Bibliofile

Lit By Flames

It was a great idea whose time had obviously not yet come. When the Jaipur litfest wallahs decided a couple of months ago to open one more branch of their festival in Srinagar, it was hailed across the world as a game-changer. But the cultural diplomacy the litfest organisers were hoping to crank up exploded in their faces—with authors pulling out and over 200 signing an online protest against the litfest. The organisers have finally called it off—but not before exchanging some name-calling with the protesters, calling them anti-free speech, anti-art and a “vocal minority”. Hardly a diplomatic exit line!

A Shortlist Trio

September will be a month of prize announcements. First, the Crossword awards, where the half-dozen winners out of an unwieldy shortlist will be announced at a grand ceremony in Mumbai on September 2. In an attempt to jazz it up, actress Lillete Dubey will be the compere and the evening boasts of a tabla performance. Close on its heels comes the longlist announcement for the DSC Literature Prize on September 14, followed by that for the fledgling Hindu Literary Prize on September 25. All three, interestingly, hold their shortlist announcements in Delhi. Makes sense—Delhi is the centre of the publishing world, and where better to make a buzz.

Writing Instruments

So, what with three new publishing houses opening shop here, has the tug-of-war started in earnest for scarce Indian writers? Novelist Kunal Basu, who migrated from Penguin to HarperCollins, has just been bought over by Pan Macmillan. His next novel, The Yellow Emperor’s Cure, will be published by them in December.