Likeable in some ways

The goodness of the good Indian girl is a badge of sorts. Or, as the cover of Annie Zaidi and Smriti Ravindra’s The Bad Boy’s Guide to the Good Indian Girl suggests, a tacky sparkly medallion. As the authors emphasize in their introduction, “good” here “does not mean the opposite of bad”; merely the set of behaviour considered desirable in an Indian girl.

What Zaidi and Ravindra explore in this collection of loosely connected (several characters and names appear in more than one) stories is not the oppressive nature of this set of desirable qualities, but the ways in which women can transgress them and still retain the Good Indian Girl (or GIG) tag. The result is a book of surprisingly subversive tales in which girls interact with men, climb down rope ladders (“BIG Girls”), flirt and draw back (“Strangers”), cut themselves (“Out of Here”), are nervous and afraid around men but simultaneously willing to play along (“Finger Play”) and manipulate their perceived goodness for their own ends (“Daddy’s Girls”). They are less about emphasizing the restrictions placed on Indian women than they are about how women use and test them. The “GIGs” in these stories have agency and they use it.

Full review here Mint

DSC Prize 2012 Longlist announced

The longlist for the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature for 2010 was announced in Delhi today. There are 16 books on the list.

The list has both established as well debut novelists. There are also three translated entries. The five member jury each selected three works, revealed jury member Ira Pande. She said the list includes works from South Asia's cultural diversities as well as books that reflect urban as well as rural landscapes. There are two books on Afghanistan.

The shortlist will be announced on October 24 at the Shakespeare Globe in London, while the $50,000 prize will be given during the Jaipur Literature Festival in January 2012.

"I am delighted that the DSC Prize is able to provide a global platform to recognize such fine works and present them to a wider audience," Manhad Narula of DSC said.

The longlist:
Omair Ahmad: Jimmy the Terrorist (Hamish Hamilton/Penguin India)
U.R. Ananthamurthy: Bharathipura ( Oxford University Press, India, Translated by Susheela Punitha)
Chandrakanta: A Street in Srinagar (Zubaan Books, India, Translated by Manisha Chaudhry)
Siddharth Chowdhury: Day Scholar (Picador/Pan Macmillan, India)
Kishwar Desai: Witness the Night (HarperCollins/HarperCollins-India)
Namita Devidayal: Aftertaste (Random House, India)
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni: One Amazing Thing (Hamish Hamilton/Penguin India)
Manu Joseph: Serious Men (Fourth Estate/HarperCollins, India)
Usha K.R: Monkey-man (Penguin/Penguin India)
Shehan Karunatilaka: Chinaman (Random House, India)
Tabish Khair: The Thing About Thugs (Fourth Estate/HarperCollins-India)
Jill McGivering: The Last Kestrel (Blue Door/HarperCollins-UK)
Kavery Nambisan: The Story that Must Not Be Told (Viking/Penguin India)
Atiq Rahimi: The Patience Stone (Chatto & Windus/Random House-UK, Translated by Polly McLean)
Kalpish Ratna: The Quarantine Papers (HarperCollins-India)
Samrat Upadhyay: Buddha's Orphan (Rupa Publications, India)

An author's notes

Mitra Phukan talks about her new novel, A Monsoon of Music that was launched on Friday in New Delhi.

Indian classical music belongs to a tradition that has resisted being caught in written scores till nearly the present day. For generations, it has been possible to be illiterate and yet a maestro of music. Today, if musicians are also highly qualified academically, it is usually due to factors other than the pursuit of musical excellence alone. But in this changing world, one of the more positive upshots has been committed artistes who are as adept with the pen as with their art practice, and these individuals very often form a bridge between the relatively opposite worlds of the classical arts and the rest of life. Mitra Phukan, a vocalist trained under the late Biren Phukan and now under Pandit Samaresh Choudhury of Kolkata, is among such artistes. The protagonists of her new novel, A Monsoon of Music, being launched by Zubaan and Penguin Books India this Friday evening in New Delhi, are practitioners of Hindustani music. If one is a dedicated student on the brink of professionalism, two are serene gurus and accomplished performers, while the fourth is a globe-trotting star who seems to have it made. The duality between spirituality and materialism of classical music, old-world images and modern performers, a gentle satire on the ambitions of today's youngsters…all these find a place in the novel. Here Mitra speaks about what went into the writing of the book that took her several years. Edited excerpts from a conversation with the author:

