Delhi’s date with books

It’s almost like a mini-paradise for book lovers and distributors, as the 17th annual Delhi Book Fair kicked off in the Capital on Saturday. With over 300 publishers participating in the fair, there are thousands  of books to choose from.

“This year, the theme of the fair is travel and tourism. We have 625 stalls and 300 publishers who are participating, and we also have delegates from countries such as UK, Pakistan and the US,” says Shakti Malik, general secretary, The Federation of Indian Publishers.

Among the participating publishers are Penguin, Rupa & Co, S Chand, Pustak Mahal. Besides networking opportunities for publishers, the fair is also a great venue for book launches and workshops. “People coming into the book fair and browsing through the books is a very different experience from checking out books at a store that can stock limited number of books. At our stall, we will be talking about two books - Pakistan Beyond The ‘Crisis State’ by Maleeha Lodhi and The Punjab Bloodied Partitioned And Cleansed by Ishtiaq Ahmed,” says Kapish Mehra, managing director of Rupa & Co.

Full report here Hindustan Times

Indian authors, publishers take Google to court

Google has caught Indian authors and publishers on the wrong foot, according to a report in the Business Line.

According to the report, some Indian publishers and authors are up in arms against Google Book Settlement (GBS 2.0) for what it calls a blatant violation of Indian and international copyright laws.Google Book Search Project allows books to be made available on the Web. Over seven million books have been scanned by Google. Google Book Settlement allows authors and other copyright holders of out-of-print books to submit a claim to participate in settlements.

Indian authors and publishers, including Star Publications, Abhinav Publications, Daya Publication House and Pustak Mahal along with the Indian Reprographic Rights Organisation and Federation of Indian Publishers, have approached the New York District Court. Mr Siddharth Arya, legal counsel for IRRO, said: “The Google Book Settlement is contrary to every international treaty that governs copyright laws. Google's unilateral conduct is a brazen attempt to turn copyright law on its head, by usurping the exclusive rights of the copyright holder.”

More on the report here