Ruskin Bond seems to be the reigning favourite with most Indian publishing houses—after producing a clutch of books—poetry, nature, memoir, children’s books, anthologies—for both Penguin and Rupa, Roli has roped him as well into their celebrity biography series. It will soon be out with a book by Ruskin on his father.
The best status symbol for an author these days is to count the number of requests he gets to give blurbs for books by unknown authors. William Dalrymple can’t resist the urge to brag about the fact that the blurb he provided for Suketu Mehta’s Maximum City appeared in the UK on the front of the book, dislodging Amitav Ghosh and Salman Rushdie to the back of the book.
