Email
Print
SharePublishing head-honcho David Davidar on his new novel and the Kaavya Vishwanathan controversy
Not only was he instrumental in boosting the careers of Vikram Seth and Arundhati Roy, among others, but as CEO of Penguin India David Davidar was considered one of the most revered names in publishing.
Having relocated to Toronto in early 2004 as publisher, Penguin Canada, Davidar says of the differences between the two markets, "Canada is a mature market that is growing slowly, whereas India is an emerging market that is the fastest growing English language market in the world today. It is estimated that the Indian market could be bigger than Canada and Australia in the next 10-15 years."
In fact Davidar pundits that the current success of Indian literature internationally is more than just a passing fancy. "Indian literature has been doing well for the last 25 years beginning with Salman Rushdie's 'Midnight's Children'," he says.
"Since then, we've had world class writers like Arundhati Roy, Kiran Desai, Vikram Seth, Vikram Chandra, Amitav Ghosh, Suketu Mehta, Manil Suri, Jhumpa Lahiri and several others appearing regularly on the scene, so I don't think this trend is going to die down anytime soon."
Not surprisingly, his next novel 'The Solitude of Emperors' will be launched first in India, in August 2007. "It looks at the issue of religious fundamentalism and tries to understand how some of our greatest leaders - Ashoka, Akbar, Gandhi - tackled it, and how it is essential that we turn our backs on it before India's unique brand of tolerance is damaged beyond repair."
When asked about the infamous Kaavya Vishwanathan episode, Davidar admits, "It's very difficult to prevent this type of incident from recurring unless of course the culpable writer is plagiarising from well-known writers and is therefore easily caught out. I say this because it is impossible for publishers or agents or reviewers - the so-called gatekeepers of the literary scene - to have read every single book ever published. I think though writers by and large tend to be very responsible and honourable, so this sort of thing will always be restricted to a small percentage of writers whose ambition outweighs their talent."
