Calling Grub Street
Authors need no longer chase after elusive agents abroad, or bribe and coax those who've landed an agent into sharing his e-mail id. The enterprising Neville Tulli of Osian is setting up India's first professional agency for authors this month. Renuka Chatterjee, formerly chief editor with Roli, will run it for him. After Tulli's success in the art auction business, he will certainly not lack for authors who want to go under his hammer.
Flourishing Breed
Books may be shrinking in size, but not the number of panelists at a book launch. Watching nervously as five panelists and a moderator climbed on to the podium for the launch of Bimal Jalan's India's Politics, a wit remarked: "It's the Maggi formula: each one gets two minutes to speak."
