text: It has been a hectic few weeks as January is peak season for book-related activities such as the immensely successful world book fair held in New Delhi, literary festivals and book launches. The National Book Trust launched what promises to be a great platform — Brahmaputra Literary Festival, Guwahati. An important announcements was by Jacks Thomas, Director, London Book Fair wherein she announced a spotlight on India at the fair, March 2017. In fact, the Bookaroo Trust – Festival of Children’s Literature (India) has been nominated in the category of The Literary Festival Award of International Excellence Awards 2017. (It is an incredible list with fantabulous publishing professionals such as Marcia Lynx Qualey for her blog, Arablit; Anna Soler-Pontas for her literary agency and many, many more!) Meanwhile in publishing news from India, Durga Raghunath, co-founder and CEO, Juggernaut Books has quit within months of the launch of the phone book app.
  In other exciting news new Dead Sea Scrolls caves have been discovered; in an antiquarian heist books worth more than £2 m have been stolen; incredible foresight State Library of Western Australia has acquired the complete set of research documents preliminary sketches and 17 original artworks from Frane Lessac’s Simpson and his Donkey, Uruena, a small town in Spain that has a bookstore for every 16 people and community libraries are thriving in India!
  Some of the notable literary prize announcements made were the longlist for the 2017 International Dylan Thomas Prize, the longlist for the richest short story prize by The Sunday Times EFG Short Story Award and the highest Moroccan cultural award has been given to Chinese novelist, Liu Zhenyun.
  Since it has been a few weeks since the last newsletter the links have piled up. Here goes:
  2017 Reading Order, Asian Age
  There’s a pair of bills that aim to create a copyright small claims court in the U.S. Here’s a breakdown of one
  Lord Jeffery Archer on his Clifton Chronicles
  An interview with award-winning Indonesian writer Eka Kurniawan
  Pakistani Author Bilal Tanweer on his recent translation of the classic Love in Chakiwara
  Book review of Kohinoor by William Dalrymple and Anita Anand
  An article on the award-winning book Eye Spy: On Indian Modern Art
  Michael Bhaskar, co-founder, Canelo, on the power of Curation
  Faber CEO speaks out after winning indie trade publisher of the year
  Scott Esposito’s tribute to John Berger in LitHub
  An interview with Charlie Redmayne, Harper Collins CEO
  Obituary by Rakhshanda Jalil for Salma Siddiqui, the Last of the Bombay Progressive Writers.
  Wonderful article by Mary Beard on “The public voice of women”
  Enter the madcap fictional world of Lithuanian illustrator Egle Zvirblyte
  Salil Tripathi on “Illuminating evening with Prabodh Parikh at Farbas Gujarati Sabha”
  The World Is Never Just Politics: A Conversation with Javier Marías
  George Szirtes on “Translation – and migration – is the lifeblood of culture”
  Syrian writer Nadine Kaadan on welcoming refugees and diverse books
  Zhou Youguang, Who Made Writing Chinese as Simple as ABC, Dies at 111
  Legendary manga creator Jiro Taniguchi dies
  Pakistani fire fighter Mohammed Ayub has been quietly working in his spare time to give children from Islamabad’s slums an education and a better chance at life.
  #booktofilm
  Lion the memoir written by Saroo Brierley has been nominated for six Oscars. I met Saroo Brierley at the Australian High Commission on 3 February 2017.
  Rachel Weisz to play real-life gender-fluid Victorian doctor based on Rachel Holmes book
  Robert Redford and Jane Fonda to star in Netflix’s adaptation of Kent Haruf’s incredibly magnificent book Our Souls at Night
  Saikat Majumdar says “Exciting news for 2017! #TheFirebird, due out in paperback this February, will be made into a film by #BedabrataPain, the National Award winning director of Chittagong, starring #ManojBajpayee and #NawazuddinSiddiqi. As the writing of the screenplay gets underway, we debate the ideal language for the film. Hindi, Bengali, English? A mix? Dubbed? Voice over?
  7-hour audio book that feels like a movie: Julianne Moore, Ben Stiller and 166 Other People Will Narrate George Saunders’ New Book – Lincoln in the Bardo.
