Peek into the Indian publishing industry
with pics
THE GOAN NETWORK
The sixth edition of the Publishing Next conference will kick-off on September 11 at the Krishnadas Shama Goa Central Library, Panaji. The two-day conference will see publishers, authors, editors, etc from all over India and abroad converging to exchange ideas and discuss issues confronting the publishing industry.
Among the noted personalities set to attend are Nirmal Kanti Bhattacharjee, former director, National Book Trust and editorial director Niyogi Books, Mamang Dai, poet and novelist from Itanagar, Ramu Ramanathan, editor, PrintWeek India and Andrej Blatnik, author and translator, Slovenia.
“There are only two such conferences that are held in the country, and it is a matter of pride that one of these happens to be in Goa,” says Leonard Fernandes who together with Queenie Rodrigues runs Cinnamon Teal Publishing, and are the brains behind this concept.
“When we first started it we had 83 attendees for the event. This year we are expecting around 170,” he added.
Fernandes also pointed out that the conference is beneficial in a lot of ways.
“The publishing industry in India is not well-documented. And this conference helps generate a lot of content. We make videos of the event and post them online so that people who are interested can get a good insight into the functioning of the industry,” he says. The event has also seen a lot of new additions over the years.
“Last year, we started the Publishing Next Industry Awards. These have generated a lot of interest, with 210 applicants this year. We hope to increase and break up the award categories,” explains Fernandes.
The event will also for the first time feature a philatelic exhibition on writers and poets. Quite a few writers and poets have had a stamp released in their honour in India, and Fernandes has collected about 110 of such stamps, and these along with a short profile of each writer, will be on display at the venue.
The conference this year will include panel discussions and workshops on the state of library infrastructure in India, academic book publishing, role of publishers in India languages, self publishing, using social media to market books, podcasting, copyright, contracts and licensing, etc.
