Delhi Defends David Davidar

Delhi, which is the capital of India’s publishing industry, sometimes seems like a place where everyone, including most journalists, has a novel up their sleeve and where many people follow book contracts, new books, prizes and sundry movements of the publishing world as avidly as celebrity gossip addicts look out for Brangelina’s next baby adoption.

That world is a small one though, judging by the intensity of the online reaction to the news this month about David Davidar, who until recently headed Penguin Canada. Mr. Davidar is well-known in Delhi publishing circles as the man who set up Penguin India. Early in June, Penguin Canada announced Mr. Davidar was leaving to pursue his own writing projects in India. Mr. Davidar confirmed that he was leaving to spend more time writing a book that included a “Robin Hood-type character,” according to an interview he gave Canadian book magazine Quill and Quire on Thursday, June 10.

That was reportedly the same day that former Penguin Canada employee Lisa Rundle filed a lawsuit alleging that Mr. Davidar sexually harassed her when she worked there, according to a Penguin Canada statement reported on by Publishers Weekly on Friday, June 11. Penguin Canada did not respond to e-mail requests for comment.

Full report here WSJ blogs