income urban audiences, demand-based economics dominates, to the detriment of creating books for economically weaker groups, where the profit motive is low. Keeping these ground realities as the pain points, Pratham Books created an alternate model to address these inequities to provide quality reading books for children in mother tongue languages with ‘reading for joy’ as the prime focus.
In 13 years, Pratham Books has published over 375+ titles in 20 Indian languages and distributed over 14 million books and 16 million story cards. However, we realized there was still a long way to go before achieving our mission of ‘a book in every child’s hand’.
himanshu giri is CEO of Pratham Books, India’s largest non-profit children’s book publishing house. He has 20 years of experience in publishing and has worked on many public and private educational projects for setting up libraries for underserved children in India. He was one of the key team associates that set up Scholastic in India and was associated with the company for more
than a decade.
Part 4
the Bigger Picture: trends and opportunities
part iv • the BIgger PICture: trenDs anD oPPortunItIes
indian-languages publishing
31 The Role of Sahitya Akademi 158
Dr K. Sreenivasarao
32 Indian Literature through Sahitya Akademi 163 Nirmal Kanti Bhattacharjee
33 Publishing in Hindi 167
Aditi Maheshwari-Goyal
34 Publishing in Bengali 172
Tridib Kumar Chatterjee
35 Publishing in Malayalam 176
Ravi Deecee
36 Publishing in Marathi 178
Devayani Devesh Abhyankar
37 Indian-language Publishing by Global Players 181 Shalini Singh
role of translations
38 Translations: A Publisher’s View 185
Mini Krishnan
39 Children’s Publishing and Translations 190
Geeta Dharmarajan
independent publishing
40 The Tulika Books Story 196
Indira Chandrasekhar
41 Feminist Publishing:The Journey and Way Ahead 202 Ritu Menon
42 Navayana 206
S.Anand
innovations
43 Bringing Books to Phones 211
Chiki Sarkar
44 Offering Chapter-level Content 214
Rohit Kumar
45 Illustrated Books in the Digital Age 217
Bipin Shah
46 Tie-ups and Collaborations 223
Aarti David
the BIgger PICture: trenDs anD oPPortunItIes English language publishing in India stands at 50 per cent of total publishing, 35 per cent is Hindi publishing, and all other Indian languages make up the remaining 15 per cent.The Sahitya Academi (SA) has played a seminal role in the preservation and dissemination of Indian Language (IL) literature.The first two contributors speak from a vast experience at the SA and other government bodies that have supported the outreach of IL and its translation, even when it was not as popular as it has become today.
Next, four IL publishers discuss their first-hand experiences of working with, and in three cases running, Hindi, Bangla, Malayalam and Marathi publishing concerns.The mood is upbeat and the growth of IL publishing with the entry of multinationals into this arena is welcomed.
Translations from Indian languages have never had it so good as these lists seem to be growing and thriving with both main stream English language publishers and early pioneers.We have two veterans in the translation landscape share their experiences and views on the bright future of this genre.
Independent publishers have always enlivened the Indian publishing scene, pushing the boundaries in terms of both breadth and attention to detail in their publishing.Three founding publishers, share their journeys and challenges, in lively and candid conversations.
Alongside the Independents we now have a new kind of disruptor in Indian publishing.These are the startups who are marrying content and technology to bring about new kinds of publishing. Be it fiction for mobile phones or testing and chapter apps, the use of AI (artificial intelligence) in illustrated books or a range of applications and value additions to conventional publishing, the contributors in this segment engage and amaze.The last piece here points to another sort of innovation that sees increasing tie-ups and collaborations between English-language and IL publishers and local and multinational players,
resulting in benefits for both readers and publishers.
31 the role of sahItya akaDemI ‘translations unite us, preserve ancient literature and are a part of our life”
Dr K. Sreenivasarao
Sahitya Akademi, India’s National Academy of Letters, is the central institution for literary dialogue, publication and promotion in the country and the only institution that undertakes literary activities in 24 Indian languages, including English.
Q:What is the current scenario in the Indian-language publishing market and what are the prevailing trends?
KS: If we talk about Indian literature in general, it is again on a rising curve.We are regaining in the last four to five years and also getting good exposure. Indian literature is flourishing. Of all the genres, fiction is always a hit and key players are always English publishers. But when we talk about Indian literature, we have great works in local languages and very fine writers, who are nowhere less than any bestselling authors on the national or international front.
However, regional writers are not getting exposure because of lack of good translations and translators. India is very vast country; so private players should also come forward for translations. Mostly, regional literature is available in Hindi and English; it should also be translated into foreign languages, so that it can reach international platforms. Dalit writing and women’s writing are getting very focused now and are the latest movement in Indian literature.
Q: How is Sahitya Akademi promoting Indian languages? KS: Sahitya Akademi promotes Indian writings in all the 24 Indian
languages recognized by it. It:
• Confers awards in 5 different categories and Fellowships, which is the Akademi’s highest honour;
• Annually organizes more than 600 literary programmes in all the
languages and regions of the country including translation workshops;
• Issues travel grants to young writers;
• Publishes more than 500 titles in all the languages every year; and
• Promotes Indian literature in the country and abroad through its
several projects and schemes.
