To catch the English reader

The event was a little unusual. Anustup Publications, one of the longest surviving publishers of Bengali little magazines from College Street, launched an English academic text at Oxford Bookstore on Park Street on Friday.

Anustup, known to swim against the tide, now plans English publishing on a regular basis. Anil Acharya, founder- member of Anustup, explained his decision to publish in English: “If a sizeable segment of the readership now is reading only in English, it is prudent to address that segment.”

For a little magazine that has managed to survive for more than 45 years, Anustup surprised with its launch function on Park Street. There were many contradictions: Acharya began his speech referring to the 90-year-old bookstore as a “bourgeois, elite place”, something Anustup was not used to. The split level at the boutique bookstore was filled with economists and philosophy teachers from Jadavpur University and Calcutta University, a change from the usual crowd of Calcutta’s well-heeled. Present were Soureen Bhattacharya, a former economics professor of Jadavpur University, Achiranshu Acharya from Visva-Bharati and Calcutta University’s Rabindranath Bhattacharya to listen to Rinita Mazumdar’s work, titled Feminist Economics.

Full report here Telegraph