Fostering connections and growth: Jaipur BookMark

Jaipur BookMark (JBM) brings together stakeholders of the book trade from across the world – from publishers to literary agents, writers, translators, translation agencies and booksellers. It gives them an opportunity not just to “talk” business (through panel discussions and roundtables), but also provides the right and fruitful atmosphere to inspire one-on-one meetings and networking. This fosters great business relationships and allows for the occasional contract to be signed, too.

JBM 2025 will be held against the backdrop of the magnificent Jaipur Literature Festival – from Jan 30 – Feb 3, 2025 – and pivots around the business of books with those who drive it. Here, Manisha Chaudhry, Co-Director, Jaipur BookMark shares more about the event.

Round tables…

“This time, we have fewer panels but we have a Roundtable almost every day. So we have an international publishers Roundtable, we have an editors’ Roundtable, we have an Indian language publishers Roundtable and we also have a retailers Roundtable. These Round tables are somewhat longer than a panel discussion. There would be at least six to eight participants in each Roundtable,” shares Manisha.

Focus on Tamil publishing…

“We are opening a window to Tamil publishing through a variety of sessions. Kannan Sundaram’s publishing house Kalachuvadu is turning 30 this year. So, we are going to have a special session tracing the journey of Kalachuvadu, which has been a significant publishing house and then we are also inviting some of the younger publishers and calling that session Fresh Breezes in the Tamil publishing scene,” she shares. “Besides, Tamil is such an ancient language which has existed from palm leaf manuscripts onwards until today where it is equally at home with ebooks and other newer forms of publishing and so on.”

The keynote speaker is A.R. Venkatachalapaty, who is a very well-known publisher, author, academic who has a special interest in the history of the book and history of Tamil publishing. “He’s written some interesting books on these topics already. This year he’s written another very interesting book that Penguin has published called Swadeshi Steam, which is talking about a steamship company of pre-independence times which had apparently had great success as a business,” she adds enthusiastically.

On Translations…

“At JBM,we will always have something on translation. There is a session on translations called Perspectives on Practice where we will have translators from India as well as abroad just talking about the whole business. It’s going to be moderated by Mitra Phukan who’s also a translator from Assam. It will be a bird’s eye view of the practice of translation and how it translates in different publishing scenarios,” shares Manisha.

“Besides, British Council is also doing India-UK publishing fellowship where we have put out an open call for indie publishers from India and the UK,” she adds.

On children’s publishing…

“We also have an interesting session on children’s publishing where we are going to look at the whole business of inclusivity. It will answer questions like How do we understand inclusivity? Because we all say that we want to be inclusive, we want to publish about different kinds of people but how does the school system look at inclusivity? How does publishing look at inclusivity? Do the two talk to each other? So we will have school representatives as well as children’s publishers as well as people like Mridula Koshy who runs this community library so she understands inclusivity in a different way,” shares Manisha.

On Hindi language…

“We are going to be focusing also on Hindi in some sessions where one is called Hindi Ke Badalte Swaroop to look trajectory of Hindi as a language as well as a literature and how it has been changing overthe times. So we will have some academics, writers, poet, etc. We also have a session on literary magazines, where we will have Hindi as well as some maybe English magazines which are international and which are always like a nursery for authors. It is in the magazines that so many authors first publish and then go on to you know write bigger books and so on,” she shares.

“We also have a really interesting session called New Media and New Narratives with Anand Gandhi. He has this amazing game called Shasan, which is apparently a very successful board game being played in 75 countries with 250,000 people playing it. The game is about politics. So this is a new kind of storytelling where the people who play are participating in a new kind of storification of life. So, this session will explore this dimension that this is a new kind of narrative,” she adds.

Other sessions…

Manisha shares that there would also be a session on impact of AI on translations and audiobooks. “So we are going to have some thinkers who will talk about the broader aspects of how AI is impacting our lives. And we will have people who are in the publishing scene are using AI one way or another,” she adds.

“Then we will have something for editors. We are having a session where an author- editor duo who have produced a great book, explore the nuances of that relationship, shares Manisha. There is also an Editors’ Roundtable moderated by Arunava Sinha.

“Besides, we have one session on Thrillers and one on Passion projects. We have chosen to not call it self-publishing because they are about people such as a photographer who’s been photographing some area for the longest time or is very steeped in that culture and they want to make that book by themselves, not necessarily give it to a publishing house,” she adds.

“In all, there would be around 24 sessions,” she shares..

Impact of JBM…

On asking about what are the main aims of JBM, Manisha replies, “Making networking easier between different kinds of people, between publishers of English, publishers of other languages, publishers from international houses and so on. We are also looking at underscoring the important buzzwords in publishing such as AI, new narratives, publishing in different languages and other aspects of publishing. My primary objective is to create a space where people mingle and have conversations,which hopefully will result in bigger things happening later. We are trying to focus on those professional aspects where there is a meaningful exchange of ideas.”

“JBM has now become an integral part of Jaipur Literature Festival because at the end of the day, as makers of books, you are producers of culture and the book is an instrument of culture,” concludes Manisha.