In the league of extraordinary writers

This is the company that published Jane Austen, Chares Darwin, Lord Byron and Flaubert, says Anurima Roy, publicity manager at Hachette India.
Hachette, one of the largest publishing groups in UK, burst upon the Indian scene in 2008. Anurima says the challenge then was to make up for being a late entrant in the market. With publishers like Penguin, HarperCollins and Random House that had been established players, it was important to build Hachette as a brand at the earliest possible. However, given the kind of names Hachette has under its banner, it wasn’t too difficult, she says. “We have a huge stable of names so our pedigree is high… but here we were new and went with a choice of new writing to begin with,” she says.
With its nine different companies straddling trade and education across literary and commercial genres, Hachette operates in every segment.
“This is what we bring to India too,” Anurima explains, “We began with a slight emphasis on commercial fiction but we are also going after literary and narrative non-fiction in a big way.”
On the subject of established writers vs new, Anurima, who has seen both editorial and marketing sides of the industry, says she personally, enjoys the challenge of working with new writers. “Working with established writers is also a pleasure since there is no pressure of having to establish names. Having said so, there is always the struggle to go steps higher with each book by an established writer and that’s exciting too,” she adds.
Stickler for quality, Anurima says Hachette books are good enough to be up on any international shelf. “The production flow is essentially planning the look and feel of a book that the editors, production department and our MD do at Hachette. We take the images we have and roll with them for our marketing campaigns.”
So did the “giant venture” tag save Hachette India from the trouble of convincing distributors? Anurima admits that with the top management having long years in publishing, and with an available depth and range of lists, it was easier. “But equally our local publishing began from a scratch and we had the challenge of building new names,” she says.
Anurima, who joined Hachette in 2008 as a part of its founding team, describes her journey so far as exciting. Publishing is a passion and one should get into it only if one loves books and the challenges that come with it, she says.
As a person who enjoys working with authors, Anurima reminiscences her first tour with debutant author Alice Albinia, as one of her most memorable moments.
With no ambitions of being a writer herself, Anurima believes it’s best if authors are guided by their instinct, “the only advice one can give is to write as you feel like; and for those in search of non-fiction or commercial genres look at the trends, and see what you can write that will interest readers.”
Publishing is a creative business but it is essentially also numbers’ business, she explains.
Each publishing house has a fixed brief in terms of how much it can publish, and what slots it needs, she adds. “So rejections may have nothing to do with the quality of a manuscript but merely a function of a submission not fitting a particular programme,” says Anurima.
About the publishing scenario, Anurima says that though the number of readers has increased over the years but a big percentage is reading cheap commercial rather than quality fiction: “People like to read stuff that is racy and easy rather than heavy literature that was the dominant trend earlier.” India is still in nascent stages of publishing, she says. The industry is beginning to grow, and grow fast, though currently threatened by a proposed amendment to the Copyright Act, says Anurima. She feels the industry is also bogged down by primitive marketing methods and the tedious cycle from supply chain to payment realisation. Though Pakistani writing is the new flavour and is catching up fast, she believes, India remains a non-fiction readers’ market and each publisher needs to have a healthy non-fiction list that could be a steady-backlist.
Anurima says she dreamt of being in publishing since school days and never wanted any other career. For those who wish to make a career in the industry, she says, passion for books is the key, money being secondary. It is one industry where you see most creative minds working at most innovative products.

