Taslima's passport tweet angers Nepal

Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasrin who has been living in exile since 1994 has tweeted herself to a new controversy in Nepal. The author was to arrive in Kathmandu on Saturday to attend the country’s first literature festival, but a post on Twitter has ensured she won’t come visiting anytime soon.

Nasrin who currently resides in New Delhi missed her flight to Kathmandu on Saturday as she forgot to bring her Swedish passport. Airport authorities didn’t let her board the flight.

"My Nepali friends, I missed my flight to go to Kathmandu today. I forgot to bring my passport as I didn’t consider Nepal a foreign country!" she soon wrote on her Twitter page.

The comment offended many of her Nepali followers on the micro-blogging site who ridiculed her lack of knowledge about world geography and blamed her of thinking that Nepal was a part of India.

Nasrin was shocked and hurt that her Nepali friends were offended by her "feeling of closeness 2 (to) Nepal".

Undeterred she planned to arrive here on Sunday to take part in the last day of the festival but that also had to be shelved due to adverse reaction to the tweet and concerns about her safety.

Full report here Hindustan Times 

True blue Bhopali

A coffee table book on Bhopal tries to catch the essence of the city

Not too often does a Bollywood character find itself an integral part of a book which has nothing to do with films. “Soorma Bhopali”, the legendary character created by noted screenplay writers Salim-Javed for the classic Sholay, becomes the title of a recent book on Bhopal, the capital of Madhya Pradesh. Chemical engineer-turned-sculptor-turned-author Jayant Gaur, the man behind the book, maintains that the book Bhopal — Ek Bhopali Ki Nazar Se or Bhopal — Through the Eyes of a Bhopali — written in both Hindi and English and replete with sketches and cartoons, focuses on the “Bhopali philosophy” first highlighted by the Sholay character.

“I myself become Soorma Bhopali in the book and give his views on Bhopal, its socio-economic environment, places around it and different personalities associated with the city. I have traced Bhopal's history right from the founder of the ruling dynasty, Afghan soldier Dost Mohammed Khan, to the rule of the Begums and finally leading to Bollywood actor Saif Ali Khan,” says the 62-year-old about his light-hearted debut coffee table book.

Full report here Hindu

Identity matters

Sweta Srivastava Vikram describes her novel, Perfectly Untraditional, as a happy immigrant tale

Sweta Srivastava Vikram — an award-winning writer who has been based out of New York — is enthusiastic about her new novel — Perfectly Untraditional (Niyogi Books, Rs. 350).

Launched last week at Landmark, Perfectly Untraditional is a happy immigrant story”. With the theme of identity dominating writing in English in India, how is Sweta's book any different? “People don't always move away from home in search of a better life or for earning more money. For me, distance gave me a perspective. After moving to the States, there were many aspects to India that I began to discover afresh.”

That said, the novel is character driven. It revolves around Shaili Kapoor – a writer working in New York trying to connect to India after her mother's death. The book portrays the extreme emotions of a girl who struggles to bond with her father back in Pune. “I've viewed my characters from the lens of circumstances. There's a Jekyll and Hyde in all of us. Depending on the nature of the circumstance the character is put through, either of those sides is manifested,” says the Columbia University graduate. The novel also explores relationships among women. Shaili discovers she is a lesbian in her late twenties. “Shaili can't understand why she was unhappy despite being in a happy marriage. It's only when she moves away and gets intimate with her friend that she realises her conflict.”

FUll report here Hindu

Scalpel secrets

Cardiologist H.S. Rissam ventures into the dark territory of criminal-medical nexus

A private hospital that specialises in illegal trade of vital organs, is linked to the international trade in drugs and arms and to the terror syndicate operating across the planet — The Scalpel- Game Beneath is a book authored by eminent cardiologist H.S. Rissam.

The book takes the reader on a roller coaster ride across countries and continents and makes an attempt to trace a criminal-terrorist-medical-mafia nexus. Rissam says, “I would say that the book is medical fiction. However, I have kept the language simple to ensure that even a layman can even understand it easily.”

Does the book take inspiration from real life incidents? “The book is a work of fiction. Some of the incidents that find mention have been from my own experience.”

The book was born during a sabbatical in Paris some years ago. “The Parisian winter proved to be the best place to let the author in me come to life. I was writing for the past 20 years, but was not very confident about publishing my work. It was during this break that I decided to let my pen do the writing.”

Full report here Hindu

Taslima to add glitter to Nepal's first lit fest

Exiled Bangladeshi writer and feminist Taslima Nasrin's presence will add glitter to Nepal's first literary festival being held in Kathmandu this week inspired by the annual Jaipur litfest.

The 48-year-old, who celebrates her 49th birthday in exile next week, is appearing at the Ncell Nepal Literary Festival on Saturday evening to release the English translation of one of her books as well as speak on her writing.

Having found sanctuary for three years in Kolkata after the storm her writing triggered in Bangladesh, leading to a fatwa on her, Taslima was forced to leave after protests. She is flying from Norway through New Delhi after her Indian publisher, Vani Prakashan, connected her with the organisers of the Kathmandu fest.

Full report here Times of India 

Penguin India launches mobile application

Leading book publisher, Penguin Books India has launched a mobile application that offers information of all books by the penguin Books India.

The new mobile app supports iPhone and Nokia Symbian devices. With the new application, users can read reviews, browse author's name, latest books, download books available at Penguin Book India.

The new mobile application can connect the user with other book lovers in the "Stay Connected' section which redirects to the Penguin India, YouTube, Facebook and Twitter pages.

In the "Stay Connect" section, users can suggest, recommend, watch video, discuss books in the Penguin India on Facebook, You Tube and Twitter pages.

Full report here Art & Design

Storming the world stage

Storming the World Stage:
The Story of Lashkar-e-Taiba
Stephen Tankel
Hachette India
Rs 550 pp 385

A few months after the 9/11 attacks, a French convert to Islam named Willie Brigitte attended a terrorist training camp in the mountains of Pakistan. His fellow recruits were Pakistanis and Afghans, as well as men from Somalia, Britain and the Gulf states. The camp was run by the terrorist organisation Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), but some of the instructors were Pakistani soldiers on detachment, and military material was dropped from army helicopters.

Several times, officials came to the camp to check that no foreign jihadis were present. When this happened, Brigitte and the other itinerant foreigners would be tipped off in advance and hide out in the woods surrounding the camp.

When LeT was finally banned in 2002 under American pressure, it had already shifted its financial assets into a charitable trust at the instigation of the ISI, the Pakistani intelligence. Its military wing would only be used for operations against India in Kashmir — which was permitted. Yet before long they were organising other terror attacks, including the 2008 massacre in Mumbai that killed 166 people.

