Once India’s premier literary award, the Crossword prize looked as if it had lost the plot somewhat. Award ceremonies are bad enough because of authors competing like race horses, but to add to the humiliation, this time all the shortlisted contenders who had turned up for the translation prize were called up on the stage before the announcement. Imagine the discomfiture of those who didn’t win, up there, when the winners were announced: Malayalam Sahitya Akademi prizewinner Sarah Joseph’s novel about a nun, Othappu, translated by Valson Thampu, better known as principal of St Stephen’s College. Cruel!
Dropped In A Bazaar
Fortunately, by the time it came to the non-fiction prize announcement, the organisers seemed to have realised the limits of authorial performance. With two coffeetablers in the shortlist, one would have thought the prize choice would be easy. But no, it was a tie between two rather academic books: Looking East to Look West: Lee Kuan Yew’s Mission India by Sunanda K. Datta-Ray and Bazaars, Conversations and Freedom by Rajni Bakshi. Datta-Ray took the opportunity to flay his publisher publicly: for lack of enthusiasm and competence.
Full report here Outlook
Showing posts with label Sunanda K. Datta-Ray. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sunanda K. Datta-Ray. Show all posts
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Mumbaikar brings home fiction award
The recent spurt in the field of children's literature in India has been duly noted by draftsmen of the Vodafone Crossword Book Awards 2009, who have, this year, installed a new prize category for it - 11 years after the awards were instituted. No surprise then that the chief guest for the evening was the legendary Ruskin Bond. Since Bond makes infrequent excursions out of Mussoorie, this rare opportunity to hear him speak quieted the congregation at NCPAs Tata Theatre when he took the stage. "Writers should be read and not heard or even seen, because only a few of them are good looking,'' joked Bond, adding that when he started writing 50 years ago, there were no literary fairs or awards. "In fact, I worked in a literary vacuum.''
The preliminaries eventually closed in on the raison d'etre of the evening - the awards. The prize for Fiction was brought home by Mumbai's own Kalpana Swaminathan for her Venus Crossing: Twelve Stories of Crossing (Penguin Books India). Rajni Bakshi and Sunanda K Datta-Ray were joint recipients of the Non-Fiction Prize. It was Bakshi's Bazaars, Conversations and Freedom (Penguin Books India), and Datta-Ray's Looking East to Look West (Penguin Viking) that made it through the wringers. On the shelf for Children's literature was The Grasshopper's Run (Scholastic India) by Siddhartha Sarma - the frontrunner for this award. Othappu: The Scent of the Other Side (Oxford) won author Sarah Joseph and translator Valson Thampu the Translation trophy. And finally, reader votes for the Popular Prize were in favour of Rajni Bakshi once again.
Full report here Times of India
The preliminaries eventually closed in on the raison d'etre of the evening - the awards. The prize for Fiction was brought home by Mumbai's own Kalpana Swaminathan for her Venus Crossing: Twelve Stories of Crossing (Penguin Books India). Rajni Bakshi and Sunanda K Datta-Ray were joint recipients of the Non-Fiction Prize. It was Bakshi's Bazaars, Conversations and Freedom (Penguin Books India), and Datta-Ray's Looking East to Look West (Penguin Viking) that made it through the wringers. On the shelf for Children's literature was The Grasshopper's Run (Scholastic India) by Siddhartha Sarma - the frontrunner for this award. Othappu: The Scent of the Other Side (Oxford) won author Sarah Joseph and translator Valson Thampu the Translation trophy. And finally, reader votes for the Popular Prize were in favour of Rajni Bakshi once again.
Full report here Times of India
Crossword Book Awards 2009 announced
Indian Literary Excellence took center stage at the ‘Vodafone Crossword Popular Book Award 2009’ as the best writers and their books were honoured at NCPA on Friday, August 20, 2010. This year the awards in the Fiction category is won by Kalpana Swaminathan for the book Venus Crossing: Twelve Stories, Looking East To Look West - Lee Kuan Yew’s Mission India by author Sunanda K. Datta- Ray and Bazaars, Conversations and Freedom by author Rajni Bakshi have jointly won in the Non-Fiction category, Siddhartha Sarma for the book The Grasshopper’s Run has won in the Children’s category and Othappu by author Sarah Joseph (translated by Valson Thampu) has bagged Translation award.