Writing @T20

Aditya Sudarshan is 26 years and two novels old. He entered the league of young Indian writers in 2007 when his first book A Nice Quiet Holiday was published. His second work of fiction Show Me A Hero is the latest to be released. The novel is set in contemporary Delhi where a group of twentyfour-year-olds are making a film about a cricket star Ali Khan. While on one hand, the “just-out-of-college” youngsters struggle to come to terms with adulthood, on the other, they must deal with the player who’s career has been tainted with match-fixing allegations.
Having studied law at Bengaluru, crime has been Aditya’s forte in his two books. His first work, a detective thriller set in a quiet peaceful town, Bhairavgarh, at the foothills of the Himalayas, was written when he was still in law school. Aditya left his practice mid-way much to the shock of his family to take up writing full-time. “For a writer, writing is more like a compulsion,” he says, “you just need to let it happen. Your mind keeps going in that direction.”
He does not believe his work falls in the group of business school breed of young writers who swear by Chetan Bhagat. He feels his books will connect more with a serious audience. Yet the short and easy format of his work makes a perfect light read. It bears a strong resemblance to the work of popular writers like Abhijit Bhaduri with a metro setting, educated youth protagonists, quick involving story and a slice-of-life narrative.
Aditya admits his novels are not research heavy. “You will not emerge anny more knowledgeable out of my novels. They deal with the analytical and psychological aspects of life.” Aditya, much like the writers of pulp fiction, is not apologetic of the life he portrays. He identifies with the works of Arun Joshi who won Sahitya Akademi Award in 1982 for his novel The Last Labyrinth. “Joshi deals with the community head-on and without a sense of guilt or compunction of being dismissed as pulp or chick-lit.”
Besides the engaging mystery plot, Show me a Hero draws on the theme of hero-worship in India. A Tendulkar fan himself, Aditya says, “It is very easy to be cynical about someone but its a different experience to simply admire someone.” The title of the novel is drawn from the Gatsby-famed Ftizgerald’s note: “Show me a hero and I will write you a tragedy”.
Aditya, does not see himself doing a story removed from the Indian context or set-up, “Even if I make it sound well-researched it would seem fake,” he says.
Inspite of his natural affinity for Indian setting he not game for the India shining argument. He describes the Indian condition of the as a “confused” one. “It is difficult to get a sense of who you are, in a country so diverse and vast,” he says. It is a similar difficulty that faces the protagonists in novels. “India still has a long way to go, this is not time to celebrate,” he says
As an author too, he does not carry the sense of having arrived. On lookout for more, Aditya is in Mumbai now, searching for opportunities and stories for a third novel that he aims to base on Bollywood.

FANCY DRESS

Now there's so much
that I could be
Super-man
Magic-man
Satan
Time-traveler
Jinni
Alien
Mutant
God
And what am I?
A mere man.

KHUL JA SIM SIM I The Ring of Solomon by Jonathan Stroud I

When was the last time you heard the story of the jinni who came out of Aladdin's wonderful lamp? Bartimaeus is that kind of demon. He runs errands for his masters, yet keeps an eye for ways to outwit him; is punished repeatedly for his audacious behaviour and finds himself time and again in the midst of trouble.
The Ring of Solomon is a prequel to the Bartimaeus trilogy published between 2003 to 2005. But this novel is different from the trilogy which is, quite in the Harry Potter fashion, centered in a fairly recent London. The Ring of Solomon, however, takes you back to the land of Arabian Nights. The Jerusalem of 950 BC is a kingdom full of magic. It is ruled by Solomon who's sovereign control lies in the power of a ring on his finger. A ring by merely touching which the king can summon thousands of spirits. The king has an array of powerful magicians at his beck and call. Sharp-tongued and free-spirited Bartimaeus is the slave of one of the magicians of the king. Desperate to be set free Bartimaeus devours his master. When the king hears of this he orders Khaba the cruel, to bring back Bartimaeus and punish him. Far away in the kingdom of Sheba, Queen Balkis, is visited by a demon messenger of king Solomon. The spirit threatens the Queen into paying a regular tribute of Sheba's riches to the king and gives her 15 days to make up her mind. The queen sends out one of her royal guards, lovely Asmira, on a secret rescue mission to Jerusalem.
Bartimaeus, who has been sent by his new master, saves Asmira as her caravan is ambushed by robbers. Asmira gains attentions of Khaba and steals Bartimaeus from him. She summons the jinni to help her kill king Solomon and gain his ring. Bartimaeus has little option but to obey, but that's not the only reason for him to help Asmira as he begins to respect her abilities.
This is a racy book, hard to put down and easy to recall, unlike other novels of this expanse where you might have to turn back pages to find out who was who. Only once in 400-pages of the book you may find the narrative loosing grip but it makes a quick comeback and proceeds thereon to a grand finale. You may not have heard of the trilogy, but you will understand the world of spirits into which Stroud takes you. The novel is sprayed with interesting and humorous asides regarding nitty-gritty of the way spirits function.
The story assumes a picaresque character as Asmira who in the course of her adventures comes to see her own beliefs shattered. Bartimaeus and Asmira both begin to seem similar at a point as they both carry out orders. A naive Asmira must get over her absolute trust of her mistress and find her own happiness while the 2,000-year-old Bartimaeus struggles for his freedom and peace.
Bartimaus' story is enthralling the way fantasy and magic holds on to the mind. Taking it off the mundane and "impossible" aspects of life, leaving you with a twinkle in the eye similar to that of the child who talks to winged, horned friends in the air.