In Storming the World Stage, Stephen Tankel provides the most detailed and impressive account yet of the development of this organisation, created initially under Pakistan’s aegis but now increasingly a thorn in its side. It began as an outfit in the anti-Soviet campaign in Afghanistan in the early 1980s and, after many splits, became a significant force in Pakistan. Because it followed the Ahl-e-Hadith (a comparatively small school or sect which wants a pristine version of Islam) the ISI thought it would be a more pliant proxy than some other more mainstream militant groups. As part of this arrangement, LeT had to swear never to turn its guns on the Pakistani state.

Full review here Hindustan Times

David Davidar surges in India

Former Penguin Canada president David Davidar left Canada under a particularly dark cloud early this year. But somewhere over the Atlantic, that cloud dissipated, and he landed here to an open-armed welcome. He has resumed his place at the top of the flourishing Indian literary world, and that nasty allegation of sexual harassment in the (other) colonies is yesterday’s news.

Two months ago, Davidar, 52, announced he was launching a new publishing house, Aleph Book Co., focusing on literary books, both fiction and non-fiction. The Indian industry, centred here in Delhi, has been watching eagerly: It is a current favourite preoccupation in book circles to speculate on which authors and which executives will defect to Aleph.

His new house will publish 15 or 20 books by the end of next year, Davidar says, although he won’t name any of the authors of those planned books, saying he is saving that for a “spectacular announcement” in December. “There will be people Canadians will recognize,” he says. “There will be big-name novelists, and the next generation of novelists who will set the world alight.”

But he acknowledges he has yet to sign contracts with any authors, and while he has hired a number of high-profile staff, he says, none of the appointments has been announced.

Full report here The Globe and Mail

Page after page

You don't need to visit these libraries or spend hours at every aisle before you decide on which book to borrow. Their catalogues are available with a search option and at the click of a mouse, the books you want are delivered at your doorstep. Tech-savvy, convenient and economic, online libraries are fast growing into a trend, says Anusha Parthasarathy

Iloveread
Amrutash Misra believes that while more people are reading now than ever before, the number of libraries in Chennai is startlingly low. Hence, in December 2009, Sahil Gore, a VIT Pune graduate and Amrutash, an alumnus of IIT Madras, quit their jobs to begin iloveread.in.

“There are only about 15 to 20 online libraries and a much less number is actually functioning as full-fledged physical libraries in the city,” says Amrutash. “We decided not to charge a late fee or have a due date because the whole point is to make people read.”

And with his 3200-strong library growing by 200 books every month, Amrutash and his team of 12 keep the spirit of reading alive. “We have about 2,000 customers across schools, corporates and individuals. We also do school programmes, recommend books to readers and share reading lists of people with similar tastes. Most of the books we buy are also recommendations from our readers. We can't offer the ambience that physical libraries do but this facility has its own advantages.”

Full report here Hindu

Winter gloom sets in on Kashmir’s Harud

“Harud or autumn is a beautiful season in Kashmir. It has inspired much excellent prose, poetry and even a film,” said Namita Gokhale, explaining why the literary festival her group will organise in Kashmir this September was called Harud.

“The idea arose from an educationist and arts enthusiasts who wanted to create a platform similar to those that have been created in other festivals. There was also special interest and enthusiasm from some Kashmiri writers who wanted to emulate the spirit of sharing and discourse in the sessions at the Jaipur Literature Festival this year. This was followed by a desire to seek an open and democratic space for poetry, readings and dialogue in Kashmir, as had been happening in other recent literary events in locations as diverse as Karachi, Bhutan, Kerala and, soon, Kathmandu.” Gokhale is also the founder director of the Jaipur Literature Festival, the much successful literary event that’s been held over the last few years in Rajasthan’s Jaipur city to huge international recognition.

But in Kashmir, the Harud somehow seems to have brought a gloom of winter too soon. Some of Kashmir’s major literary figures, though invited, have refused to attend the event. News related to the event spread by sections of the Indian media seems to have spoilt the party before it even began. And statements coming out from the organisers themselves haven’t helped either.

Full report here Dawn

The booking window

Screen adaptations of books usually need to add lashings of spicing to the plainness of the printed page

Aravind Adiga’s hugely enjoyable novel Last Man in Tower (if the adjective enjoyable can be used to describe an account of one man’s lone battle against rapacious neighbours and a powerful builder) is crying out loud to be made into a movie.

Screen adaptations of books usually need to add lashings of spicing to the plainness of the printed page; Adiga already has flavour by the ladlefuls. He portrays the city as a breathing, hissing sentient being, and his richly atmospheric descriptions of the housing society that former schoolteacher Murthy seeks to prevent from redevelopment, as well as Mumbai itself, are purely cinematic.

Last Man in Tower is supposed to be a contemporary tale but the story and characters are reminiscent of parallel films from the 1980s. Was Adiga among the thousands of Indians who plopped down before Doordarshan on Sundays at 1pm in the old days to watch socially conscious regional language cinema? The book harks back to films like Tabarana Kathe, in which Charu Hasan wages a Camus-worthy battle against governmental bureaucracy for his pension. Or Veedu, starring Archana as a middle-class woman trying to buy a house. Or even the films of Saeed Mirza that depicted the travails of the working class in Mumbai. Most of all, the novel reminded me of Mahesh Bhatt’s Saaransh, one of the director’s finest movies. Anupam Kher’s schoolteacher Pradhan, who is mourning the death of his son, finds a reason to live when his tenant, who is pregnant by the son of a Bal Thackeray-like politician, wants to keep her baby. Adiga’s Masterji too is haunted by the past like Pradhan, and perhaps Kher, who started his acting career with Saaransh, could be recruited to play yet another schoolteacher fighting the good fight in another time.

Full report here Mint 

'Moegling's contribution to Kannada literature is immense'

While most Christian missionaries came to India with the idea of spreading their religion and bringing natives into their fold, Rev Dr Herman Moegling, a German missionary, was more a soldier of Kannada than a missionary. While his contribution to Kannada is well documented, more can be learnt about contemporary Karnataka in the 18th century by going through his travelogues, said B A Viveka Rai, former VC, Kannada University.

Inaugurating a two-day seminar, Rev Dr Herman Moegling Innurara Nennapu organized by Karnataka Theological Research Institute, Karnataka Sahitya Academy and Kittel Foundation here on Thursday, Rai said: "Moegling did not fully fit the bill of a missionary and the primary role of religious work attributed to them. His role and contribution to society goes beyond the loose framework of work normally attributed to missionaries of those days," he said.

A fraction of Moegling's life and achievements have actually come to light and more can be learnt by undertaking further study of his dairies and correspondence available both in India and Germany, he said. While Mangalore and its surrounding areas was primary work area of Moegling, his travels to places such as Hubli-Dharwad and Dharmasthala and photographs of the places taken will shed more light on these places as they existed then, he said.

