Last week, I got a chance to join an alternative publishing conference in Bangalore, and here are some reports from there. Not Goa-focussed, but this might be of interest to potential authors among us.
Leonard Fernandes is an interesting young man, working out of Gogol, Margao. He (and his wife Quennie) returned from the US and the UK respectively, even while in their 20s, to take to the challenging world of business in Goa. See their dogearsetc.com (a second-hand online bookshop) and their print-on-demand options at http://cinnamonteal.dogearsetc.com Ruben DCruz, despite his strongly familiar-sounding name, is a Malyalee and an interesting one at that. (It's amazing to find our "colonial cousins" scattered in diverse places, with Portuguese and almost-Goan sounding names, and I've known Paul Gonsalves from West Bengal, Colin Gonsalves originally from Kerala and so on....) Bhatkal, the publishers mentioned below, are pioneers in Mumbai, and trace their roots to the coastal Karnataka villlage of the same name. They have been behind Popular Prakashan, and published books like BG D'Souza's on Goa and many others. Please check the links below for useful links... FN * * * The Tulika Story Indira Chandrasekhar of Tulika Books in New Delhi tells of her experiences with alternative publishing, and more. Tulika Books is one of the founder-members of the IPDA, the Independent Publishers' Distribution Alternative of India. Tulika can be contacted at 35 A1 (Third Floor), Shahpur Jat, New Delhi 110049 Ph 91-11-026491625 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plxIdxCbohg Keep Left! In book publishing for sure... LeftWord Books is a publishing venture that seeks to reflect the views of the left in India and South Asia. It publishs "critical and analytical works on a range of subjects, and pay special attention to works on Marxist theory" and "projects the interests of the working people and movements for social transformation." Sudhanva Deshpande of Leftword explains the logic of this niche but politically committed venture. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snPTQiZrKxo Reading... for the young ones, Kerala style The Kerala State Institute for Children's Literature [http://ksicl.org] is a State-run institution that promotes the reading habit at this level. Here, it's director, Rubin DCruz, explains the logic, achievements and challenges of this institution in a part of India where reading has struck deep roots. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSLAsiQOwuI IPD Alternatives, what's that? Amrita Akhil is Director for Marketing of the IPD Alternatives. This is an unusual venture, meant to row into the choppy seas of the uncertain market, and promote books brought out by independent publishers in India. Akhil explains what the Independent Publishers' Distribution Alternatives is all about. It's based at 35 A1 Shahpur Jat, Ground Floor, New Delhi 110049, tel 91-11-26492040 or 26491448 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KbFAEOrMPc Stree, Samya and Mandira Sen Mandira Sen is director of Stree (an imprint of Bhatkal and Sen) and Samya. This publishing venture is based at 16 Southern Avenue, in Kolkata 700026 At its websit e [http://stree-samyabooks.com] it explains: "Stree and Samya are two imprints of Bhatkal and Sen, a joint partnership of the Bhatkals of Popular Prakashan and Mandira Sen. Founded in 1990, Stree publishes on gender studies, focusing on the status of women in India, in English and in Bengali. It publishes on the workplace, class relations and political subjection, marriage, the family, the impact of religion, culture and ideology. It translates women's writings, fiction and nonfiction, from the Indian languages into English...." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FnEtn7pJIA Books, and the culture of publishing Samskriti (which means 'culture') is the name of Indian publishing veteran M Sengupta's book publishing venture. It's based at C9020 Vasant Kunj in New Delhi 220070 Phone 26137390 and calls itself a "house of education" promoting art, culture and heritage. Listen to the walk down memory lane. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_-PQ7N_fuw What exactly is e-publishing? Engineer turned publisher Leonard Fernandes of Goa runs the Dogears.etc (a site for second-hand book sales) and also his print-on-demand services and supplies initiative called Cinnamon Teal. Here, he gives an introduction to the potential of e-publishing, specially to those in alternative publishing. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PAshekKwh4 Other Books, Kerala... other models in publishing books from India Other Books is based in Kozhikode/Calicut in Kerala, South India (P.O. Box 620, Calicut, Kerala - 673 002, Ph:0495-2306808 E-mail : [email protected]) They have an interesting model of getting 'sponsors' to support their books and invest in them. For a list of their titles published, see http://www.milligazette.com/Advertise... Shameer KS is one of the editors at this initiative and can be contacted at otherbooks at post dot com http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DO8nFxnGgc Regards from Goa, where the monsoons greeted me back in full force :-) FN -- ---------------------------------------------------------- Frederick Noronha +91-9822122436 +91-832-2409490 Journalism, editing, photography http://photosfromgoa.notlong.com ----------------------------------------------------------