‘The Vodafone Crossword Popular Book Award’ which was introduced in 2005, was won by author Rajni Bakshi for her book Bazaars, Conversations and Freedom. The Award is a unique initiative by Crossword and Vodafone and offers readers the opportunity to vote for their favourite book.
Mr. C.B Navalkar – CEO Crossword Bookstores stated: “We are very happy with the response we have been receiving over the years from publishers, authors as well as our readers; we are back once again to encourage and reward the best of Indian writing. As the Vodafone Crossword Book Awards enter its 9th year, we are delighted to have successfully created and sustained the biggest literary platform in India.”
A packed audience that included distinguished writers, publishers, critics and book-lovers enjoyed the much-awaited event that is poised to become the biggest celebration of Indian literature. Shortlisted authors Amit Chaudhuri, Arunava Sinha, Biman Nath, Gurcharan Das, Maitreyee S. C., Mridula Koshy, Nonica Datta, Roopa Pai, Salma, Shreekumar Varma & S. M. M. Ausaja were present at this well-attended event. Eminent author & poet Arundhathi Subramanian and eminent author & art curator Ranjit Hoskote played hosts for the evening.
The winners for the Vodafone Crossword Book Awards 2009 were decided by a respected panel of judges comprising well-known academics, critics and writers in each category. Usha K. R, Harish Trivedi and Bishakha Datta served as judges in the Fiction category; Harsh Sethi, Urvashi Butalia and Pratap Bhanu Mehta for the Non-Fiction category; Ansuhka Ravishankar, Paro Anand, Subashree Krishnaswamy for the Children’s category and Ira Pande, Sukanta Chaudhuri and Rita Kothari for the Translation category.
This year, the Award has generated a great response from the Indian publishers and 211 valid entries were received for the 4 categories. The selection process took several months of reading, deliberation and discussion before the three panels made their selections.
Crossword is India’s leading bookstore chain, which has pioneered the lifestyle bookstore concept in India. Crossword was ranked the 6th most admired retailer in India by Business world for the year 2006; it was the only book retailer in the top 10.Crossword won the Reid & Taylor Award for Best Retailer of the year – Leisure & Specialty at the India Retail Summit 2005 & 2007& 2009.Crossword won the Retailer of the Year Award - Leisure (Books, Music and Gifts Category) at the Images Retail Awards 2005 & 2007.Crossword received the Federation of Indian Publishers Award for excellence in Publishing for the year 2004 on 18th June 2005 at the hands of Shri Arjun Singh, Minister of Human Resource Development.
Launched in 1992, Crossword currently has 63 stores across 12 cities in the country in Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Bangalore, Bhopal, Hyderabad, Jaipur, New Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur and Vadodara. Crossword Bookstores Ltd. is a wholly owned subsidiary Company of Shopper’s Stop Ltd – India’s leading department store chain. The Holding Company inter-alia also acts as a Master Franchisee of the Company.
‘The Vodafone Crossword Popular Book Award’ which was introduced in 2005, was won by author Rajni Bakshi for her book Bazaars, Conversations and Freedom. The Award is a unique initiative by Crossword and Vodafone and offers readers the opportunity to vote for their favourite book.
Mr. C.B Navalkar – CEO Crossword Bookstores stated: “We are very happy with the response we have been receiving over the years from publishers, authors as well as our readers; we are back once again to encourage and reward the best of Indian writing. As the Vodafone Crossword Book Awards enter its 9th year, we are delighted to have successfully created and sustained the biggest literary platform in India.”