Q:What are the challenges in translations?
KS:As we have a scarcity of translators, good translations are not coming. For example, there is not a single translator from Marathi to Manipuri or from Manipuri to Malayalam.Within India we are facing this. Forget about international languages, even our own languages are not getting exposure.And the sad thing is that because of this great works of literature are getting lost.We have only one translator in India from Malayalam to Nepali. In such a situation, how much work can we do? Besides, sometimes in English translations, we lose the Indian essence. So scarcity of good translators is the main problem.
Q: Is it a profitable venture?
KS: Marketing literature is not easy.We are not getting any kind of encouragement. English and Hindi are two languages which are selling really well. Other popular languages are Tamil, Malayalam and Bengali. But at the same time in other languages like Dogri, Kashmiri, Punjabi and Konkani we have very low sales, even though good literature is being published in these languages. Maybe readership is not there in these languages.At Sahitya Akademi, we cannot restrict ourselves to the popular languages; we are giving same treatment to all the 24 languages.
Q:Tell us about the journey of Sahitya Akademi’s journal Indian Literature: its evolution, readership and content.
KS: Indian Literature, Sahitya Akademi’s bimonthly journal, is India’s
oldest and the only jou
rnal of its kind featuring translations of poetry, fiction, drama and criticism from twenty-three Indian languages to English, besides original writing in English. It has been coming out for 60 years now and it has gained immense readership. It has been going to all major universities and even individual readership is there.We have given lot of focus on young writings; we have brought out special issues in Bengali and Assamese, besides Telugu and Marathi. In addition, we are giving importance to tribal and oral literature. So such special issues will also come.
We are getting material from all over, and recently I got to know that we have almost two to three years’ publishing material with us.That itself is a kind of testimony to how it has gained popularity amongst litterateurs.
We strive to feature some of the best literature and writers in our journal, old as well as new.There is hardly any significant Indian author who has not been featured in the pages of this journal that has completed 60 years of service to the cause of Indian literature.
Our journal offers a feast of literature with unique sections, such as ‘Heritage’ and ‘Classics’. Our other special features include novel excerpts, travelogues, autobiographical writings, book reviews, author interviews and tributes to writers. Indian Literature is also highly valued as a source of reference in India and abroad and is an essential for libraries and for discriminating readers, researchers, and students of creative and critical literature.
Q:What are the future projects and schemes Sahitya Akademi is focusing on?
KS:We need to encourage youth because they are the future.We have some new kinds of schemes for youth, under which if any young firsttime writer is unable to print his or her book, Sahitya Akademi will do it for them. Poetry, short stories, fiction, we will publish their work and also take care of marketing.We also give travel grants of Rs 15,000 each to five writers in each language, which means more than 100 writers can avail this. A Marathi writer can go to some other place like Karnataka or Andhra Pradesh or Assam to acquaint himself/herself with what kind of writing is happening in other parts of India. It also makes them aware of other cultures. In addition to that, we have different platforms for them like Mulakat and Yuva Sahiti.
We also confer Yuva Puraskar on young writers. It’s very interesting to know that the young awardees are very mature writers. Recently, in Santhali (a very new tribal language), an awardee saw his own poetry in the Class 12 syllabus, which means his writing is of that calibre.They are not compromising on quality, that is one positive signal.
We never sell our rights, but we are trying to get Indian literature translated into foreign languages and the project is lying with Government of India. Once it is approved, Indian literature will get acclaim on the international platform. We are looking at translations, particularly in six UNESCO-recognized languages—Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish.
Q: How can we promote reading habit in children?
KS: It’s strange but true that youth is the biggest boon as well as bane of Indian literature. So we have to encourage children from school level to read books and appreciate Indian literature. Schools only have library period, which is not enough. Unless we start reading good literature from childhood, we cannot appreciate words in future also.
Besides, we started a programme series called GRAMALOK on October 2, 2017, in which we have started holding reading sessions in villages and as per the interest level and requirement, we provide them literature.We have around 6 lakh villages in India and we want to reach to each and every village, as they are important to mainstream literature.
We have to target youth and bring them back to reading.We participate in almost all major book fairs organized in India. Last year, we participated in 180 book fairs and 200 programmes related to book fair. Now we are trying to organize our book fairs at village and taluka levels. We are also planning to increase our number of shops and open public reading rooms and small libraries in transit metro stations in Delhi.
Q: Is there anything else you would like to add?
KS:We organized 681 programmes last year; that means almost every 14 hours we have one programme.We published 680 books last year, which is also one book every 14 hours. Our workshops and literary gathering, under various heads like Meet the Author, Samvad, Kavisandhi, Kathasandhi, Loka:The Many Voices, People and Books,Through My Window, Mulakat,Asmita,Antaral,Avishkar, Nari Chetna,Yuva Sahiti, Bal Sahiti, Purvottari, and Literary Forum meetings, are attracting huge industry participation.
