scholars, which appeared in the International Journal of Dravidian Linguistics (IJDL), spanning 36 years of its existence ever since its launching in 1972.

They are broadly classified into eight sections, viz. Phonetics & Phonology, Morphology & Syntax, Dialectology, Historical & Comparative Linguistics, Traditional Grammar, Inscriptions & Literary Language, L.V.R.’s contribution and Language-Teaching. The papers pursue diverse theoretical perspectives such as descriptive, historical & comparative, generative transformational, prosodic, etc. through which many issues in Malayalam language, grammar and teaching are being evaluated by scholars that would pave way for future research in these areas. It gives a fairly good picture of the history of Malayalam grammar and its development.

Students, teachers and researchers will find the contents of this beautifully-bound volume very informative and stimulating. A proud possession for all those interested in the growth and development of studies on Malayalam language and Linguistics.

English-Hindi/ Hindi-English Thesaurus and Dictionary launched
Penguin Books India and Yatra Books have launched The Penguin English-Hindi/ Hindi-English Thesaurus and Dictionary. Compiled by Arvind Kumar and Kusum Kumar, the book was launched by Smt. Madhu Goswami, Deputy Secretary Hindi, Ministry of External Affairs on Friday 4 April 2008 at the IIC Annexe, New Delhi

The three-volume Penguin English–Hindi/Hindi–English Dictionary and Thesaurus is billed as a landmark in bilingual lexicography. Today, just as more Hindi-speakers than ever before are eager to master English, a large number of Indians and non-Indians are learning Hindi through the medium of English. Global communication and educational systems today demand a bilingual dictionary and thesaurus that covers a wide spectrum of social and cultural terms, both Indian and non-Indian. This book, arranged thematically with two bilingual dictionaries and indexes and extremely easy to use, fits the bill well.

Blogs and Articles

Waiting for Hari Potter
Source: newindpress.com

The child readers have a mind of their own and their demand for books in English is ever increasing. But well produced and competitively priced Indian books in English are not easily found. Our kids still depend on foreign authors. Says nine-year-old Thalitha Kurien, who loves adventure books, “My favourite authors are Enid Blyton and Jacqueline Wilson.” 11-year-old Reshmi Rajeev is hooked onto fiction, especially fantasies. “I like reading the Eragon and Ink Heart series. I also love to read the Enid Blyton series,” she says. And how does she choose her authors? She flips through the Guide published by Penguin. Ask her about Indian authors and she says she has not laid her hands on even one. “My father has told me about Malgudi Days but I have not read those books,” she says.

Indian fashion industry lacks homegrown literature
Source: indiaedunews.net

Indian designers may be making a mark across the world and the country may be dotted with fashion training institutes but there is a big dearth of seminal literature on the subject.

There are hardly 10 books and magazines each on fashion and some 50 titles on Indian textiles, handicrafts and techniques penned by domestic authors.

Designer Ritu Kumar’s “Costumes and Textiles of Royal India”, Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla’s “A Celebration of Style”, author Rta Kapur Chisti’s “Saris In India” and “Tradition and Beyond - Hand Crafted Indian Textiles” and Hindol Sengupta’s “Indian Fashion” are among the few books on offer.

As far as fashion magazines go, there are In Touch With Fashion, Images Business of Fashion, M: Men Informed in Style, FNL: Fashion & Life Made Easy, Sports Wear, Couture India, Designer Mode and GQ to name some.

“There are fewer than 10 indigenous books on fashion. But the market is flooded with international titles because they are used as reference books in most fashion institutes,” publisher Ajay Mago of Om Books International (OBI) told IANS.

“Everybody is enamoured of Western fashion and wants to read about that. Even most of our designers’ collections are influenced by Western fashion. Unfortunately, when publishers approach style gurus to write a book on Indian fashion they do not show interest. So where will the books come from?” he asked.

By the end of this year OBI plans to come up with two new books on fashion by Indian authors.

Faculty members reason that their approach is generic and global. Nonetheless they stress that homegrown fashion content would help students understand domestic market needs better.

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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