OF A TELL-TALE WORLD BY THE BOSPHORUS I The Flea Palace by Elif Shafak I

For most readers in India, Turkey is synonymous with Orhan Pamuk which makes writers like Elif Shafak somewhat of a delayed discovery. Shafak is one of Turkey’s most acclaimed, and outspoken novelists. The 39-year-old is the author of nine books, seven of which are novels. The Saint of Incipient Inanities, The Gaze and The Flea Palace are among her recent works.
While she writes both in English and Turkish, the translation of her novel The Flea Palace was brought out by Penguin Books last year.
Among the themes of motherhood, feminist issues and Sufism, Istanbul is central to her body of work. Shafak is known depict the Istanbul as a “She-city” and likening it to an old woman with a young heart eternally hungry for new stories and loves. The Flea Palace is also constructed around the motley inhabitants of an apartment building, Bonbon Palace. The building brings together the contrarieties of modern Istanbul: the East and West; the ancient and modern; Orthodox Christianity on one hand and secularism and Islam on the other. If truth is a horizontal line, deception becomes a vertical one and nonsense, thereby, becomes a circle, says the opening of the novel. Though dissociated from the narrative that follows, a mesmerising beginning prepares you for what is to follow.
In the belly of the run-down bug-infested Bonbon Palace many stories are churning. The story of its making, to begin with. Pavel Antipov, an aristocratic Russian migrant, who built the place for his distraught wife, Agripina. The story of how Agripina, at the edge of her sanity, eating bonbons and looking at the world through the wrapping papers came to name the place Bonbon Palace. The tale of the neighbourhood, built at the site of ancient cemeteries, Muslim and Armenian; and that of the now lost grave of a saint “Hewhopackedupandleft”.
Its almost as if a real-life Rashid Khalifa is spinning you through the world of Kahani.
There are 10 apartments in Bonbon Palace. The rest of the novel unfolds through chapters based on their lives:
Flat 1; Musa, Meryem and Muhammet: Musa is the son of Meryem and Muhammet. Meryem is pregnant with her second child and has developed a “bizarre” disposition.
Flat 2; Sidar and Gaba: Sidar, a lonely man is obsessed with two things: Death and his dog Gaba.
Flat 3; Hairdressers Cemal and Celala: Identical twins Cemal and Celal, who were separated in childhood, are temperamentally dissimilar yet their lives are sewn in together with intuitive and surreal threads.
Flat 4; The FireNaturedSons: A family fraught with misfortunes ranging from smashed-up nose to volatile natures, they keep themselves insulated from other inhabitants of the building.
Flat 5; Hadj Hadj, his son, daughter-in-law and grandchildren: Hadj a devout old man narrates stories to his grandchildren, (not always out of love) as the parents are out to work.
Flat 6; Metin Chetinceviz and HisWife Nadia: Metin’s wife Nadia is a Russian migrant. While the couple doesn’t get along well and Metin stays away, Nadia develops obsession for bugs and a dubbed soap opera The Oleander of Passion.
Flat 7; Me: The narrator, a divorced university professor, in a state of reverie.
Flat 8; The Blue Mistress: The young and beautiful Bue Mistress spends most of her time waiting for an olive -merchant who has kept her.
Flat 9; Hygiene Tyijen and Su: Hygiene is a cleanliness freak while much to her disdain, her daughter Su has lice.
Flat 10; Madam Auntie: Eccentric old lady who’s story unfold itself only towards the end.
Much of what Shafak writes is “slice of life” but what distinguishes it from other such narratives is the finish with which she delivers it. Her manner is reminiscent of the old tradition of storytelling where one character leads to the other and the listener or the reader is carried along the tide.
Picture her style like a tiny plant sprouting into a full tree. The growth is speedy, mesmerising and symmetrical at the same time. The stories of the 10 apartments of The Flea Palace are not organised numerically but organically. One story leads to other as dwellers run into each other, merging into the thick canopy of life.
Hadji’s youngest grandchild is learning speech and “picks up” words at her whim attributing meaning to them. Musa, son of Meryem, dislikes going to school as it taught him how to read. That was when he figured out that the letter’s bakers daughter sent along with the bread and which his mother read to him everyday, were actually labels and so, “To learn to read was to lose forever the mystery of writing.”
Shafak, who is known to has suffered a long-drawn period of postpartum depression, also writes about motherhood frequently in her works. In The Flea Palace too the theme surfaces in Agripina, the wife of Pavel Antipov. Agripina is pregnant when she lands in Istanbul. Unlike a “normal” expecting mother she feels great “injustice” as her belly begins to swell, “Impossible as it may sound to those who believe that every woman is by nature maternal and that motherhood is as scared and pure as the rivers in heaven, Agripina did not love ‘the thing’ she had given birth to.”
From the plight of an out-of-job military general to that of a blond-hair woman, Shafak is the weaver of all stories in the heart of Istanbul. The symbolic stench plaguing the apartment works as parallel to the decay in the society and provides a perfect acme to the story that comes with the revelation of the Blue Mistress.
The Flea Palace leaves one wanting for more of Shefak and her mystic world of untiring stories.

