Bibliofile

Pricey Romance

Big-ticket book launches are few and far between nowadays. The emphasis is on classy venues, like the newly done up Bikaner House in Delhi. A few years ago it was different. Remembers a publishing stalwart of a lavish book launch of a popular ‘young romance’ author in Mumbai at a premium hotel for over a 1,000 guests, including a few paid-up Bollywood appearances, where single malt flowed and blue cheese moved, expensive return gifts were distributed and everybody went home happy. It’s not clear how it helped the book’s sale but the bill for the night? Rs 18 lakh!

Seriously Fun

The Penguin Spring Fever is on this week in Delhi’s India Habitat Centre. Historian and author Sunil Khilnani will talk about his ambitious new book, Incarnations, about 50 lives, from the Buddha to Dhirubhai Ambani, who shaped India. Ramchandra Guha too will be revealing what his new work, Demo­crats and Dissenters, is all about. It’s not all heavy history; there is a lot of Bollywood too—Gulzar will be talking about Kitaabein, and Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Shilpa Shetty, Twinkle Kha­nna, Emr­aan Hashmi and Son­­ali Bendre to light up the readings.

Early Trams

Indonesian writer Eka Kurni­awan for Man Tiger and Congolese author Fiston Mujila for Tram 83, both hot property and brought to India by Speaking Tiger, have been longlisted for the Man International Booker Prize. Last year, English translations from other languages were also included for the prize too, but there are no Indian writers in the running this time.