Oh, Dear!
CUP is not the only Western publisher eyeing the thousands of small publishers in English scattered across India. There are several reasons why the West is looking for mergers in India, the world's second largest market for English books, says Bourne. One is affordability—a similar buyover in UK would cost four times what CUP paid. The other is their experience and penetration into the lucrative market for textbooks. But does this mean book prices will soar? Very likely, say insiders, because while the number of English books we produce is only next to the US, in value terms we're way behind even Japan and Korea.
Remembering Dom
"I was not intended to rest, but I did," goes a line in Dom Moraes' poem. He'd have been 67 this month, and his literary partner Sarayu Ahuja is organising a b'day bash that will have poetry readings by Denzil Smith and Jeet Thayil at Mumbai's Taxi.