FUll report here Times of India 

Between love and duty

Manasi Vaidya's debut novel delves into the pressures of seeking intimacy in the world of high pressure jobs, says Nupur Sharma

Manasi Vaidya's novel No Deadline for Love (Penguin) is the latest in the burgeoning genre of chick lit/ rom-com reads. The book features a spunky protagonist called Megha who has for most of her life done what was expected of her: graduation in economics, MBA in marketing and then a straight-laced job in a high-profile FMCG company. There comes a point where she starts to wonder if this unending routine of juggling late hours and unreasonable deadlines is really her life's calling. Her mother's desperate attempts to put her on the ‘marriage market' are not making life any easier. And to top it all, Megha's latest project has been bogged down by a complete dearth of creative ideas, giving her nasty boss the perfect excuse to disregard the blood, sweat and tears she's poured into her job so far. Add to this volatile mix, Yudi (the team's new creative consultant) who is gorgeous, sardonic and only too eager to disagree with Megha and trample upon all her ideas. This sets the stage for a quirky battle of wits and some unexpected romance.

In the deluge of writing in her genre, how does Manasi locate her work? “My novel is essentially a story about having the conviction to follow your heart. Sure, it's also a romantic comedy and it has a liberal dose of corporate dynamics, but at its heart it is the story of a girl who is struggling to fit into a place where she is increasingly beginning to feel like an outsider and about how she finally finds it within her to follow her heart,” Manasi says.

Full report here Hindu

‘Why I took on Arindam Chaudhuri’

Siddhartha Deb’s latest book, The Beautiful and the Damned, paints a picture of present-day India through the stories of five individuals who span the country’s social, economic and geographical gamut.

The book’s first chapter, focusing on the rise of businessman Arindam Chaudhuri, was excerpted in The Caravan, a Delhi-based monthly magazine. Mr. Chaudhuri is the director of the Indian Institute of Planning and Management, a popular privately-run network of management schools.

The article gained more attention when the IIPM filed a lawsuit against Mr. Deb, his publishers Penguin India, The Caravan and Google India for “grave harassment and injury.” (You can read more about Mr. Deb’s publishing saga in this New Yorker article.)

The Indian edition of the book, published by Penguin India, was released without the first chapter. Mr. Deb said the lawsuit alleges that he and other defendants are working for IIPM’s competitors. This is what The Caravan had to say about the case. Mr. Chaudhuri and an IIPM official did not respond to requests for comment.

Full report here WSJ blogs

A novel based on the killing of Rajiv Gandhi

On 21st May, 1991, India’s youngest ever prime minister and the then youth icon, Rajiv Gandhi got killed in a bomb blast at Sriperumbudur (Tamil Nadu), planned and executed by the Liberation Tigers
of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) because he had sent forces in Sri Lanka to help the Sri Lankan army in suppressing the violent activities carried out by that organization. The killing was executed through a human-bomb and it sent a message across the world to all the militant groups that anybody can be killed if the killer is not hesitant of losing his / her own life for that purpose.

Hindi novelist - Ved Prakash Sharma had made announcement to write a grand novel on the corruption prevalent in the Indian police system years prior to Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination and its advertisement (with the title - Vardi Waala Gunda) had been carried out regularly. Perhaps the arrival of the novel was getting delayed due to the novelist’s not being able to get a suitable plot for the overhyped novel. The sudden assassination of the young political leader provided him the plot and he came up with Vardi Waala Gunda in 1992.

Full review here Mouthshut

Life in writing and beyond: TGC Prasad

A forced hiatus can get to the best of us. But CEO-turned writer, TGC Prasad used it to his advantage by turning a writer.

The 42-yr-old writer, who was advised bed rest for nine months following an ankle surgery, put the pain at the back of his head and went headlong into fulfilling his dream of a writer. After a year of intense research he came out with – Unusual People Do Things Differently (65 stories of people who are striving hard to do extra-ordinary things), followed by Along The Way, a witty yet insightful story about the lives of software engineers.

With the backdrop of professional industry, young urban professionals, cultural diversity, the book opens up a host of questions about the software culture. Prasad’s shrewd sense of audience, typically Indian comic timing and treatment of story has a prominent Chetan Bhagat streak in his writing. Sonakshi Babbar caught up with the author to get a sneak peek into the book and the man himself.

From being a management guru to an author? How have you matured on both professional and personal fronts?
Prasad: I have been in management for two decades now and understand the nuances of it, though I am not sure I qualify to be called as a management guru. In my opinion, the real management gurus are – Peter Drucker, Michael Porter, CK Prahalad, Charles Handy…they have given so much management depth and thought to the world.

On the professional front, my significant learnings have been -
Every situation is different and contextual understanding is the key differentiator in accomplishing one¹s goals. Career is a long journey  one has to live life too as one pursues career. No point in rushing into things.Do what makes you happy  and you will be successful.

Full report here Hindustan Times 

‘E-books are a threat to aspiring writers’

A Booker Prize winning author has claimed that e-books are threatening the future of English literature because aspiring writers will not be paid enough to make a living.

Graham Swift said new writers face earning lower royalties for their work as e-books than for traditional hard- and paperbacks.

If aspiring authors see that they are unable to make a living from their work, it may cause them to give up and leave potentially great stories unwritten, he said.

“I wouldn”t envy a young aspiring writer now,” the Telegraph quoted Mr Swift as telling BBC Radio Four’s World at One programme.

“The e-book does seem at the moment to threaten the livelihood of writers, because the way in which writers are paid for their work in the form of e-books is very much up in the air.

Full report here Hindustan Times

It needs more than love to write about India

Stepping into the soul of India is not easy for a foreign writer; the journey needs more than mere love for the country. The process requires an identification with history, facts at fingertips and an uncanny nose for immediate socio-political contexts, show landmark books written over the years.

When Belgian corporate executive-cum historian Dirk Collier decided to walk into the mind of 16th century Muslim visionary, emperor Akbar, for instance, he nearly adopted an Indian identity for himself.

Collier, who made at least 50 trips to India over 10 years and took seven years to write the book, said he was inspired to write a book after seeing a painting commissioned by Akbar's son Jahangir in which the latter was shown holding his father's portrait.

Full report here Times of India

Celebrating literature in Nepal

Two literature festivals in Kathmandu over the next month will help to spread the love of literature in Nepal.

Over the next 30 days, Kathmandu will see not one but two literary festivals. This Thursday, 18 August, is the date of the launch of the Nepal Literature Festival, being held at Jhamsikhel, Lalitpur. It will feature 61 writers, including Ira Trivedi from India and Mark Tully from the UK. Within a month of its end on 21 August, another literary festival is set to begin in nearby historical Patan Durbar Square, from 16-18 September. With 30 national, including those who write in Newari, and 10 international writers so far, the Kathmandu Literary Jatra (of which Himal is a partner), like the Nepal Literature Festival, hopes to provide a global platform to the otherwise largely isolated Nepali literary circles.

