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FOCUS ON INDIA

We’re going to the fair

PHOTO: AFP

Upbeat mood: Topics varied, from diaspora cliches and literature-in-translation conundrums to future of children’s writing in India.

A few years ago, at one of the panel discussions held during the Kitab festival in Mumbai, Antara Dev Sen was questioned about the coming of age of Indian literature. Her astute reply was that it was really the Indian economy that had come of age and the spotlight was therefore on everything Indian, including literature. That India had always had an excellent and ancient tradition of writing but the world had only zoomed in on it with the country’s booming stock market.

Sen’s point could not have been better illustrated at the London Book Fair this year. The market focus was India and in times of recessionary trends, the Indian mood seemed upbeat. Ninety-odd Indian publishers exhibited their wares at the fair this year and a contingent of Indian authors was flown down for a series of impassioned debates and talks by the British Council. The International Rights Centre at the fair resembled the stock market as deals were struck and transactions sealed.

Questions raised at the literary events varied from diaspora clichés and eternal literature-in-translation conundrums to the future of children’s writing in India. Participating authors ranged from familiar names such as Vikram Seth and Suketu Mehta to newer ones like Amruta Patil and Anuja Chauhan, as well as Indian language writers like Tamil poet-novelist Salma and Gujarati writer Varsha Adalja. The fair also seemed to spawn parallel literary worlds as talks by Indian and international authors were held simultaneously, with audiences having to sacrifice a talk on Indian literature in translation for an interview with Umberto Eco and vice versa.

To the West, India is the only English language book market with a potential for growth. But what did the Book Fair spell for India? For one, it showcased its new writing, poetry and fiction in translation, children’s writing and non-fiction to the world. “In the West, we continue to associate Indian writing with Amitav Ghosh and Arundhati Roy. It’s nice to learn about contemporary writers who haven’t yet found a readership here,” confessed a member of the audience. The concerns of the fair had to do with emerging literary trends in India seen — as Chief Editor and Publisher of HarperCollins India, V.K. Karthika, points out — in the interview of her and bestselling author Chetan Bhagat on BBC World Service Radio. “The fact that they chose to interview an author associated with popular fiction is telling,” she remarks. Literary agent Jayapriya Vasudevan, founder of Jacaranda Press, supports the view. “Popular Indian writing is being read now as opposed to just literary fiction 10 years ago. An unknown author has every chance of selling today,” she says. Vasudevan ought to know. Jacaranda, India’s first literary agency, represents new publishing house Blaft known for its quirky books and translations of Tamil and Hindi pulp fiction, which have elicited much interest at the fair.

Led by Karthika, HarperCollins India has been furiously producing a gamut of writing that includes commercial bestsellers such as Salim Must Die by Mukul Deva and political thriller Dead On Time by Meghnad Desai that was launched at the House of Lords during the Book Fair. Forthcoming titles include Jaishree Mishra’s Secrets and Lies and Sangeeta Mall’s Cloud Nine Minus One — a Meera Syalish story about a management school reunion that will appeal to the 30-something woman reader. Manreet Sodhi Someshwar, author of Earning the Laundry Stripes (Rupa & Co, 2006) — about a saleswoman in the corporate backdrop of the ‘all-boys sales club’ of Hindustan Lever — released her literary novel The Long Walk Home (HarperCollins 2009) at the Book Fair. While the latter is set amid the Partition and Sikh militancy, her third novel — a thriller — is already seeking a publisher. “There is a difference between potential and reality in the Indian book market and we are making a serious attempt to bridge that,” says Karthika. A panel discussion on first books that covered between them cricket, lesbianism, chick lit, Nepali poetry and a graphic novel, only supports the fact. Non-fiction, particularly self-help and cookery, may contribute to the majority of sales at bookstores in India and perhaps the world over, but according to Supriya Chaudhuri professor of English at Jadhavpur University and moderator of another discussion at the fair, historical books and memoirs or biographical writing too will find an increased readership.

The large turnout at a presentation on children’s writing in India displayed an interest in this section of Indian writing. However, the panel that included S.K. Ghai from the Institute of Book Publishing, Atiya Zaidi of Ratna Sagar and V.K. Karthika agreed that India was in the “not yet” position as far as trade publishing in children’s writing was concerned. A dearth of children’s authors, budgetary constraints and inability of children’s books to be seen as marketable commodities has prevented the growth of this segment of the literary industry. However, the emergence of supermarkets and chain bookstores has made an impact on sales just as the beginning of children’s literary festivals augurs the rise in the reading habit among children — which in turn will bode well for children’s books in general.

The emphasis on the various Indian languages at the Book Fair this year shows a serious attempt to increase awareness of literature in translation. A series of discussions that included stellar personalities such as U.R. Ananthamurthy, K. Satchidanandan, Girish Karnad and Ian Jack threw up interesting debates on language. Meanwhile, even as translated works seem geared to woo international audiences, the battle continues to rage on home turf as seen from the title of a panel discussion ‘Battle for the Indian Reader’. “Language spreads and with it, so does literature,” says Antara Dev Sen, founder editor of The Little Magazine that dedicates itself to literature in English and in translation, including film scripts and plays, from South Asia. The Little Magazine has also initiated the TLM awards — SALAM (South Asian Literature Award for the Masters) and a new fiction award. Author Indrajit Hazra, also on the same panel, believes that Indians are now reading fiction other than literary works that have mainly to do with “rivers, trees and diaspora” — by Indian authors. And poet Jeet Thayil makes up his own rules for poetry that comes last, perhaps, in order of readership. According to Peter Florence, founder of the Hay Festival, finding readership is not a battle but a long seduction. “If you see it as a battle, you will never win it,” he says, drawing parallels between Canadian and Indian literature and crediting the Toronto literary festival for getting the world to Canada and deepening its penetration of readership.

As Indian writers and publishers hotly debated the battle for the Indian reader, a panel discussion titled ‘Writers of Tomorrow’ organised by the Arts Council of England saw speakers such as authors Fay Weldon and Tash Aw as well as representatives from publishers and new writing initiatives. “We collaborate with arts councils and the University of East Anglia to help writers find readers and readers find writers,” says Chris Gribble of the New Writing Partnership, oblivious to the discussion next door. According to Tash Aw, (winner of the Whitbread and Commonwealth Writer’s Prize 2005, also touted as a literary figure to look out for), the reading process is inextricably linked with the writing process and the readers of tomorrow will be the writers of tomorrow. ” Many more countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America will find their own voices and self-confidence, he says, like India has in the last 20 years. And the problem of translated works seems universal as he goes on to lament the shockingly small proportion of translated works available in the UK. Meanwhile, according to Weldon, “Tomorrow’s writer will be writing non-fiction — if you have any sense — to earn a living.”

However, the fair also displayed the differences in literary concerns and trends between the East and the West. While the latter spoke of creative and life-writing courses, ‘enhanced’ e-books and technological innovations such as the Espresso book machine that prints books on demand, in-store, India was still concerned with widening its reach in the print arena. “E-books are not likely to play a big role in India at least for the next decade or so,” says Karthika. Our only association with other media was the talk on literature in cinema that included on its panel Javed Akhtar, Rachel Dwyer and Prasoon Joshi, among others. A sign, perhaps, that Indian literature has yet to truly come of age.

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