Do you perform regularly?
I used to perform very regularly on the radio and TV and in various performances. But now my writing is taking over, it seems. Also, because of all the conflict, it's difficult for organisers to arrange programmes, especially of classical music. People don't want to stay out late. For the last 10-15 years there has been a dwindling of such shows. If there is a bomb blast the atmosphere changes and you don't really feel like organising a music programme. And if there is a bandh on the day...such events cost lakhs of rupees, so people don't want to take the risk of inviting musicians and having to cancel the programme.

Full interview here Hindu

Flavours of kitchen drama

The smell of wood fire permeates through this collection of short stories as does an earthy flavour reminiscent of food cooked with love and heightened emotions. Author Bulbul Sharma is a familiar name, having delighted many a reader with her mountain tales and hauntingly beautiful illustrations. She now returns with Eating Women, Telling Tales, a collection of nine insightful stories.

Set mainly in small-town surroundings, the stories transport the reader to a land criss-crossed with myths, superstitions, convoluted relationships and gender politics. Death stalks constantly in these stories which are diverse and engaging, spreading across the entire spectrum of emotions ranging from the chilling to the ludicrous. Thus, we learn about the goat that narrowly escaped being sacrificed, female spirits and their celestial squabbles, the breaking in of a wilful young bride, the feisty woman who thought nothing of leaping across the terrace wall to spend the night with the neighbour.

There is a charming unhurried air to the pace of the stories as the author weaves a vivid world of sights, sounds and aromas. Sharma is at her best when describing vegetables, flowers and silent gardens dreaming on in the shade of old trees and equally evocative are the pictures conjured of smoke-filled homely kitchens where a whole lot of things besides food keep simmering.

Full report here Asian Age

Coming of age

Indian publishing boasts of a thriving children’s market, but it has remained limited in scope...

Worldwide, readers of young adult (YA) fiction have never had it so good. That trend is now gathering steam in India. Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, House of Night, Twilight, Princess Diaries — young adult (YA) readers have never had it so good. But while shelves overflow with YA books of every genre, if you go looking for home-grown fare, the view is rather more dismal.

Indian publishing boasts of a thriving children’s market, but it has remained limited in scope. Classics, folk tales and mythology have been rehashed and regurgitated innumerable times, suiting both publishers who are largely content to stick with the tried and tested, and parents who decide what children ought to read. And while there is a fair amount of original writing for younger children, it is slim pickings in the YA segment. In fact, YA itself is a category difficult to pin down, more so since young people trying to find their place in the larger scheme of things are near impossible to slot into convenient “types”. One thing is clear: while the term might be “a snappy shorthand for a global phenomenon”, as Anita Roy of the YA publisher Young Zubaan puts it, there’s no doubt that pre-20 age group is hungry for good literature.

Globally, the crossover market to which YA belongs, comprising books that appeal to youngsters as well as adults, has taken off in a big way. The trend has not escaped the notice of Indian publishers. So far only a handful — Young Zubaan, Puffin, Hachette, Scholastic and HarperCollins, to name a few — are actively exploring it, but it is early days yet.

In India YA publishing has gotten the cold shoulder. A well-rounded exploration of adolescence hasn’t been a strength, says Vatsala Kaul Banerjee, editorial director (children’s and reference books) at Hachette India. Reaching out to this category of readers is not simple: “Ever tried being interesting to a 16-year-old?” she asks. Not easy, since young people are discerning readers.

