Stopwatch Poetry
Publishers usually run a mile when they see a poet approaching with a manuscript. But when it’s a minister, and the meeting place is Khushwant Singh’s drawing room, it’s another matter. Two rival publishers—Penguin and Roli—were lined up in Delhi’s most famous literary hub two months ago to sign on Kapil Sibal’s book of poems, I Witness. Sibal’s’s only condition: he’d sign up with whichever publisher can bring out the book in two months flat. Penguin, which has a waiting period of six months, had to retreat, leaving Roli with the MS. So why was Sibal in such a hurry to publish his cellphone rhymes by early August? Ostensibly, it’s because it coincides with his birthday, but it also had something to do with political timing: he didn’t want the book out in the middle of the next elections.
Sagely Benediction
Aspiring non-fiction writers can now resort to another fellowship that offers them Rs 50,000 a month for a year, plus Rs 50,000 travel expenses, like New India Foundation. This one is being funded by Sage publishers in memory of the late Tejeshwar Singh. For now, the fellowship is restricted to those working in media studies and business and management. Open to all Saarc nationals, the first fellowships come into effect on April 1, 2009.
Literary Lapses
Most publishers are resigned to gatecrashers at book events. But when several strange males crashed into a recent women publishers’ event, the grande dame of Delhi’s literary circle, Namita Gokhale, had to don the role of bouncer. But the outsiders insisted on getting their free drinks before being thrown out.