A packed audience that included distinguished writers, publishers, critics and book-lovers enjoyed the much-awaited event that is poised to become the biggest celebration of Indian literature. Shortlisted authors Amit Chaudhuri, Arunava Sinha, Biman Nath, Gurcharan Das, Maitreyee S. C., Mridula Koshy, Nonica Datta, Roopa Pai, Salma, Shreekumar Varma & S. M. M. Ausaja were present at this well-attended event. Eminent author & poet Arundhathi Subramanian and eminent author & art curator Ranjit Hoskote played hosts for the evening.
The winners for the Vodafone Crossword Book Awards 2009 were decided by a respected panel of judges comprising well-known academics, critics and writers in each category. Usha K. R, Harish Trivedi and Bishakha Datta served as judges in the Fiction category; Harsh Sethi, Urvashi Butalia and Pratap Bhanu Mehta for the Non-Fiction category; Ansuhka Ravishankar, Paro Anand, Subashree Krishnaswamy for the Children’s category and Ira Pande, Sukanta Chaudhuri and Rita Kothari for the Translation category.
This year, the Award has generated a great response from the Indian publishers and 211 valid entries were received for the 4 categories. The selection process took several months of reading, deliberation and discussion before the three panels made their selections.
Crossword is India’s leading bookstore chain, which has pioneered the lifestyle bookstore concept in India. Crossword was ranked the 6th most admired retailer in India by Business world for the year 2006; it was the only book retailer in the top 10.Crossword won the Reid & Taylor Award for Best Retailer of the year – Leisure & Specialty at the India Retail Summit 2005 & 2007& 2009.Crossword won the Retailer of the Year Award - Leisure (Books, Music and Gifts Category) at the Images Retail Awards 2005 & 2007.Crossword received the Federation of Indian Publishers Award for excellence in Publishing for the year 2004 on 18th June 2005 at the hands of Shri Arjun Singh, Minister of Human Resource Development.
Launched in 1992, Crossword currently has 63 stores across 12 cities in the country in Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Bangalore, Bhopal, Hyderabad, Jaipur, New Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur and Vadodara. Crossword Bookstores Ltd. is a wholly owned subsidiary Company of Shopper’s Stop Ltd – India’s leading department store chain. The Holding Company inter-alia also acts as a Master Franchisee of the Company.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Insights into India-Singapore relations
LOOKING EAST TO LOOK WEST — Lee Kuan Yew's Mission to India: Sunanda K. Datta-Ray; pub. by the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore, and Penguin Books India Pvt. Ltd., 11, Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi-110017. Rs. 499.
The book deals with one of the most outstanding statesmen of our times and his hopes and aspirations about India-Singapore relations. Lee Kuan Yew dominates the Singapore scene almost like a colossus, leaving his indelible imprint in all the spheres of the tiny Republic — its political system, resilient economy, diplomatic finesse and, above all, its transformation from a third world state to a developed country.
The author Sunanda K. Datta-Ray, former editor of Statesman, who served as consultant to the Straits Times, has provided some keen insights into what Lee Kuan Yew has meant to Singapore.
In the early years of his political career, Lee was profoundly influenced by Jawaharlal Nehru. His commitment to non-communal politics, and abiding faith in secularism and democratic socialism were inspired by the leader who was at the helm when India began its “tryst with destiny”. Nehru's policy towards Southeast Asia during 1947-1959 was based on the firm foundations of Sino-Indian friendship. Unfortunately when that friendship got frozen in the snows of the Himalayas, India could not play any meaningful role. Singapore leaders frequently highlight the positive aspects of development strategies of India and China.
Located in a tumultuous region and given its vulnerability as a small state and the need for pragmatism in policy formations, Singapore sees the presence of extra-regional powers not as a threat to security, but as an opportunity to enhance regional and global inter-dependence.
