A busy year for Indian literature in '09

2009 was another happening year for Indian literature with recognitions, controversies and new faces grabbing their own slice of attention.

But one big story of the year was undoubtedly Jaswant Singh's book. The BJP veteran and former Union minister's "Jinnah - India, Partition, Independence", recalling the events leading to Partition, resulted in his expulsion from the party.

Jaswant wrote that Mohammed Ali Jinnah did not win Pakistan as Congress leaders Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel "conceded" Pakistan to the Quaid-e-Azam. He also chronicled the "epic journey of Jinnah from being the ambassador of Hindu-Muslim unity, the liberal constitutionalist and Indian nationalist to the Quaid-e-Azam of Pakistan".

The book, published by Rupa, went to sell like hot cakes.

Indian writings, particularly in English were the cynosure of many an eye last year. The hoopla was so much so that there was word that Mahasweta Devi or Salman Rushdie might win the Nobel. The award finally went to Romanian-born Herta Mueller of Germany.

India was the guest of honour at the 22nd Moscow International Book Fair in September. The Indian delegation comprised over 60 cultural figures - publishers, writers, poets, translators, playwrights and critics.

The London Book Fair 2009 also focussed on the Indian book and publishing market with over 90 exhibitors represented.

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband, who was guest of honour at the fair, said "It's a remarkable success story for its (India's) democracy, a remarkable success story for it's economy, it's a remarkable success story for it's traditions of tolerance and mutual respect across divides or at least across differences, it's a remarkable success story in many ways for it's internationalism, the third largest sender of peace keeping forces around the world are Indians, it is a remarkable success story for its traditions of thought, political, philosophical, but also religious thought as well."

To mark its third anniversary, Korea's bilingual magazine Asia launched an intensive cover story on Indian literature in its summer issue to facilitate discourse between readers of different nationalities and ethnicities.

IT Czar's "Imagining India: The Idea of a Renewed Nation" made it to the long list of Financial Times and Goldman Sachs best business books of 2009.

Indian-origin US-based investment manager Liaquat Ahamed won the 30,000 pounds prize for his book "Lords of Finance: 1929, The great Depression, and the Bankers Who Broke the World".

Nilekani and four other runners-up received a cheque for 5,000 pounds. The award, established in 2005, aims at finding the book that provides 'the most compelling and enjoyable insight into modern business issues'.

Samsung India and Sahitya Akademi signed a pact to institute 'Tagore Literature Awards' in recognition of best literary contributions by writers in eight Indian languages.

Eight books of poetry, six of short stories, four of novels, four of criticism, one of essays and one of play won the Sahitya Akademi Award in 2009. Badrinath Chaturvedi won the award in English for his criticism "The Mahabharata: An Inquiry in the Human Condition".

The popular Jaipur Literature Festival 2009 brought together over 140 writers and artists from across continents, cultures, forms and genres. The festival also hosted writers from Pakistan, Nadeem Aslam, Mohammed Hanif and Daniyal Mueenuddin. During the festival the multiple Oscar winning film "Slumdog Millionaire" was screened.

Over 12,000 people also attended the many sessions and workshops during the course of the festival. These included high commissioners and ambassadors and cultural heads of international missions, publishers, students, university professors and guests of sponsors and supporters of the festival.

Noted Malayalam and English writer Kamala Suraiya, who gained prominence in literary circles after publication of her autobiography novel "My Story" in 1976, passed away during the year due to pneumonia. She was 75.

Suraiya was best known for her poetry and also authored some short fiction and a novel.

Leading publishers HarperCollins, Penguin, Rupa, Roli, Sage, MacMillan among others had several successes.

"The year 2009 started with our highly successful campaign called Chills and Thrills with HarperCollins India where we brought together titles from 16 crime and thriller writers for the readers. The campaign brought in an average growth of 160 per cent on the sale of the titles included in the campaign," Lipika Bhushan, marketing manager of HarperCollins-India, told PTI.

Where there was a hard hitting book like "The Story of My Assassins" by Tarun Tejpal, there also was a commercial mass market fiction "Dead on Time" by Meghnad Desai and a heart-warming tale of an old Bulgarian in "Solo" by Rana Dasgupta.

"Secrets and Lies" (HarperCollins) by Jaishree Misra drew a lot of attention with its secrets and lies contest, online and mobile marketing campaign (believed to be the first in the country's publishing history) and sales of about 9,000 copies in the first four months of its release.

Nalin Mehta's "India on Television" was chosen best book on Indian media at Asian Multimedia Publishing Awards.

The year also saw some big names release their titles -- Amartya Sen's "The Idea of Justice", Lord Megnad Desai's "The Rediscovery of India" and William Dalrymple's "Nine Lives". Celebrated British writer Jeffrey Archer visited the country to promote his "Paths of Glory".