Additionally, festival directors, Ajit Baral of the Nepal Literature Festival and Suvani Singh of the Kathmandu Literary Jatra, hope that the festivals will help create a dialogue among and between the writers and readers in Nepal. Although the Nepali literary scene is vibrant and thriving, writers are often unaware of the demands of their readers. ‘With the literacy rate at around 60 percent and growing,’ says Baral, ‘intellectual hunger and demands for quality in literary works have only increased in Nepal. The writers, as well as publishers, like me, need to focus on quality delivery.’

Full report here Himal

‘Akbar was master of his emotions’

“Fictional autobiography is arguably the most challenging, certainly the most ambitious, but in my opinion, definitely the most authentic genre in historical fiction,” says Belgian writer Dirk Collier, author of the enchanting The Emperor’s Writings, a fictionalised biography of the greatest of Mughal emperors, Akbar.
“Such a noble endeavour will always be, to a certain extent at least, doomed to failure. Complete self-effacement is impossible; the author’s character and personal experience will inevitably influence his or her perception of the facts at hand. Historical fiction can, of course, never replace history, but it attempts to contribute to historical understanding: It aspires to bring history back to life, and in this attempt, it starts where real history leaves off,” says Collier, in an email interview.Excerpts from the interview:

How difficult was it to get the voice of (or, as you mention in the book, reading into the mind of) Akbar right in this fictionalised biography that relies heavily on facts? Did you want this one to be an authentic account of Akbar’s life even though it’s a work of fiction?
I wanted to empathise with Emperor Akbar; I wanted to portray, as faithfully as possible, the kind of man he was and wanted to be (which, incidentally, is a quite important distinction, in every person’s life); I wanted to read into his mind, describe his feelings, the things he wanted for himself and “his” Hindustan, his joys, regrets, hopes and disappointments. Did I succeed in this ambitious goal? I guess only Akbar himself has the right to corroborate this, but as pretentious as it may sound, and as incomplete as any book necessarily will be: I am confident that he would have been quite pleased with The Emperor’s Writings.

Full interview here Asian Age

Pakistan, Lanka, Bangladesh writers at India literary fest

Authors from Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh are among star attractions at the upcoming fourth annual Kovalm Literary festival in Thiruvanthapuram.

Fatima Bhutto, Mohammed Hanif, David Davidar, Amit Chaudhuri Mirza Wahid Arvind Mehrortra and Shehan Karunatileka are among the lineup for the festival being held in Kerala on October 1 and 2. A curtain raiser would be organised at India International Centre here on September 29.

“Pakistani writer Hanif will read from his second novel “Our Lady of Alice Bhatti” being released next month. Extracts from the novel was published in the Granta Pakistan special early this year,” Binoo K John, founder director, Kovalam Literary Festival told PTI.

Sri Lankan writer Karunatileke is expected to read from his debut novel “Chinaman” based on search of a forgotten but brilliant Sri Lankan cricketer called Pradeep Mathew.

“Suresh Menon’’s exciting new biography of Bishen Singh Bedi and Anita Nair’’s new anthology of poems ”Malabar Mind” will be launched at the festival,” says John.

The festival will conclude on October 2 in Thiruvananthapuram with London-based Tamil fusion rock singer Susheela Raman’’s performance.

Full report here Sana

Ramayana, now from a feminist pen

Samhita Arni was all of 12 years when she illustrated and penned her very first book, a retelling of sorts of the Mahabharata for young readers.

Having grown up in an artistically diverse environment, she had begun exploring her creative faculties early on. And now, 15 years later, she's taken a bigger stride and embarked on a project that clearly shows how the young author has matured - not just as a writer, but as an individual, and above all, as a woman.

Her latest venture, a graphic novel called Sita's Ramayana, depicts the Indian epic from a completely feminine perspective. Samhita has joined forces with a Patua scroll artist named Moyna Chitrakar from West Bengal, to bring this work to life.

Full report here Times of India

Bose with his enemy’s enemy

There is an abundance of literature on Subhas Chandra Bose apart from his collected works edited by Sisir and Sugata Bose. His most recent biography, His Majesty’s Opponent, by Sugata Bose, his grand nephew and Harvard historian, has been acclaimed as the finest so far.

Romain Hayes, an independent researcher, has specialised for several years on German foreign policy during the Second World War.

This is Hayes’ first book — a comparatively short, readable and carefully documented account of the period between April 1941 and February 1943 which charts, almost month by month, the events in the life of Subhas Chandra Bose in Germany. The book’s focus is on Bose’s efforts to seek the assistance of the Axis powers to overthrow the British imperialist regime from his country by military means. That was his singular aim.

Let us go back a couple of months to February 1941. A disillusioned and marginalised Bose, who till recently was the undisputed leader of his party, escapes house arrest in what was then called Calcutta, travels incognito across India, enters Afghanistan disguised as a Pathan, crosses into Soviet Russia and is rebuffed by the country whose support he seeks. He then changes disguise and enters Germany.

Full report here Asian Age

Plots of gold

They sell in lakhs, churn out hundreds of novels in a lifetime and constantly finetune their storylines according to the latest trends. Aabhas Sharma meets the bestselling writers of Hindi pulp fiction.

Sitting in the basement office next to his palatial bungalow in Meerut, Ved Prakash Sharma makes a startling revelation in a matter-of-fact tone. “I stopped counting after 1.5 million.” Sharma is talking about his bestselling novel, Wardi Wala Gunda (Hooligan in Uniform), which is treated as a classic in the Hindi pulp fiction genre. “My books sell as they are a heady cocktail of what an average reader wants,” he says. His heady cocktail includes murder, revenge, sex and greed. Throw in book jackets in technicolour screaming murder, cheap thrills, raunchy women and a gun, and you have a sure winner.

Titles like Bahu Maange Insaaf (Daughter-in-Law Demands Justice), Aankhon Wali Andhi (The Blind Woman with Eyes), Dahej Mein Mili Revolver (In the Dowry came a Revolver) and Paintra (Move) have sold like no other genre in the country. The men churning out these potboilers prolifically might not be as famous as Chetan Bhagat, but enter the Hindi heartland and you will find that they are celebrities. Bhagat’s last book, Two States: The Story of My Marriage, has sold about a million copies — stupendous but still 500,000 short of Sharma’s Wardi Wala Gunda. Amitav Ghosh’s latest book, River of Smoke, has so far sold around 60,000; Shobhaa De’s bestsellers do around 25,000.

