Bibliofile

Rotund Figures
There was much heartburn and protest when Bibliofile carried an item on Sarita Mandanna’s debut novel being sold to Penguin India for a "record seven figure" advance. Her agent David Godwin wrote in to clarify that "sadly, the deal was in rupees, not dollars or pounds". That could be anywhere from an unlikely Rs 10 lakh to Rs 99 lakh. Go figure.

Mystic Miracle
When socialite Sadia Dehlvi invited old friend Khushwant Singh to launch her book, Sufism—The Heart of Islam, she knew what to expect. Years ago, he dedicated a book to her "for giving him notoriety he didn’t deserve". This was no different: he spoke of the "miracle" he didn’t expect—of Sadia the social butterfly transforming into a Islamic scholar.