  Doctor Strange director Scott Derrickson on creating those jaw-dropping visual effects
  New Arrivals ( Personal and review copies acquired)
  Jerry Pinto Murder in Mahim
  Guru T. Ladakhi Monk on a Hill
  Bhaswati Bhattacharya Much Ado over Coffee: Indian Coffee House Then and Now
  George Saunders Lincoln in the Bardo
  Katie Hickman The House at Bishopsgate
  Joanna Cannon The Trouble with Goats and Sheep
  Herman Koch Dear Mr M
  Sudha Menon She, Diva or She-Devil: The Smart Career Woman’s Survival Guide
  Zuni Chopra The House that Spoke
  Neelima Dalmia Adhar The Secret Diary of Kasturba
  Haroon Khalid Walking with Nanak
  Manobi Bandhopadhyay A Gift of Goddess Lakshmi: A Candid Biography of India’s First Transgender Principal
  Ira Mukhopadhyay Heroines: Powerful Indian Women of Myth & History
  Sumana Roy How I Became A Tree
  Invisible Libraries
  14 February 2017
  Brahmaputra Literary Festival, Guwahati, Assam ( 28-30 Jan 2017)
  06 02 , 2017 2 Comments Share
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  In late January the National Book Trust of India, Government of India and the government of Assam decided to jointly organise the Brahmaputra Literary Festival in Guwahati. There were over 60 panel discussions, book launches, cultural events etc organised. More than a 150 writers, artists, thinkers and publishing professionals were invited to participate. The focus was on the “languages, literature, culture, society, politics, performance traditions, music, identity, media of the northeastern region of the country but also national and international elements packages in the three-day event”.
  Shatrugan Sinha, Bollywood actor, speaking about his memoir published by Om Books
  Given how hectic the litfest season can become in India this particular edition of the festival was a refreshing change. It was not the predictable handful of authors doing a Bharat darshan and along the way halting to make appearances at literary festivals. This festival was different. It had a crackling good mix of regional writers from all over India along with a few international delegates. It was heartening to note how all the guests were treated at par. The hospitality arrangements made by the organising committee were impeccable. Although this festival had been put together in less than a month it was commendable how well it had been curated. Irrespective of ideological positions a range of people had been invited highlighting the flourishing Indian literary scene as well encouragement of literature instead of extending invitation to drawing room coteries. The sessions were engaging with intense conversations. The strength of the audience varied but irrespective of the numbers they were focused, courteous and listening attentively. There was pin drop silence. The Kalakshetra venue was well suited for being centrally located and vast. The venues were far apart making it trifle inconvenient for having to walk large distances but a big plus point was it was possible to hear panelists without being disturbed by other parallel sessions.
  Panel discussion on “Demystifying publishing”. The panelists were ( L-R) Ravi Singh, Co-founder and publisher, Speaking Tiger Books, Jaya Bhattacharji Rose, Bhaskar Dutta-Baruah, Publisher, and Preeti Gill, Literary Agent.
  Sanjoy Hazarika’s panel discussion which included Francois Gautier.
  Though the focus was on showcasing Assam and other north eastern states of India the programming was impressive. There were poets, writers, dramatists, activists, cinematographers, essayists, translators, performance poets, singers, actors, publishers from across India giving a rich insight into the vibrant diversity of Indian literature. From the hyper-local to the broader literary landscapes were represented. For instance ranging from a session on the local poets whose ancestors migrated from Bengal so now speak a mix of Assamese and particular kind of Bengali which makes them a distinct community to sessions on conflict and literature showcasing incidents such as the incarceration of the Indian-Chinese community by the Indian government in the 1960s to more recent instances have been preserved in contemporary literature. There were panel discussions on publishing such as children’s literature and understanding the publishing process. A testament to the crackling literary milieu was the heated discussions that took place between Sanjoy Hazarika and Francois Gautier during their panel discussion “The word in public space”. Sanjoy Hazarika posted a note about it on Facebook.
  Lit Mart introduced by Dr Rita Chowdhury, Director, National Book Trust. Panelists included Preeti Gill, Nabin Baruah, Jaya Bhattacharji Rose, Bhaskar Dutta-Baruah, Ravi Singh and Srutimala Duara.
  A fascinating experiment called Lit Mart was also inaugurated and conceived by the director of NBT, Dr Rita Chowdhury. It consisted of a panel of Assamese and English publishers, literary agents and publishing professionals who listened to manuscript ideas and synopsis. The authors ranged from school children to experienced writers, translators, professionals who were also engaged in writing and even ex-insurgents. And yes, some contracts — mostly Assamese but one English too– were offered by the time the session was over.
  There was a festive air and the locals had come dressed as if it were a special occasion especially on Sunday. Even when the school expeditions were organised the students were well behaved and trooping into listen to the panelists. There was little fidgeting and definitely no mobile phones ringing or flashing.
  NBT book mobile
  Sure there were teething problems — co-ordination glitches, lack of golf carts/ vans to fetch and carry people as is done at the world book fair held annually at pragati maidan, the food court was at the far end instead of being midst of hustle-bustle and since the dinners held for delegates were not well lubricated the participation was thin as people made their own arrangements. Having said that this litfest was organised by NBT within two weeks of the conclusion of the world book fair. Hence the effort put in to put together this show by the team was impressive. In fact the undercurrents were positive and indicate potential in subsequent editions if the literary festival is managed well. Already there were understanding touches to the organising such as parking an NBT bookmobile at the venue where an entire row was dedicated to literature translated in to Assamese, having an independent bookshop that sold titles of participating authors and publishers, and author signing sessions. There is a strong local reading culture with a thriving literary tradition in the north east. There is no reason why this festival cannot succeed.
  6 February 2017
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