This book, with a Foreword by John Berger and a jacket endorsement by Joe Sacco, has already made news. See this report in Washington Post and this one in Open.

Says Joe Sacco, author of Palestine, ‘The artists Durgabai Vyam and Subhas 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. 8″ x 11″ (just about A4), half of the 108 pages 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. 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 …

Based on experiences in the life of Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, Navayana will soon launch a graphic book that will feature the work of Pardhan Gond artists Durgabai Vyam and Subhash Vyam. The artwork and the non-sequential non-realist mode of representation promises to be a landmark in the history of modern graphic books. Watch this space for bi-weekly updates that will offer a peep into what’s to hit bookstores by mid-August.

“While paintings of the contemporary Gond art movement are now internationally celebrated, its three-dimensional expressions remain surprisingly neglected. Thus this solo exhibit — the first to focus on a Gond sculptor — is long overdue. Sukhnandi’s engaging, bold and earthy sculptures will astonish and captivate many Indian art devotees.”
– John H. Bowles, art critic and author of Painted Songs & Stories: The Hybrid Flowerings of Contemporary Pardhan Gond Art
Navayana, in association with W+K Exp, presents “Dog Father, Fox Mother, Their Daughter & Other Stories” by Sukhnandi Vyam, the first ever exhibition of sculptures …

At this year’s Jaipur Literature Festival, as India commemorates 60 years of being a Republic on 26 January 2010, the focus is on Dalit writing. There shall be four sessions devoted to issues related to caste and Dalit writing. Despite the Constitution being piloted by Dr Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, a Dalit and one of the architects of modern India, Dalits seem to hardly figure in sectors where there is no affirmative action. Consequently, beyond representation in jobs in the government sector (which too is begrudged to them) and in politics, …

In his Sarai lecture, on 4 Jan 2010, Slavoj Žižek called Gandhi a ’soft fascist’ and said he was more in line with Ambedkar’s radical approach to the question of caste. In this interview to the Sunday Times of India (10 Jan 2010), he elaborates on these questions. Excerpts with links to full text.
Q: You have also been accused of glorifying political violence. Do you support violence as a means of political change?
A: Here I must be frank. For me, the 20th century communism is the biggest ethical-political catastrophe in …

5 Jan 2010. 7 p.m.
Slavoj Žižek on “Tragedy and Farce”
Interlocutor: Nivedita Menon
Stein Auditorium, India Habitat Centre, New Delhi
This evening see how Slavoj Žižek, in a talk ostensibly on 11 Sept 2001 and the crisis in capitalism (the Tragedy and the Farce), manages to speak on Ambedkar, caste, Gandhi, shit, manual scavenging and the Laws of Manu…
Prof Nivedita Menon will critically engage with  Žižek’s book, First as Tragedy, Then as Farce, and his talk.
Come early to ensure seats.

The rest of the schedule of his India tour is as follows:
7 Jan 2010. …

In this interview to TimeOut ahead of his India tour, Slavoj Žižek says:
What sorts of intellectual movements in India are you curious about?
I am now jumping between two books, a collection of speeches by Dr Ambedkar, and one of the founding texts of ideology of all times, the laws of Manu. Ideology is precisely these daily rituals: how do you enter a house? Who will clean your toilet? Whom you are allowed to touch? I am also reading a book called Red Sun, about these Maoists - the Naxalites. I’m …

Navayana presents preeminent Marxist philosopher Slavoj Žižek in its 1st Annual Lecture series. The lectures, beginning 4 Jan 2010, are preceded by screenings of films on/with Žižek. After the screening of two films on 24 Dec 2009 at Sarai, the show now moves to Stein Auditorium, India Habitat Centre, where Astra Taylor’s Žižek! will be screened on 2 Jan 2010. All the events are open to the public.
“Cinema is the ultimate pervert art. It doesn’t give you what you desire — it tells you how to desire.” — Slavoj Žižek
“Žižek!” …

In the first annual Navayana lecture series, Navayana, which turns six on 5 November, is delighted to present Slavoj Žižek – maverick marxist from Slovenia, “the Elvis of cultural theory”. He shall be in India from 2 Jan to 9 Jan 2010, participating in two public events in Delhi and one each in Hyderabad and Kochi. His tour shall coincide with the Navayana edition of his latest book, First and Tragedy, Then as Farce. There will also be pre-event shows – film screenings, launches, discussions. A …