...OF THOSE WHO USE COMMAS I an interview with Sanjana Roy Choudhary, head of publishing, Amaryllis I

"Sometimes you need that one knock in life to stir up new ideas in your mind," and that is what led to "Amaryllis", says Sanjana Roy Choudhury, head of publishing. Amaryllis was launched last year as an imprint of Manjul Publishing House. Sanjana, who worked with Rupa & Co. for 18 years, says within three-four months of leaving her previous job, she decided to go ahead and said "yes" to starting a new imprint with Vikas Rakheja, managing director of Manjul Publishing House that publishes books in Hindi and Indian language translations of bestsellers, including the cult Potter novels. "He had always been keen to start an original English publishing imprint. That’s how Amaryllis took shape," she says.
Predictably, the path was strewn with challenges. "Starting an imprint from scratch is no mean feat," says Sanjana. "Right from deciding your first list, evaluating innumerable manuscripts, getting the catalogue and contracts going, and most importantly, establishing the imprint was quite immense." But she has come a long way and is now faced with the problem of plenty where she often has to reject manuscripts."I have a small, but hugely enthusiastic team," she says and adds, "being happy with your work and the people you work with, and for, is so important. That’s what keeps me going."
Amaryllis will complete a year in March. Going down the memory lane, Sanjana is both nostalgic and proud: "The kind of support we’ve received from authors, literary agents, both in India and overseas, makes us feel we’ve been around far longer!"
She reiterates the goal Amaryllis has been targeting since its launch: Not more than 1 or 2 books each month. Why be so selective, she explains: "Authors in large publishing houses tend to get lost. We were very clear that we would not print 1,100 copies of a book and push them out into the market. For us, books are not products; each writer has to be given that respect and made to believe that his work is important. Our first print runs of all the titles that we’ve published have been upwards of 5,000 copies."
The Amaryllis’ first list boasted of big names like Jaswant Singh and Ashok Banker but Sanjana says a balance between established and debutant writers is the best way ahead. Moreover, she cherishes her work with debut writers. "The joy is unmatched when you hear the thrill in their voices on receiving their contracts. They are enthusiastic, and leave no stone unturned in being with you at every stage. And when you are able to sell 3,000 or 5,000 copies of a debut work in a span of 4 months, what else could you possibly ask for!"
Having spent years in the industry, Sanjana says the job of publishing a book is very rewarding, yet it comes with its challenges. Each author is different and has to be handled with kid-gloves. "At Amaryllis, what we try to do is firstly, be prompt about responding to authors about their manuscripts.... Giving an author feedback is very important. You have to be honest with them whether their manuscript is working or not, and work closely to have a final MS in your hands." But that’ not all. "Publicity and marketing is very crucial to get the book and author noticed."
While many new ventures in the industry find it difficult to deal with the distributors, Sanjana believes the issue has been hyped. "Authors are made to believe that some publishers have a stranglehold over distributors. This is furthest from the truth," she says. "Distributors and booksellers want a good book, as they too, at the end of the day, want to make money. So if you have published a book that will make readers sit up and take notice, there is no reason why it won’ t sell, and why booksellers won’t stock it."
So what is the key to a successful publishing venture? Sanjana has a two-point guide: You have to sure of what you want your list to look like and you have to stick to your word; You cannot make promises and then not deliver.
She believes that contrary to popular belief, books are selling in huge numbers, in spite of the onset of technology, like ebooks. Advances to authors are on the rise, something that would be impossible if publishers weren’t sure of sales, she says. Talking about her favourite projects she finds it hard to draw a list. "It would be unfair to talk about just a few; I’ve lost count of how many books I have worked on," she says but adds, "You always learn from all your authors. One little piece of advice I will never forget - from T.J.S. George, founding editor of Asiaweek, and Jeet Thayil’ s father - that the world is divided into two - those who use commas and those who don’t!"

