Bibliofile

The formula for publishing success: tickle the vanity of a columnist by putting his columns into a book, or else, get together a quickie on the hottest current topic, host a panel discussion, squeezing in as many celebrities on the panel as possible, invite a minister, or a CM, and watch the rush. But the rush at India Research Press’ launch of Beyond Turk and Hindu—Rethinking Religious Identities in Islamicate South Asia seemed to be heading the wrong way. Overwhelmed by the wordy debate, invitees made straight for the bar. But publisher Anuj Bahri isn’t giving up. He has just signed up Richard Hadlee. The Kiwi cricketer has agreed to write a cricket book with a difference: teaching the salient elements of the game to aspiring sportsmen.

Perhaps it’s time to jazz up our book launches. In the 1950s, Jack Kerouac read extracts from his books accompanied by jazz musicians. Since then, pop musicians have recruited over a dozen writers, from Salman Rushdie (U2), Hunter S. Thomson (Paul Oakenfold), to Will Self (Bomb the Bass). The latest is novelist Iain Banks who has lent his macabre fantasy, Canal Dreams, for a new album by Chris Coco. Banks even reads a startling excerpt from the revenge novel, set to reggae music. To think, out there, it’s the pop musicians who need the writers.