Take the case of Anil Mohan. This Delhi-based writer has written over 180 books in two decades. On an average, his books sell about 50,000 copies each. (He could be close to the 10 million mark now in overall sales. Though far short of the 400 million or so copies of Harry Potter books of J K Rowling, this is better than any Indian English writer can claim.) Still, he feels that he hasn’t got due credit: “When they [English writers] sell 3,000, it becomes a bestseller. What about our books?”

Full report here Business Standard

Patrick French on India and Bollywood

He first came to Mumbai in 1996. That was also his first visit to India. He wanted to write about India.

But celebrated British writer and historian Patrick French did not expect the call for ban on his book Liberty or Death — India’s Journey to Independence and Division.

His take on Mahatma Gandhi and Mohammad Ali Jinnah’s role in the Independence Movement wasn’t taken too kindly. The fear of being looked at as an outsider crossed his mind when he started out, but being married to an Indian woman has given him a different perspective.

“Back then, there was a feeling that people were obliged to be more respectable to the father of the nation, Mahatma Gandhi and they felt that I was too sympathetic to Jinnah. But today if somebody wrote a book on 26/11 nobody would be bothered in the slightest bit. I think it is to do with what is acceptable at a particular time,” says French.

Full report here DNA

Pulp fiction is back!

It's time to rewind to regional pulp fiction as over-the-top heroes, villains and outlandish plots make for a quickie read. Anuradha Varma reports

Lyricist and scriptwriter Javed Akhtar credits reading Ibne Safi's novels for helping him creating eternal celluloid villains like Gabbar Singh and Mogambo. Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap grew up wanting to be either Amitabh Bachchan or writer Surender Mohan Pathak. Actress Gul Panag even invited her favourite novelist Pathak to the premiere of her film Rann.

Besides Bengali detectives Feluda and Byomkesh Bakshi, Hindi, Urdu and Tamil pulp fiction heroes can keep many readers up at night turning pages of their slim detective novels. "Pocket books" or novellas, these became popular at book stalls at railway stations over 50 years ago.

Publishing houses are now giving the books fresh airing. Westland, along with Blaft, has published four translations of Ibne Safi's Jasusi Duniya series. Ibne Safi, the pen name of Asrar Ahmad, was once described as "the only original writer in the subcontinent" by Agatha Christie and wrote 125 novels in his lifetime.

Full report here Times of India 

Back to the roots

My first book, What Would You Do to Save the World? was published in 2005 with a fair deal of apprehension. India had not seen much “chick-lit” writing, and mine was the first of its kind. The “chick-lit” novel, as the term suggests, implies a light, frothy, entertaining read and the main reason women enjoy these books is because they can relate to the journey of the female protagonist.

These books bring to light so many issues that urban women face and we as readers fight their battles with them vicariously, relating so many aspects of their lives to ours. There is a certain amount of depth to these stories and a certain value-add to the reader which has led to the huge success of this genre. Now, six years later, the Indian market is flooded with chick-lit books, and unfortunately several of them don’t really get the point. Chick-lit is not just about boy problems, wardrobe malfunctions and girl trouble, it goes much deeper than that.

Live from London, Parinda Joshi’s debut novel, had a promising storyline, but much to my disappointment, just scraped the surface. The novel begins with the protagonist of the book, Nishi Gupta, an aspiring singer, making an appearance on the popular UK reality show, Britain’s Got Talent. She embarrasses herself by her lacklustre performance, but in the process gets motivated to give her dream a real shot. Nishi gets an internship (without too much trouble) at a well-known record company in England. Conveniently for Nishi, her team is in charge of the Canadian-Indian pop sensation Nick Navjot Chapman, who falls for Nishi.

Full report here Asian Age

No takers for cricket literature

Despite holding a number of precious books on cricket history, the HD Kanga library fails to attract too many readers

Librarian Vijay Waghmare's phone rings loudly at the Dr HD Kanga library located at Mumbai Cricket Association’s (MCA) ground floor at the old office premises, shattering the routine silence of the place. The young man doesn't hesitate to take the call, and spends the next few minutes winding up his conversation loudly. Working as a librarian, one could have expected Waghmare urging the library environment to be on silent mode but such has been the apathy towards MCA's five-decade-old library that visitors rarely turn up, much like the sparse crowds for Ranji Trophy matches these days at Wankhede Stadium.

The richly stocked library which was introduced in 1946 to impart the best knowledge to cricketers and general public is now hoping for the younger breed of players to check in. There are many books which are unread for so many months and it doesn't take too long for Waghmare, who is also an umpire, to start goading you to join the library, since barely anyone turns up. The library is looked after by MCA, who appoints a committee to look after its old heritage and ensure the work runs smoothly.

Full report here Indian Express

Freedom, family and faith

Tahmima Anam’s aptly titled new novel, The Good Muslim, was launched on the eve of Ramadan at Olive Bar & Kitchen in New Delhi, against the stunning backdrop of the Qutub Minar. In conversation with literary columnist Nilanjana Rao, Anam, a Bangladeshi writer, spoke of war, family and fanaticism.

The Good Muslim follows the success of Aman’s first novel, The Golden Age, and is the second part of a trilogy. I read The Golden Age over four years ago and remember getting entwined in the lives of the Haque family.

Like a long-lost friend, I couldn’t help wondering what became of them — mother Rehana, and her children, Maya and Sohail. Rehana, incidentally, is a character inspired by Anam’s grandmother who helped freedom fighters during the 1971 war.

We are reunited with the Haque family in The Good Muslim.

We last met the Haques in 1971, when the war tore their family apart, but brought independence. Eight years have passed since then and the Haque family, still in Dhaka, is now grappling with the changes in a new Bangladesh.

The Good Muslim focuses on the different paths the two siblings embark upon in the wake of this war — Maya has become a spirited, liberal-minded doctor and her brother Sohail is now a strict religious leader.

Full report here Asian Age

'Wonderful moment for Indian writing'

Shanker Raman, a choreographer-turned-writer-turned-director, one of the winners of the Grand Open Doors for his script The Trapper's Snare here, feels this is the best phase for Indian film writers. He also believes that the Indian audience is open to a "different kind" of cinema.

"It feels fantastic to win the award. I'm delighted. What I'm going to take away from here is the experience of having met 11 other filmmakers from India, an incredible lot who have incredibly inspiring and courageous scripts and ideas," Mumbai-based Raman told us.

He won the award and the prize money of 30,000 CHF (over $40,000) at the 64th Locarno International Film Festival. His yet-to-be-shot movie "The Trapper's Snare" is set during the peak of civil war in Sri Lanka in the mid-1990s, and the fact that he received accolades for it, justifies that Indian cinematic writing is coming of age.