In India, translation activities have been going on since ancient times. It’s not a new thing, but now it is flourishing.And I feel it’s only because of translations that India is united even today and, being a multilingual society, translations are part of our day-to-day lives.
dr . k. sreenivasarao is Secretary of Sahitya Akademi and has worked with the organization for more than two-and-a-half decades. He is a sitting member of the Press Council of India, Rashtrapati Bhavan Literary Committee, General Assembly of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, Raja Rammohun Roy Library Foundation, and Doordarshan’s Preview Committee, and is on the Council of Sangeet Natak Akademi. He has translated a children’s dictionary from English to Telugu,
and received the Delhi Telugu Akademi Award for 2011.
32 InDIan lIterature
through sahItya akaDemI “We can win many more nobel Prizes if we translate and present our books well” Nirmal Kanti Bhattacharjee
Q:What is your overview of regional literature in general? Explain with emphasis on Bengali literature.
NKB:The future of regional-languages publishing is very vibrant. Hindi, Malayalam and Marathi are three specific languages in which publishing activities are very bright.A lot of books are coming in; a lot of translations are happening from foreign languages and Indian languages and, most importantly, readership is increasing.As far as Bangla is concerned, contents and readership both are constantly growing. Moreover, the number of publishing houses is also growing; a lot of new niche publishing houses have come up now.Apart from bigger one like Ananda Publishers, Dey’s Publication, Patra Bharati, and Mitra & Ghosh, new and smaller publishing houses are also making their mark. Topics, which are not run-of-the-mill, are being published now; a lot of non-fiction is happening and it’s finding a lot of readership. Besides, the number of glossy magazines, newspapers and tabloid has also gone up.
Q:You were editor of Indian Literature (IL) for five years; tell us about its readership profile and how it has sustained.What are the reasons for its success?
NKB: IL as a journal has evolved a lot in terms of its readership, circulation and most importantly outlook. Published in English by an autonomous organization under the government, IL has its own limitations, but these
limitations can be overcome if there is determination backed by innovative ideas. If we take a closer look at IL, it is not just a compendium of poems, stories essays and reviews translated into English.There is lot of creativity in it and when we innovate, the journal becomes interesting, readership increases, and, at the same time, it acts as a platform for the younger writers to experiment.
When I started editing the journal, I found out that some of my predecessors used to bring out some special issues, devoted to a particular language, for example Tamil. It would contain some glimpses of ancient, contemporary and modern Tamil literature and writings apart from poems, making it a treasured volume. So I maintained that and also started bringing out occasional special language issues. But we thought of bringing out something new. So we started genres-specific issues: biographical writing in Indian languages, autobiographical writing in Indian languages, travel writing, etc.All these issues attracted the interest of readers. Interestingly, we found that circulation went up.
And then we thought we should include marginal languages as well. We collected some oral literature and scripts from Tripura and brought out a special issue on Tripura, for which we organized a workshop in Agartala and started translation work. Once the issue was out, it was lov
ed by everyone. Not just Tripura, the whole country liked it. It caught the attention of the people of Tripura so much that the then Chief Minister organized a special function, invited us there, and launched the journal and we had to reprint 1,000 more copies to supply to them. Think innovatively, out of the box to add new life to the journal.
Q:What does the future hold for Indian Literature?
NKB: Future is very strong as long as freedom of expression is safeguarded. I have no hesitation in saying that during my time as editor, I never had any interference from the authorities. IL will grow from strength to strength, as it is the only journal which showcases the entire gamut of Indian languages.
Q:You are currently working on translations publishing; so in your
opinion, what is its current status and how does its future look?
nirmal kanti bhattacharjee 165 NKB: I have always worked with translations. I would go to the extent of saying that translations have survived mainly because of Sahitya Akademi (SA) and National Book Trust, India (NBT).Thirty years back, private publishers were not much interested in translations.Any book to be translated had to go to NBT or SA. I have a mooring in translations and I have also myself translated from Bengali to English and vice versa. My English translations of Mahasweta Devi’s Armenian Champa Tree, Sunil Gangopadhyay’s The Dreadful Beauty, Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay’s The Ghost of Gosain Bagan, and the Bengali translation of U.R.Anantamurthy’s short-story collection Suryer Ghora O Anyanya Galpo have been critically acclaimed.Translation is the next big thing in publishing, not just in India, but world over.
Just a few years ago, multinational houses never thought much about Indian languages and they had no agenda for translation publishing. But suddenly there is a boom; now all the big MNCs have come into Indian publishing. I think the tremendous success of Indian writers, winning prestigious awards like Arundhati Roy, The God of Small Things (1997); Kiran Desai, The Inheritance of Loss (2006); and Aravind Adiga, The White Tiger (2008) is the main reason. Now international publishers have also started giving consideration to Indian writings.
Publishers On Publishing Page 17