Full report here Business Standard

Past Perfect

I was invited to the launch of Kaifi and I, a book written by Shaukat Kaifi. I pondered over the thought of going to the other end of the world (the suburbs) during peak traffic hours and then decided to go. On the dias sat Shaukat Kaifi, Shabana Azmi, Tabu along with the publisher, Urvashi Butalia - a pioneer of feminist writing in India from Zubaan Publication, and Nasreen Rehman, a scholar from Cambridge, who translated the book from Urdu to English. Excerpts from the book were read out, highlighting the rich emotions.

The book throws light on the character of Kaifi, who had a progressive and dynamic mind, and was clearly fighting discrimination against women at a time when they did not dare be out of their purdah. As young people, Shaukat and Kaifi fell desperately in love with each other.

Even though Kaifi was a card-holding communist and a poet with no source of income, Shaukat's loving father brought the lovers together putting his daughter's happiness over society’s expectations. The book reflects on life in 'another time.' It also gives a lively depiction of a section of the history of India and its culture and charm, which were part and parcel of it.

Full report here Mumbai Mirror

'Don't ever write 'down' to your audience'

It is only by making books fun, beautiful, intriguing or desirable objects that children will associate reading with pleasure rather than seeing it as a chore, says Anita Roy, editor of children’s publisher Young Zubaan.

Is there a need for Indian-authored children’s books?
Absolutely, yes! There are many excellent, innovative, fabulous books for children being imported into India, from old favourites like Enid Blyton, Roald Dahl, AA Milne et al, to newer writers like JK Rowling, Philip Pullman, Lauren Child, Stephanie Meyer, Francesca Simon and others. Yet, if you were asked to name an Indian children’s author, you are unlikely to come up with anyone other than, perhaps Ruskin Bond.

Is there a demand for Indian titles?
Many parents and teachers are desperately keen to get Indian children’s books for their kids. They realise the importance of introducing their children to a literary/imaginative world with which they can immediately identify and in which they recognise themselves. It’s much more than simply changing ‘Janet and John’ to ‘Ravi and Seema’.

Full interview here DNA

Seminar on green publishing

The Energy Resources Institute (TERI) and the German Book Office (GBO) are organising a seminar on publishing and ecology on March 14.

Pathways to Green Publishing 2009: Industry perspectives on the economics of ecological practices is an event which aims to create a common platform for stakeholders from the publishing, paper manufacturing, and printing industries to interact and find clean-green solutions for this sector. It will also bring together policy makers from the high echelons of the Indian government to deliberate on issues related to sustainability.

The conference will try to provide a common platform for the media, corporates, the world of writing, and education to interact and find solutions for a greener tomorrow.
It will also provide a unique opportunity to share the immense knowledge of the best known names in the publishing and printing industry and the media to the participants who attend the conference. The conference aims to offer the intellectual research base of TERI to the participants for conducting energy audits in their respective organizations and also put before the members research carried out by TERI in the field of publishing, waste management in printing, paper etc.

Among those expected to participate are Manas Saikia, Managing Director, Cambridge University, Kapish G Mehra, Managing Director, Rupa and Co, Chetan Bhagat, author, Himani Dalmia, author, Paro Anand, Urvashi Butalia, Director, Zubaan Books and Prof Ramu Ramaswamy, Scholars without Borders.

Publishers' meet in Delhi

A day-long round table by organised by the German Book Office (GBO) in Delhi saw a number of participants - including most of India's leading publishers and printers, engaged in rather spirited discussion over the future of publishing in India.
The usual divide between the multinational subsidiaries and independent publishers was a part of the story. The meet looked at whether publishing was local or global - and there was this realisation that while publishing had to be essentially local, the main tasks for publishers was to find the next big author who could transcend boundaries and languages.

Among the participants were Juergen Boos, President, Frankfurt Book Fair, who has been visiting India fairly frequently in recent times. Another interesting participant was an old India hand, Richard Charkin, executive director, Bloomsbury, in the past with Macmillan in India.

Among the Indian publishers present were Mike Bryan (Penguin), SK Ghai (Sterling), VK Karthika (Harper), Urvashi Butalia (Zubaan), Thomas Abraham (Hachette), Renuka Chatterjee from Westland, Pramod kapoor (Roli), PM Sukumar (Harper).