Bibliofile

Season of Bribes

Hell hath no fury like an author denied his day in the sun. Only 33 to go to Frankfurt out of a nation that seems to be spawning an author a minute! The NBT, stuck with the job of organising the India show at Frankfurt, took the easy way out: it sent 14 semi-finalists to the Leipzig Fair in March. Another lot will go in September. As further consolation prizes, it also sent a list of 150 books—an awesome balancing act of regional quotas—to German publishers to print before the fair. There was a bribe too: a subsidy of Rs 2 a word for every book they published. But the "finicky" Germans didn't bite.

By Golly, It's Bollywood
Publishers attending the Frankfurt fair this year, be warned. If you walk into the trade fair and find film shows instead of books, don't think you're at the wrong venue. The NBT planning to show enough films to make up a respectable filmfest: Satyajit Ray, Raj Kapoor, Parineeta...