Full report here Times of India 

Pseudo-agents take advantage of aspiring authors

Blame Chetan Bhagat. After his debut novel Five Point Someone became a massive hit in 2004, English-educated Indians were instilled with the hope that they, too, could become overnight sensations. Since then, more a hundred such authors have gone on to publish their debut novels, taking their life experience as their subject. Many of these books have been resounding commercial successes, inspiring thousands more imitators.

While all this is good news for aspiring authors, publishers, readers and booksellers, this publishing boom has had one negative side-effect: the sudden proliferation of shady literary agents in India.

In the West, most writers engage literary agents to represent their works and assist in the negotiation and sale of their book to publishers. However legitimate literary agents are still relatively rare in India — over 90% of the authors submit their manuscripts directly to the publishers — and the concept of “representation” is itself relatively new.

Full report here Publishing Perspectives

For Old Times’ Sake

Some years ago, Chetan Bhagat did the unthinkable: he made young and restless Indians read his tales of urban India in conversational English. Soon, Indians were craving for stories of the country by home-grown authors. This need is now being met by writers who are giving Indian history and mythology a contemporary twist. The result has been rewarding — Ashwin Sanghi’s Chanakya’s Chant, Anish Sarkar’s Benaami, and The Immortals of Meluha by Amish rule the bestseller lists.

Though authors such as Devdutt Pattanaik, Ashok Banker and William Dalrymple have retold stories from Indian mythology and history, the trend of using these for commercial fiction seems to be a recent one. Sanghi believes that these stories establish an immediate connection with the readers and make for gripping backdrops. “The initial hook for a commercial fiction paperback in this genre must necessarily come from the ancient. Once the reader is hooked, then it does not matter if the story is history-oriented or not,” he says.

Full report here Indian Express

'A good writer stays true to self'

Author Ashwin Sanghi talks about his favourite literature and on what keeps him grounded

Page turner : The last book I read was Emperor of all Maladies: A Biography Of Cancer by New York-based oncologist Siddhartha Mukherjee. Of all the writers I have read, Vladimir Nabokov has made the biggest impression on me because he, despite living through the 1917 February Revolution, forced exile amidst the anti-Semitism in Nazi Germany, the two World Wars and quite a lot of controversy, was an author who never gave up.

Life lessons : I believe that the day one stops being spiritual, one ends up being religious. I live by the adage that the only certainty in life is death. We should, therefore, learn to live for the day and be content.

Writer's formula : Admiration from my readers inspire me and the only 'formula' I believe in towards making a good writer is: 'to thine own self be true!' I remember how a man once got in touch with me to tell me that he was so engrossed in my book that he had to take a day off from work just so that he could finish reading it. Such kind of responses from my readers is extremely endearing and it keeps me going.

Full report here Times of India 

Chetan Bhagat ready with book V

Readers still can't get over his Five Point Someone, One Night at the Call Centre, Two States or The Three Mistakes Of My Life.

Filmmakers are busy to turn his creations on celluloid. Such is the magic of Chetan Bhagat. No sooner is he done with one book, queries start pouring in about his next. And the latest from Chetan's stable is that he is all set to release his Book V. The author, tweeted on Monday, "Brought forward new book release. Will release Book V on Oct 8, 2011. Exactly 2 months to go. Details soon. Excited."

No sooner had the author uploaded the tweet that congratulatory messages started pouring in. Among the early birds Shirish Kunder tweeted; "Looking forward Chetan... All the Best!" It's time for the reader to go on a trip once again.

Full report here Times of India

Apolitical elite class is dangerous: Tarun Tejpal

With tied hair, a nonchalant air and salty humour, Tarun Tejpal might come across as a cool dude, but actually he is quite fastidious. The man behind India’s most path-breaking journalism, Tehelka, Tejpal has just come out with his latest book, The Valley of Masks.

With an audience comprising Shashi Tharoor, LK Advani, Sharmila Tagore, Soha Ali Khan, Urvashi Butalia, Jaishree Mishra, the book launch at Taj Mahal Hotel,  saw the capital’s literati in full attendance.

Introducing the book, Sahitya Akademi winner Nayantara Sahgal sent the audience cracking when she said, “when I picked up his first book The Alchemy of Desire, people said it’s sheer porn, of course I read it and discovered a highly compelling story of obsessive love.  ‘The Valley…’  is very different from his previous books as it’s a fable set in the Himalayas.”

In a world where fundamentalist terror has become a harsh reality, the book – his most profound and imaginative till date – examines the pathology of perfection.  “I have an obsessive need to observe collective space. Even as we become more global, in an absurd paradox there’s a growing insularity – Hindu right wing extremism, Norway killings – what is the pathology that leads perfectly intelligent people down that road that seems inspirational and redemptive  but end up in a perilous place?” the author poses a rhetorical question.

Full report here Hindustan Times 

Distribution of Indian books now easy

With the publishing industry gradually witnessing a paradigm shift from print to digital and the huge popularity of Indian writers, a leading company has opened its doors to electronic publishing and distribution worldwide to South East Asian publishers.

Konark International, an associate of Konark Publishers India, is offering its services to the ever-growing market with apparently the highest and simplest pay-out rate in the industry.

Konark is now distributing published content to leading online retail outlets such as Apple’s iBookstore, Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble, Kobo and Sony Reader Store.

“Being a successful publisher in India, we have continuously seen Asian publishers having trouble breaking through the world of digital publishing. Konark International is able to bridge that by providing a simple, systematic and comprehensive solution to their digital distribution needs,” says Konark International director Jon Andress.

Full report here Hindustan Times

The gods are back

Modernizing mythology, a risky business? Do writers need an excel sheet of plans? Writer Amish Tripathi has the answers

His immortals have crossed the boundaries of Meluha and have taken the country by storm. When CT caught up with writer Amish Tripathi, who was in town for a day, he confessed that he had never done anything creative in his life, before his first novel.

"I had not even written a short story before in my life. In school, I was involved in sports and, during my IIM stint, I was the lead singer of the band Baror C (12C). I was an atheist, and at times, had even refused to enter a temple," Amish says. So, how did The Immortals of Meluha happen? "I was watching TV at home one day when I came to know that in ancient Persia, the gods were called Ahuras and the demons called Daivas.

Full report here Times of India 

Jaishree's secret is out!

A short interview with indian author, Jaishree Misra about her latest book A Scandalous Secret. She was in the city recently, for a book panel at Landmark. 

Jaishree Misra made a splash in the pool of Indian fiction with her auto-biographical Ancient Promises. She soon went on to release Rani and Afterwards in the subsequent years. The chirpy and ever-smiling author was in Chennai recently at a book panel in Landmark, with her new novel The Scandalous Secret. The author opens up about her new book, her protagonists and a life that revolves around her writing.

