International Publishing Fellowship 2022

International Publishing Fellowship: India 2022

ABOUT THE FELLOWSHIP

In 2021, British Council commissioned a research study to understand India's trade publishing and literature sectors, identifying opportunities for internationalisation and identifying challenges and issues faced by publishers and other literature organisations from working and collaborating more internationally, specifically with the UK.

The 2022 International Publishing Fellowship evolved from the findings of the ‘India Publishing and Literature Sector Study’ conducted by the Art X Company and released in December 2021.

The Fellowship is a peer-to-peer mentoring and professional development programme where publishers from the UK will be matched with publishers of similar career stage and publishing interests from India. It will be a year-long programme consisting of reciprocal study trips, featuring masterclasses, networking opportunities and professional updating.

ABOUT THE FELLOWS

The Fellows, who were selected via open-call application, all demonstrate a commitment to innovation and internationalism in publishing. They work across a range of genres including education for sustainable development, climate change, fiction, non-fiction, poetry, essays; in roles including editorial, translations, design and production, for large conglomerate publishers and boutique independent presses and bookstore.

The Indian fellows are Bijal Vachharajani (Pratham Books), Rahul Soni (Harper Collins India), Raman Shresta (Rachna Books), Riddhi Maitra (BEE Books), Sarabjeet Garcha (Copper Coin Publishing), and Yogesh Maitreya (Panther’s Paw Publications).

The UK fellows are Alice Mullen (Poetry Book Society), Hélène Butler (Johnson & Alcock), Leonie Lock (Firefly Press) Molly Slight (Scribe Publications UK), Sarah Braybrooke (Bonnier Books), and Tamara Sampey-Jawad (Fitzcarraldo Editions).

Alice Kate Mullen is the Manager of the Poetry Book Society. She’s worked in poetry publishing since 2010, including at Carcanet Press, Shakespeare & Company in Paris, on a Chicago Poetry Foundation mentorship, and as a Sydney Writers’ Festival Bibliotherapist. She co-founded the Northern Poetry Symposium, co-programmes Newcastle Poetry Festival, and sits on the Poetry Translation Centre advisory board.

When Bijal Vachharajani is not reading a children’s book, she is writing or editing one. As a commissioning editor at Pratham Books, she works with a team that dreams up open-access picture books. Her work focuses on education for sustainable development, climate change and inclusion. She is also the author of multiple planet-friendly children’s books including 'Savi and the Memory Keeper' and 'A Cloud Called Bhura', and has a Master’s in environmental security and peace from the University for Peace in Costa Rica. She still can’t believe she gets to make books as a grown-up.

Hélène Butler is Head of Rights at Johnson & Alcock, an independent London literary agency now in its seventh decade, representing prizewinning and bestselling authors and literary estates across all genres. She joined the company in 2018 to set up the Rights department and has overseen rapid growth, increasing the agency’s reach to over 40 countries. With over 15 years of experience, Hélène has previously worked as a scout with Koukla MacLehose and in rights at Denoel and Fayard in Paris as well as A.M. Heath in London. In 2020, she created J&A’s PageOne, one of the first online publishing mentoring schemes for people with underrepresented backgrounds.

Leonie Lock joined Firefly Press in 2020, starting as Assistant Editor and building her way up to Editor in 2022. With a decade’s experience in bookselling, specialising in children’s books, Leonie’s passion has always been getting books into the hands of readers; helping them discover titles that reflect their own experiences and that build empathy. She’s looking forward to building further relationships with the other fellows and collaborating with them on future projects.

Molly Slight is the publisher at Scribe Publications UK, the London branch of the award-winning international independent publishing house, where she commissions and edits literary fiction and narrative non-fiction, as well as manages the team. She is a Bookseller Rising Star, an LBF Trailblazer, and a Clore Emerging Leaders fellow.

Rahul Soni is a writer, editor, and translator. He has edited the anthology of Hindi poetry in English translation 'Home from a Distance', and translated Shrikant Verma’s book of poems 'Magadh', Geetanjali Shree’s novel 'The Roof Beneath their Feet', a selection of Ashok Vajpeyi’s poetry 'A Name for Every Leaf', and Pankaj Kapur's novella 'Dopehri'. He is currently Executive Editor – Literary with HarperCollins India.

