Mine The Silver
So, now that his one-year ban against poaching has expired, is David Davidar’s Aleph Book Company signing up all Penguin authors? This week, diplomat-writer Pavan Varma’s agent announced his debut novel has been sold to the Aleph-Rupa combine for “a very handsome advance” after “hectic bidding” by four publishers. But considering how tamely Penguin withdrew from the auction of Varma’s unappetisingly titled When Loss is Gain, it’s unlikely their heart was in it. The other Penguin mid-lister bought over by Aleph is Devdutt Pattanaik. Like Varma’s, his book, Business Sutra, was also making the rounds three months ago. My guess is that authors will no longer feel obliged to stick to one publisher, going wherever they’re offered the mostest.
Grand Tiers
The line between literary prize ceremonies and litfests is getting thinner. Litprizes came up with the idea of two or three venues for prize ceremonies to get maximum mileage. Like the $50,000 DSC prize—longlist in Delhi, shortlist in London and the grand prize announcement at the Jaipur litfest, each phase lending itself to day-long wine, food and talk sessions. Now the Kovalam litfest is to become a two-legged beast—the first leg in Delhi’s IIC (Sep 29), and the second in Trivandrum (Oct 1-2).
Mystic Poseur
After his Neemrana dramatics a decade ago, no one seems to have dared to invite V.S. Naipaul to a litfest. But he’s been asked to the Jaipur litfest, and has accepted. One can see it—Naipaul in conversation with friend-turned-foe—Patrick French? or Paul Theroux? or Salman Rushdie? Or....
