मुझे आज भी याद है, कक्षा पाँच की हिंदी की वो क्लास जिसमे उमाशंकर माटसाब ने कहा की चलो आज निबंध करेंगे, अपनी कॉपी पर गाय के बारे में जो जानते हो लिखो।मैंने, पहली पंक्ति लिखी,“गाय एक चौपाया जानवर है।”"उसके दो सींग, दो कान, एक मुँह (थूथून) , एक बड़ा...

Walk into any second-hand bookstore in India, and you’ll find them, names you might have heard once in passing, or not at all; writers who built our literary foundations but now linger in the quiet corners of dusty shelves.Once celebrated, now forgotten : they are not merely absent from reading...

In Indian literature, words do more than tell stories sometimes, they decide which stories survive. One such word is “dialect.”At first glance, it appears harmless, a neutral linguistic category. But, beneath it lies a subtle hierarchy, a centuries-old politics of recognition and invisibility.Why is Bhojpuri, with nearly 50 million speakers,...

Vaikom Muhammad BasheerBasheer’s characters were drawn from society’s margins, gamblers, pickpockets, and prostitutes, but were depicted with innocence and humanity.He wrote in a colloquial, grammar-free style that brought him closer to the people and away from literary elitism.His barefoot wanderings, prison days, and personal struggles shaped both his worldview and...

Novels That Were Not Written for the Masses...Many exceptional Indian language books are critically acclaimed but rarely read.These works are not written for mass appeal, and often miss a wide readership despite literary depth.Themes may be too philosophical, experimental, political, or esoteric for mainstream audiences.Language complexity, lack of translations, and...

Why Publishers Lose Good Writers (and Sometimes Their Sleep Too!)Here are the primary reasons:Royalties & Transparency – Writers often feel royalties are late, low, or lost in translation (literally and financially). They don't know the reason behind it as well.Data Deficiency – Many publishers still run like it’s the 1980s,...

Why Do Writers Switch Publishers?Royalty & Transparency: Money matters, but so does knowing how much money is actually made.Editorial Dynamics: Editors can be saviours or silent saboteurs of a manuscript.Book Design & Quality: A cover that looks like a toothpaste ad? A definite push factor.Marketing Muscle: Who should put in...

Ever Wondered?:Indian readers still heavily gravitate toward older, classic Indian novelists. Why?Is it a matter of content quality, nostalgia, or just a lack of discovery of new authors?Are contemporary authors doing something wrong, or are they just getting started?How marketing, algorithms, and human brain patterns shape reading choicesIs the problem...

जब भी मैं अपने पुस्तकालय में जाता हूँ, एक शेल्फ पर सलीके से रखी किताबों की कतार में मानसरोवर की मोटी जिल्द मुझे घूरती-सी लगती है। पीली पड़ चुके कागज़ की खुशबू में एक अजीब-सा अपनापन है। उस जिल्द को छूते ही मुझे हमेशा लगता है कि मैं किसी पुराने...

The first time I came across a beautifully narrated Santali folktale on Instagram Reels, I paused.Not because it was "viral", but because it existed.I’ve often oscillated between despair and hope. Despair, when I see young Indians unable to string two sentences in their mother tongue; Hope, when I stumble upon...

A Write-up from a Legal Research Scholar Specialising in Intellectual Property & Indian Publishing. It's not just academic but personal; we attempt to offer a consultation, not in a courtroom, but in a conversation.Scene: Delhi, 9:15 AM. A Writer Walks Into Court.She clutches a file thick with manuscripts, contracts, and...

In our country, storytelling is woven into the cultural fabric, and the written word holds immense power.Yet, beneath the rising interest in reading lies a silent crisis: piracy—particularly through unauthorised PDF sharing—is slowly eroding the very foundation of a writer’s livelihood.The Numbers Tell a Troubling StoryBook piracy in India is...

Every time a new book lands on my desk, I wonder: Will this one catch fire?Not just commercially, but culturally. Will it be quoted on Instagram? Debated in book clubs? Stocked by indie sellers in Kozhikode and Kanpur?As a literary agent in India, working closely with editors, publishers, reviewers, and...

There’s a quiet joy in the rustle of a page, the glow of an e-ink screen on a late-night flight, or the satisfying weight of a hardbound edition on your bookshelf.After spending years as a librarian and an editor with one of India’s most prominent publishing houses, I often get...

Lost in Translation? Not Quite.I still remember the first time I sat with a 400-page Hindi manuscript, commissioned by a global publisher for its English edition. The author was a poet and social reformer rolled into one. Her prose was dense, poetic, and soaked in regional nuance. My job? To...

Hi there. I would like to begin with a confession.I’m a PhD scholar (yes, willingly doing more studies after a master's), working on the sociolinguistic evolution of Indian languages. I spend my days swimming in research papers, my nights dreaming of syntax trees, and my weekends attending language conferences where...

Have you ever wondered why Hindi, Marathi, Nepali, and Sanskrit all use the same script—Devanagari—even though they are different languages?Or why Urdu and Punjabi can both be written in the Persian-Arabic script, even though they are linguistically distinct? The phenomenon of multiple languages sharing the same script is neither accidental...

I remember the exact moment this story was born—not the one inside the book, but the one I’m about to tell you.It was a rainy Wednesday afternoon, and I was sitting across from a talented young illustrator who had just shown me her final spread for our upcoming picture book....

सोशल मीडिया की दुनिया में जैसे ही कोई सेलेब्रिटी कविता की कुछ पंक्तियाँ पढ़ता है, माइक के सामने हल्की रोशनी, धीमा बैकग्राउंड म्यूजिक, और एक ‘फील’ वाला एक्सप्रेशन, कमेंट बॉक्स में आग लग जाती है:"वाह! दिल छू लिया🥰🥰🤟!""आवाज़ में जादू है!🪄✨""ऐसी कविताएँ रोज़ सुनने को मिलें! ♥️"लेकिन जब वही कविता...

Every June, our social media feeds become a vibrant palette of rainbows.Brands change their logos, influencers wear their most colourful outfits, and hashtags like #LoveIsLove and #PrideMonth trend proudly. Pride is here — loud, glittery, and... performative?Yes, June is Pride Month. And while global recognition of LGBTQ+ rights is slowly...