Books capturing a slice of Mumbai will be the special focus of the prestigious Frankfurt Book Fair to be held early next month.
LONDON: Books capturing a slice of Mumbai will be the special focus of the prestigious Frankfurt Book Fair to be held early next month.
Altaf Tyrewala’s debut novel No God in Sight, Vikram Chandra’s Sacred Games, Suketu Mehta’s Maximum City, Shobhaa De’s Starry Nights, Shashi Tharoor’s Bollywood, and Thrity Umrigar’s The Space Between Us are just some of the books on Mumbai that will have pride of place at the four-day fair.
India is the guest of honour at this year’s fair and organisers are hoping to present not just famous authors but those from “yet undiscovered areas of Indian literature”. So, apart from showcasing books by Indian authors who write in English and are now quite popular, the fair will focus on literature in Indian languages.
To coincide with the event, the National Book Trust of India has launched the largest programme in its 50 years of existence to have Indian literature translated into German and other European languages. Of the 38 authors invited to Frankfurt by the NBT, only 12 write in English.
Marathi and English poet Dilip Chitre, whose third book, The Banyan Tree, will be published this year, will be present at the fair to read from his book, as will Marathi writer Namdeo Dhasal, who has devoted his writings to the struggle of Dalits.
“To date, Namdeo Dhasal and a number of other authors who are coming to the fair are unknown outside India or have only been published in anthologies abroad,” said a spokesperson for the fair. “The West therefore has the opportunity to discover them.”
The list of authors who will be present reads like a who’s who of Indian literature. It includes Mahasweta Devi, Amitav Ghosh, Pankaj Mishra, Tharoor, Javed Akhtar, Nida Fazli, Ajeet Caur, Mushirul Hassan, Amit Chaudhari, Vikram Seth, Girish Karnad, Alka Sarogi, Sudhir Kakar, Alokeranjan Dasgupta, Ashok Vajpayi, Om Prakash Valmiki, Sitanshu Yashaschandra, and Shafi Shauq.
Union HRD Minister Arjun Singh will inaugurate the fair on October 4.
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