What is A Scandalous Secret about? Does it have semi-autobiographical undertones like Ancient Promises? 
No autobiographical elements whatsoever, thankfully! It's the story of a young woman (Neha) who becomes pregnant while studying as an undergraduate at Oxford University and is persuaded to give the baby up for adoption. Shattered by the experience, she returns to India and tells no one about it, not even the man she subsequently marries. Eighteen years later, however, the child she gave up (Sonya) - now herself a young woman about to start university - decides to come to India in search of her biological mother. It's a story that explores the rather unusual idea of rejection within the mother-daughter relationship.

Full interview here Times of India 

Untold story of India's Maoist movement

The untold story of the Maoists in Bastar Rahul Pandita's book, 'Hello, Bastar' tells the untold story of India's Maoist movement. With direct access to the top Maoist leadership, the author gives us a graphic account of how the radical Reds entered Bastar in 1980 and set up their elaborate network there. He speaks with Jyoti Sharma on how the book came about and more.

Why Hello, Bastar?
Being an independent citizen of India, it is my right to write on issues I want to write about. Hello, Bastar is the story of the Maoist guerillas who entered the region for the first time in 1980. This area has since become the nerve centre of the entire Maoist movement.

How and when did you start working on this project?
I have been working on the subject for about 12 years. New Delhi now calls the Maoist movement as India's biggest internal security threat. I felt many people are confused about this. For a middle-class person in Delhi or Mumbai, there is no difference between a terrorist killed on the Line of Control and a naxal killed in the jungles of Bastar. I think this book will ensure that there is a difference.

Full interview here Times of India 

Writer’s Block

HM Naqvi, whose debut novel won the coveted top honour in a South Asian literary event was in Chennai recently.

The novel, a coming-of-age tale of a gang of young Americans of Asian origin, won rave reviews for Naqvi, who seemed to be in high spirits on his arrival in the city. For someone who wanted to be a writer since he was four, the road has been long and arduous.

"I feel you are born a writer. But, I really didn't feel capable of writing a piece of fiction at 20 or 21," says Naqvi. "However, a decade down the line, I did feel capable of churning out hundreds of pages into a full-fledged novel. And I happened to be in the U.S. at the time.

Had I been in Pakistan, the book might have turned out completely different," he adds.

He stresses that the work is not a memoir, and only bore a few biographical incidents. Most of the events that take place are the outcome of heavy research and sourcing. The Pakistani-born writer who has lived in America for many years, says authenticity isn't something he is worried about.

Full report here Times of India 

Smoke and mirrors

The author of a new book on the Opium Wars on how these kick-started a rare century of decline for China, their place in modern memory, and what they can tell us about globalization today

The Anglo-Chinese Opium Wars of the mid-19th century have sprung back into public memory in India recently. River of Smoke, the second instalment of Amitav Ghosh’s swashbuckling naval Ibis epic, which was published last month, is set in the bustling global city of Guangzhou, or Canton, and follows its Indian, Chinese and European characters, enmeshed in the opium trade through to the brink of the war.

The Opium Wars, conducted in two phases—1839-42 and 1856-60—were a bitter conflict between a British empire eager to expand its global trade, and Qing Dynasty China opposed to British ideas of trade and political relations, and severely displeased with the illegal British supply of opium (which came from the poppy fields of north India) entering the country and raising addiction rates among Chinese at alarming rates.

China’s defeat in the wars is considered the mark of a long period of decline for the country. The world’s oldest nation, and one of its most powerful for much of human history, was to spend the next century fighting against Western empires on the one hand, and the belligerent Japanese empire on the other.

Full review here Mint

Bollywood: A new literary genre

Bollywood is coming alive in fine print. A spate of innovative books is not only documenting Indian moviedom for posterity but also throwing meaningful light on the evolution of mainstream cinema.

“I think for the first time there is a whole range of books now that reflects the incredible range of Bollywood itself,” Udayan Mitra, publishing director at Penguin India, told IANS.

“Readership of film books has grown. The top three trends seem to be visual books, star biographies and memoirs.”

Bollywood became a literary inspiration in the early 1990s with books like “Starry Nights” by Shobaa De and “Show Business” by Shashi Tharoor. On offer now are popular movie screenplays, pictorials and racy novels.

Lipika Bhushan, chief marketing manager at Harper Collins, told IANS: “Our books under ‘Film Series’ sell more than general books. Our title ‘R.D. Burman: The Man And Music’ is in its third reprint, having sold more then 5,000 copies. We have published three non-fiction volumes on individual blockbusters.”

The series so far has covered three landmark movies – “Deewar”, “Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron” and “Disco Dancer”. While “Amar Akbar Anthony” releases in December, a coffee table book on silent cinema and a volume on Navketan Films are in the pipeline.

Full report here Hindustan Times

Kovalam Literary Festival to make Delhi debut

The annual Kovalam Literary Festival will make its debut stopover in the national capital Sept 29 with a daylong session at the India International Centre (IIC), founder-director of the festival Binoo K. John said on Monday.

The stopover in being held prior to the main festival in Thiruvananthapuram Oct 1-2.

The line-up includes Mohammed Hanif, Aamer Hussain, Fatima Bhutto from Pakistan and Shehan Karunatilake, the author of “Chinaman: The Legend of Pradeep Matthew” from Sri Lanka.

Karunatilake won the Gratiaen Award for his book.

“Hanif is expected to read from his new novel ‘Our Lady of Alice Bhatti’. The India International Centre is sponsoring the mini-edition of the Kovalam Literary Festival. An event in Delhi will give us leverage and will help brand the festival,” John said.

“Delhi has book events throughout the year and an extremely aware audience will get a day’s extravaganza with a music concert at the end,” John added.

Smoke on the water

In the second of his ‘Ibis’ trilogy, Ghosh is at the pinnacle of his prowess. It’s a triumph, a truly global novel

We’re just halfway into the year, but if there’s one novel in 2011 that will make the pulse race and the mind wonder with sweep, scale, power and a riveting, multi-threaded story, it is Amitav Ghosh’s River of Smoke. Coming three years after Sea of Poppies, which was the first volume in the Ibis trilogy, the middle panel of the triptych is even vaster, denser with action and richer in backdrop.

Poppies was set primarily in the Calcutta of 1838—the fulcrum of the British empire in the east, where trade was the lubricating agent of colonization—and on board the Ibis, transporting indentured workers to Mauritius, along with convicts. But River of Smoke abandons this centre, for the most part, stretching its action from Mauritius in the West to Canton in the East, with passing cameos by other parts of the world, such as the island of St Helena where Napoleon is exiled after losing the Battle of Waterloo, which puts in an appearance in the novel.