HISTORY FROM BEHIND THE VEIL I Shadow Princess by Indu Sundaresan I

In history Mumtaz Mahal is an indelible name associated with the queen for whom the Taj Mahal was built. Few, however, know the woman she was, Arjumand Bano. Of her 14 children, Dara Shikoh and Aurangzeb are prominent for their succession battle won by the latter. However her daughters Jahanara and Roshanara have quietly been relegated to fading the family tree. Indu Sundaresan's Shadow Princess deals not with the empress but her daughters. It
attempts to undo what history's ruthless editors cut out. The novel is the third book in the Taj Mahal trilogy, first two being The Twentieth Wife and The Feast of Roses.
Mumtaz, pregnant with her 14th child dies in the opening of the book. 15-year-old Jahanara emerges as the woman incharge. It is the lot of the favoured eldest daughter to now head the harem, guide her awkward brothers and stand by an inconsolable father. King Shah Jahan's two other wives hope to get a hold of the zenana reins. They mull plans to fight the eldest daughter for what they believe is rightfully theirs only to realise that battle is already lost. "How could a daughter take the place of a wife?" they think, as does the rest of the kingdom.
Aggrieved Shah Jahan mulls handing over his kingdom to one of his sons. Jahanara's word assumes great importance as she is closer to the King than any of her siblings. The princess watches the court polarise around two teenaged sons Dara and Aurangzeb. She can't help siding with Dara while her sister Roshan stands with Aurangzeb. Roshan resents the status that has come unsought to her elder sister. Jahan, on the other hand is overwhelmed with the changes in her life and lacks the tact to win Roshan
to her side. The wedge so drawn runs deep through their lives and widens over the years.
When a distressed King is unable to stand up to his traditional appearance before the people, Jahanra shoves her brothers to stand by their father's side and prevents a political disaster. She wins the King's necklace and trust after the jharoka incident. Order is restored at the court as the King abandons the plan of retirement and the harem gets a new Padshah Begum, Jahanara.
The dead Queen had intended her eldest daughter to marry a court amir Mirza Najabat Khan. Unfortunately for Jahan, her mother died before she could convey her desire to the King. The young princess easily loses her heart to the amir when she sets her eyes on him. While the princess may have all the kingdom at her feet she is unprepared to face competition from her own sister for a suitor.
The King, on the other hand, is in no mood to loose either of his daughters in marriage. So while Jahan must organise a grand wedding for her brothers Dara, Shuja and then Aurangzeb, she must also arrive at peace with her own spinsterhood. But the most powerful women in the court are not so easily tamed. A lovelorn Jahan takes her favourite eunuch as her lover after Najabat stops answering her letters. Later, still longing for Najabat she orders a man from her personal orchestra to teach her how to make love.
Over the years Dara and Aurangzeb emerge as men who will fight out for the throne. Aurangzeb being the more strong-willed and having support of the court, while Dara powered by the blessings of his father and a powerful sister.
As the King begins to take women of the court to his bed, rumours about his liaisons with his daughter are dispelled and Najabat returns to Jahan's side. Curtailed by the will of the King, a clandestine affair blossoms between the two and an unmarried Jahan is soon pregnant. The king, for his part, ignores his beloved daughter's defiance. Jahanara sets off to the fort of Ajmer to deliver her child, calling her visit a pilgrimage.
Clearly, considerable research has gone into the making of this novel. While Sundersen has historic facts quite in order, the story-telling needs much more conviction. The reader, time and again, finds himself disbelieving the author. A dying Queen in the middle of the 14th delivery is described as a woman of immeasurable beauty. Similarly, a simple girl of 15 years hidden behind the veil suddenly comes to wield immense power over her father and the court. The story lacks imagination. While the author links
the dots of history well, she is unable to breathe life into them. The Taj Mahal, meanwhile, appears now and then, its details sounding dreary and detached from the story.
The story however, has a poignant end. Jahan who has spent nine years imprisoned with her father, leaves the Agra fort for Delhi. She agrees to become Padshah Begum of Aurangzeb's imperial harem, joining the brother whose ascendance to power she so vehemently opposed.