Twists and turns
The book analyses the twists and turns in India-Singapore relations — to quote the author, “the journey from the sunlit peaks of hope into valleys of dark despair and, now, towards the radiance of a new dawn.” Despite the differences in their diplomatic styles, the three leaders who have guided the destiny of Singapore — Lee Kuan Yew, Goh Chok Tong, and Lee Hsien Loong — are one in believing that India can, and should, follow an activist policy towards Southeast Asia. Goh, the most persuasive of the three, created a mild “India fever” in Singapore.
However, it should be pointed out that Datta-Ray's interpretation of certain important events may not be shared by keen students of Southeast Asian politics. I will refer to just two events. The first relates to the proclamation of “ de facto” independence of Singapore on August 31, 1963. With the benefit of hindsight, the author mentions that it looked like “a constitutional sleight of hand or an attempt to pressure the Tengku …or a shrewd move that saved Singapore's future.”
Full report here The Hindu
The author Sunanda K. Datta-Ray, former editor of Statesman, who served as consultant to the Straits Times, has provided some keen insights into what Lee Kuan Yew has meant to Singapore.
In the early years of his political career, Lee was profoundly influenced by Jawaharlal Nehru. His commitment to non-communal politics, and abiding faith in secularism and democratic socialism were inspired by the leader who was at the helm when India began its “tryst with destiny”. Nehru's policy towards Southeast Asia during 1947-1959 was based on the firm foundations of Sino-Indian friendship. Unfortunately when that friendship got frozen in the snows of the Himalayas, India could not play any meaningful role. Singapore leaders frequently highlight the positive aspects of development strategies of India and China.
Located in a tumultuous region and given its vulnerability as a small state and the need for pragmatism in policy formations, Singapore sees the presence of extra-regional powers not as a threat to security, but as an opportunity to enhance regional and global inter-dependence.
Twists and turns
The book analyses the twists and turns in India-Singapore relations — to quote the author, “the journey from the sunlit peaks of hope into valleys of dark despair and, now, towards the radiance of a new dawn.” Despite the differences in their diplomatic styles, the three leaders who have guided the destiny of Singapore — Lee Kuan Yew, Goh Chok Tong, and Lee Hsien Loong — are one in believing that India can, and should, follow an activist policy towards Southeast Asia. Goh, the most persuasive of the three, created a mild “India fever” in Singapore.
However, it should be pointed out that Datta-Ray's interpretation of certain important events may not be shared by keen students of Southeast Asian politics. I will refer to just two events. The first relates to the proclamation of “ de facto” independence of Singapore on August 31, 1963. With the benefit of hindsight, the author mentions that it looked like “a constitutional sleight of hand or an attempt to pressure the Tengku …or a shrewd move that saved Singapore's future.”
Full report here The Hindu
Sunday, February 28, 2010
The Yew effect
A large Hindustan Times cartoon from 1966 formed the backdrop to the event in Kolkata. Oxford Bookstore, the venue of the launch of Looking East to Look West: Lee Kuan Yew’s Mission India, by Sunanda K. Datta-Ray, was chock-a-block on Thursday with the city’s literati and glitterati.
The cartoon showed a gargantuan Nehru sleeping with a minuscule Yew perched on top, yelling “Wake up!” It is this cartoon that encapsulates what the redoubtable SKDR wanted to say in his 388-page volume on India-Singapore relations. For governor M.K. Narayanan, who unveiled the book, it was a “double pleasure” to be at the event for he was an admirer of Datta-Ray and also had the pleasure to know the Singaporean minister-mentor Lee Kuan Yew.
“Though I am not a historian, I am part of contemporary history and from that perspective I can claim that bilateral relations between India and Singapore have been most purposeful and warm,” said Narayanan. Despite neglect on India’s part, the relation with Singapore remained stable largely due to the leadership of Yew, he said.
Full report here Telegraph
“Though I am not a historian, I am part of contemporary history and from that perspective I can claim that bilateral relations between India and Singapore have been most purposeful and warm,” said Narayanan. Despite neglect on India’s part, the relation with Singapore remained stable largely due to the leadership of Yew, he said.
Full report here Telegraph
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