Much of the action continues to take place on board merchant ships—either in mid-voyage, or anchored off the coast of China, as events come to a slow boil in the world’s largest market for the opium that British and Indian traders make a killing on. The line from the poppy fields of eastern India is thus drawn all the way to Canton. Here, local opium dealers supplying a willing population of addicts not only help reverse the trade deficit of the British empire with China—while adding to the wealth of individual opium traders from all countries who’ve joined the gold rush—they also lead the Chinese empire to clamp down on opium imports. The outcome, of course, will be the Opium Wars, in not one but two editions.

Full review here Mint 

The journey from book to a movie

"But the book was so much better than the movie!!" One thing you can hear quite frequently when a book turns into a movie. Sure, we like to see a movie based on the book we just read.

But does the movie justify the book at all? A book is a cauldron of piping hot fantasies and situations which when read, springs to life inside your head. It is fascinating to think that there is a small corner in your head that turns words into images. But what happens if the book doesn't meet your imagination?

Most of us get excited when we hear that our favourite book is going to turn into a movie. We might even get all excited and go see the movie. The movie would have been incredibly, no doubt. And with all that excitement you go watch the movie. What if the movie is a total buzzkill? The scenes you envisioned cut thanks to the time factor (and also money!). Popular movies are based on books; from classics such Wuthering heights to the latest Edward fever, everything seems to be turning celluloid. So the ultimate question here is; the book or movie? Which one would you prefer? It's not an easy answer. The answer however lies somewhere in between.

Full report here Times of India

Now, Archie comics in Indian avatar

The iconic red-haired Archie, a comic book heartthrob with a perpetually hassled look and two girlfriends, will soon be dancing to Bollywood numbers in the book’s Indian avatar published in Hindi and Malayalam. Seventy years after its birth in the US, 12 titles of the popular Archie comics will be published in 2011 by Variety Book Depot and distributed by EuroBooks, a leading publisher of children’s books in India, a release by the publisher said late Monday.

Commenting on the launch of the book in Hindi and Malayalam, Jon Goldwater, co-CEO of Archie Comics, said: “Archie Comics have entertained fans for several generations. We wanted to give our fans in India something they could relate to. The move is to bring in some Indian flavour to the comic. It will be the same Archie, the same Veronica and Betty but with a ‘desi’ twist.”

“Fans can now expect Archie and Veronica to dance to the popular Bollywood number ‘Aakhon ki gustakhiyaa’ or see the gang sing some popular songs like the college classic ‘Purani jeans’ and oldie ‘Kankariya maar ke jagaya’ as smart chicks walk past the brood,” he added.

The company plans to launch 36 titles by 2012.

Full report here Hindustan Times

Mountain Echoes: Bhutan’s literary festival

‘Hopping a freight out of Los Angeles at high noon one day in late September 1955 I got on a gondola and lay down my duffel bag under my head and my knees crossed and contemplated the clouds as we rolled north to Santa Barbara.’

This isn’t the right description of how I ended up staring out of a window of Hotel Namgay Heritage in Thimpu for  hours last week. My journey into the great wide open as part of a group of writers, journos, publishers, filmmakers and general riff raff (read: non-venture capitalists) was less ‘beat’ than the aforequoted journeyman’s. But Jack Kerouac’s opening lines from The Dharma Bums retrofit perfectly with my state of being as I contemplated the clouds that rolled in to cover the hilltops above me for four days.

The May 20-23 Mountain Echoes Literary Festival in the Bhutanese capital was a deep-bowled noodle soup of writers talking about their craft, experts sharing their fears and excitements about the future of reading, and audiences being given a guided tour of the world that lies behind the world wide web of infotainment of which books are only one (shrinking?) vehicle.

Full report here Hindustan Times

New book from Ruskin Bond

Novelist Ruskin Bond, who celebrated his 77th birthday on Thursday, gifted his fans a brand new collection of stories about one of his most endearing characters – the eccentric, bumbling Uncle Ken.

Crazy Times with Uncle Ken includes old classics as well as new stories, a statement by Penguin-India said. A Puffin imprint, the book is priced at Rs 199.

Uncle Ken is one of those people who do not do much but a great deal happens around them.

Whenever Uncle Ken arrives at Grandma’s house, which he does often, trouble erupts. Uncle Ken drives his car into a wall, is mistaken for a famous cricketer, troubled by a mischievous ghost, chased by a swarm of bees and attacked by flying foxes.

Be it the numerous bicycle rides with the author or his futile attempts at finding a job, Uncle Ken’s misadventures provide huge doses of laughter.

Born in Kasauli in Himachal Pradesh in 1934, Ruskin Bond grew up in Jamnagar (Gujarat), Dehradun, New Delhi and Simla.

Full report here Hindustan Times

Davidar ties up with Rupa Publications

Noted publisher and writer David Davidar, who last year exited as CEO of Penguin’s international division amid controversy, has tied up with Rupa Publications, India to set up a new literary firm, the Aleph Book Company.

Announcing the partnership in a press statement on Monday, Davidar said: “Each book published by Aleph will be distinctive, original and of outstanding literary quality.” It will be headquartered in the capital.

“Our books will be creatively packaged and innovatively marketed through traditional retail and grant outlet as well as digital and other channels,” the veteran publisher said.

Kapish G. Mehra, managing director of Rupa Publications, said the new publishing partnership with Davidar was a “perfect way to commemorate the 75th anniversary of Rupa as the new company will complement and round out Rupa’s existing publishing”.

“Rupa has an excellent publishing relationship with retailers nationwide. It has seven offices around the country and reaches deep into the market. So every Aleph book and author will have an excellent chance to succeed in the market,” Mehra said.

Full report here Hindustan Times

Books spawned by Osama

Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, who was killed by US forces in Pakistan, was a shadowy figure who spawned a vast booty of books, art and performance acts. A list of some of the books inspired by the ‘badshah’ of terror who masterminded the 9/11 attack:

The Longest War: The Enduring Conflict Between America and Al-Qaeda by Peter L. Bergen
The Longest War: The Enduring Conflict Between America and Al-Qaeda” written by Peter L. Bergen, CNN’s national security analyst is an overview of the war on terror. It explores the persona of the Al Qaeda leader and an intimate understanding of how the organisation works on a day-to-day basis. The book said the Al Qaeda had a growing list of enemies, including the Muslims, who did not agree with their “ultra-fundamentalist” view.

The Bin Ladens: An Arabian Family in the American Century by Steve Coll.
An Arabian Family in the American Century” by Steve Coll. The Pulitzer Prize winning author portrays the 9/11 mastermind as a complex human being and his relationships with his father, Muhammad, who made a fortune in Saudi Arabia as the king’s principal builder; and his older brother Salem, a British-educated, music-loving playboy. Coll suggests bin Laden turned to jihad because of the worsening relationships with the Saudi royal family, his own relatives and anger at America. The US forced Sudan to expel bin Laden from the country where he raised horses and sunflowers on a farm while training jihadis).

Full list here Hindustan Times