Publishing for Social Change
Navayana is India’s only publishing house that focuses on caste from an anticaste perspective.
It is inspired by B.R. Ambedkar’s interpretation of Buddhism, and publishes the best of socially-engaged writing from India: Namdeo Dhasal, Kancha Ilaiah, Gail Omvedt, Meera Nanda, Dilip Menon, Anand Teltumbde.
Browse our titles or become a member of our Book Club and get the entire Navayana catalog!
With a Foreword by John Berger and a jacket endorsement by Joe Sacco, this book has already made news. See this report inWashington Post and this one in Open.
Says Joe Sacco, author of Palestine, ‘The artists Durgabai Vyam and Subhash Vyam have dropped most of the West’s and manga’s typical comics conventions and boldly use of their own artistic heritage, the Pardhan-Gond tradition, to craft a distinctive graphic biography of one of India’s bravest and greatest leaders, Bhimrao Ambedkar, an “untouchable” and a fierce critic of Gandhi’s. Heavy in symbolism and motifs, Bhimayana is challenging in all the right ways and still conveys with flair who Ambedkar was and why his revolutionary ideas about the caste system still matter so much to the India of today.’
John Berger in his Foreword says, ‘An extraordinary book… No more rectangular framing or unilinear time. No more profiled individuals. Instead, a conference of corporeal experience across generations, full of pain and empathy.’
The clothbound, hardback collector’s edition of Bhimayana, printed on special paper, will cost Rs 995 in the market. Set in a generous 8″ x 11″ (just about A4), half of the 108 pages are in breathtaking colour. This limited, numbered edition can be booked for a discount price of Rs 750 now (inclusive of postage) up to 30 Sept 2010. Send a DD favouring “Navayana Publishing” to 155, 2nd Floor, Shahpur Jat, New Delhi 110049. Ph 011-26494795. The copy will be sent to you by 15 Nov 2010.(This offer is open only to orders from India.)
A paperback will also be available simultaneously for Rs 340.
In 2009, Navayana had sponsored five Dalit and Adivasi candidates for the Edit-Pub diploma course at Jadavpur University, Kolkata, as Avarna fellows. This year, Navayana shall sponsor the enrolment of five Dalit/Adivasi candidates at the National Book Trust’s four-week Training Course in Book Publishing (in English) in New Delhi.
The details of the comprehensive course, where the best professionals from the publishing industry teach, are available at this link, from where two PDFs can be downloaded: one providing the course details; another being the application form.
Last date for sending applications: 10 June 2010.
Course dates and timing: 5 July to 31 July 2010.
9.30 a.m to 5 p.m, Monday to Saturday.
Venue: Conference Room, NBT
5, Institutional Area, Vasant Kunj, Phase II
New Delhi – 110070
http://www.nbtindia.org.in
Candidates must apply directly to NBT as instructed on the NBT website (and in the attached PDF on course information). There is no entrance test; any graduate may apply. There is no age limit.
Navayana shall play no role in the selection of the candidates. Candidates who happen to be Dalit/ Adivasi and are selected by NBT may then apply to Navayana for financial support (avarna@navayana.org andanand@navayana.org). Navayana shall pay the course fee (Rs 5,000) for up to five Dalit/ Adivasi candidates. NBT this year is also arranging accommodation for outstation candidates at Rs 3,000 for four weeks. Navayana shall also subsidize this amount. The total value of the Avarna Fellowship will be Rs 8,000.
NBT also has an internship program for promising students from which the selected Avarna fellows could benefit.
Publishing as a Career
Publishing in India is rarely seen as a career option by young people. The publishing industry in India, with an annual output of 85,000 titles in more than 30 languages, has an estimated value of USD 1.2 billion. After the UK and the US, India is the publisher of the largest number of titles in English language (40,000). There’s an array of multinationals and independent, niche publishers who offer exciting, intellectually stimulating and financially rewarding careers in the world of books. Unfortunately in India there are few professional publishing courses that offer an insight into the world of publishing. The NBT short-term course is one of the few. Alumni from the NBT course have achieved great success in the publishing industry. For instance, the current editorial head of HarperCollins India is a product of this course.
Like other private sectors in India, publishing too has been the preserve of the social elite. Dalits and Adivasis hence go almost unrepresented in this field. For many Dalits/ Adivasis, publishing does not even seem to be a career option. Navayana, with the Avarna fellowship, seeks to address this anomaly.
Navayana therefore encourages Dalit and Adivasi graduates to proactively apply for he NBT course, and on selection, subsequently for the Navayana-Avarna fellowship. For any further queries, write toavarna@navayana.org.
Here are a few articles and useful links available on the internet with respect to the publishing scene in India:
http://www.thehindu.com/lr/2009/01/04/stories/2009010450040100.htm
http://www.frankfurt-book-fair.com/en/company/press_pr/newsletter/2009/01141/index.html
http://aptstudio.com/timesemit/2009/03/18/overview-of-the-indian-publishing-industry/
http://www.publishers.org.uk/download.cfm?docid=DDBA0A81-8996-41E2-870AF146B713C373 (a 134-page PDF booklet by Rob Francis for UK’s Publishers Association that offers a comprehensive “Publishing Market Profile for India, 2008″)
