Nilanjana S Roy: The indie boom

Over the last few years, the subtlest shifts in the way we read have been brought about by a thriving company of independent publishers, ranging from veterans like Seagull and Katha to relative newcomers like Queer Ink. Here’s a look at a handful of indie favourites, and why you should read them.

Seagull Books, run by Naveen Kishore and Anjum Katyal, is known for its exquisitely produced books, often with the trademark black-and-white covers. Seagull has grown over the years; it now has an arts foundation and a London arm. The house did seminal translations of authors such as Mahasweta Devi, but has increasingly been publishing foreign authors, academics and thinkers in India. In many ways, Seagull acts as a filter, bringing to us what Kishore and his team see as the thinking person’s essential library, from Tariq Ali to a brilliant collection of works on theatre and cinema.

Read: The Offence series and The Censorship series — collected essays on the rise of intolerance worldwide.

If there’s a contemporary heir to Seagull, it may be S Anand’s Navayana, set up to challenge the invisibility of many kinds of Indian writing, from works by Dalit authors to poetry. The “only publishing house that focuses on caste from an anti-caste perspective”, Navayana’s titles include works by D N Jha, the fiery Marathi poet Namdeo Dhasal, path-breaking autobiographies and works that might best be called testimonies; the catalogue is politically engaged, challenging and often unsettling. “We must engage with what Dalits are writing — not simply for reasons of authenticity, or as a concession to identity politics, but simply because of the aesthetic value of this body of writing, and for the insights it offers into the human condition,” Anand wrote in a brilliant essay for The Caravan, where he took apart the non-Dalit view of Dalits in Indian writing.

Read: Bhimayana — the life of Ambedkar retold through the drawings of Pardhan Gond artists Durgabai Vyam and Subhash Vyam.

Blaft’s name captures much of the attitude behind this young, dynamic publishing house —irreverent, playful and imaginative. Kaveri and Rakesh made their mark with The Blaft Anthology of Tamil Pulp Fiction, and by publishing unusual work by authors such as Kuzhali Manickavel, who runs an excellent blog with this irresistible url: thirdworldghettovampire.blogspot.com.

The playfulness masks a determination to change the way translations are read; this is a natural progression, perhaps, from the work of houses like Katha, which pioneered more conventional translations for many years. Blaft’s approach is to look for pulp and offbeat fiction — and their packaging, as with a collection of Tamil folk tales where the raunchier ones were discreetly separated from the rest of the book by a red ribbon, is beautiful.

Read: The Ibn-e-Safi series — swaggering spy stories from Pakistan with suitably subcontinental intrigue.

The Yoda Press has an eclectic indie list, with titles ranging from the stories of hijras edited by A Revathi to explorations of Indian nationalism, screenplays and essays that mine the “alternative” India. But it’s the Yoda Press bookstore, Yodakin in Delhi’s Hauz Khas village, that has gone a step further, becoming a relaxed space for offbeat book readings and discussions. Like 4S, the seedy bar in Defence Colony market, or Olypub in Calcutta, or the brief reign of The Little Magazine’s bookstore in Mayur Vihar some years ago, Yodakin has become an unofficial adda for this generation of writers, artists and activists.

When Kali for Women changed avatars after 20 successful years as a pioneering feminist press, many were unsure of the directions Zubaan and Women Unlimited would take. Almost a decade later, Women Unlimited has continued Kali’s legacy, building a library of women’s voices and working to create space for feminist activism. Zubaan retains its indie edge and passionate engagement, but has also increasingly experimented with more mainstream work, including children’s publishing with Young Zubaan.

Read: Women Changing India — interviews and photo-essays with women who work on the frontlines, from Zubaan.

Queer Ink is the kind of initiative that was needed in India a decade ago, but that would probably not have survived at that time. Set up by two women in Bombay, Queer Ink creates a thriving space for discussion, provocation and reading by combining a bookstore with the QI community. The store retails and publishes authors who look at gender identity from an open and inclusive perspective; the community supports writers, film-makers and activists.

Read: From their website, Queer Lingo — a kind of brief history of alternative sexuality from Aquwas to Stonewall to Polyamory.

Even those who don’t know Tara Books have probably bought some of their distinctive and beautifully designed notebooks, or browsed at the stall this small press sets up every year at the Jaipur literature festival. Tara’s innovativeness is everywhere: their “graphic novel” on Martin Luther King is done in the form of a traditional project by a patua (a painter of scrolls), Samhita Arni’s children’s Mahabharata was illustrated by the author when she was just 12.

Read: The Night Life of Trees — three Gond artists illuminate a secret and stunningly beautiful world, with their stories accompanying each painting.

nilanjanasroy@gmail.com