Raman Shresta has made Rachna Books and Publications, an independent bookstore and publishing house, the centre of literary and cultural activities in the eastern Himalayas since he took over in 2001. He has been a speaker at several literary platforms including Jaipur Literature Festival, The Hindu Lit for Life, Goa Arts and Literature Festival, Jaipur Bookmark, Brahmaputra Literary Festival, and Kantipur Conclave-Kathmandu. Rachna Books was awarded the 2015 Best Bookshop Publishing Next Industry Award and the 2020 Food for Thought Best Bookstore Award at Hyderabad Lit Fest. Rachna Books publishes fiction, poetry, translation, academic research.

Riddhi Maitra is an editor and translator from Calcutta. She graduated from The Seagull School of Publishing, Kolkata, with a specialization in editing, and since then has been working on a wide array of manuscripts—academic, fiction, non-fiction, Indian writing in English, and translations. Currently, she is employed with BEE Books, Kolkata, as Managing Editor. She also has two translated books—'The Last Few Days of the Blue God', Sanjib Chattopadhyay’s Sahitya Akademi Award-winning novel; and 'Bheeshma: The Unvanquished Kuru Patriarch' by Tridib Kumar Chattopadhyay.

Sarabjeet Garcha is a poet and translator. He is the author of four books of poems, including A Clock in the Far Past, and the founder and editorial director of Copper Coin, a multilingual publishing company. In 2013, he received a Fellowship for Outstanding Artists from the Government of India.

In June 2022, Sarah Braybrooke will be launching a new nonfiction-focused imprint at Bonnier Books UK. As Publishing Director, she will be acquiring 12 books a year, comprising narrative writing on subjects including technology, history, reportage, popular science, psychology and health. Until recently, Sarah was Publisher and Managing Director at Scribe UK.

Tamara Sampey-Jawad is the Associate Publisher of Fitzcarraldo Editions, where she works on both fiction and essay lists. Her authors include Katharina Volckmer, Vanessa Onwuemezi and Guadalupe Nettel, and she is on the Editorial Advisory Board for HEAT, a literary journal based in Australia.

Yogesh Maitreya is a poet, translator, essayist, and the founder of Panther's Paw Publication. He is a doctoral scholar at Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. He has contributed over 100 essays on culture, language, translation, cinema, and caste society to media platforms like Scroll.in, Firstpost, The Seminar, and Indian Cultural Forum. Yogesh has translated two books of poems into English from Marathi, and one book of political history. He has published a poetry collection and two books of anti-caste essays. His latest book is a prose poetry collection 'Ambedkar 2021'. As a publisher at Panther's Paw, he has published 11 titles.

PUBLIC SESSIONS
In addition to the programme for the selected fellows, there will be a series of five public sessions which any publishing professionals can join. The sessions, in the format of online masterclasses and presentations, will focus on the Indian and UK markets.

PUBLIC SESSION

Awarding the Award: Mechanics of Pitching for International Awards

The penultimate event of the year-long International Publishing Fellowship is designed as a Masterclass on writing an award-winning application. Representatives of India and the UK’s biggest book awards share insights on what makes for a good award application, particularly for translated works.

Location: Online (Zoom meeting)
Date: 24th February 2023
Time: 4:00 p.m. - 5:30 p.m. IST / 10:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. BST
Register: https://insider.in/awarding-the-award-mechanics-of-pitching-for-international-awards-feb24-2023/event
Duration: 90 minutes

Tickets: INR 499 / GBP 5

PUBLIC SESSION

Networking Circle: Mother Tongue Languages and Little Traditions

Meet translators and publishers from diverse languages, and hear about their work in this digital networking and presentation session. Delve into works and translators of Punjabi, Urdu, Gujarati, Irish, Welsh, Assamese, Telugu, Odia, Kannada and Marathi.

Location: Online (Zoom meeting)
Date: 6th October 2022
Time: 4:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. IST I 11:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. BST
Register: https://bit.ly/IPF_CMTL_Insider
Duration: 120 minutes

Tickets: INR 499 / GBP 5

This event aims to be accessible to all. Any interested participants who need a fee waiver can write to us with their reasons for the same at info@art-x.co.

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS

Manon Steffan Ros Author, Screenwriter and Playwright (Welsh and English) Manon Steffan Ros is an author, screenwriter and playwright who works mainly through the medium of Welsh. She has published over 40 books and has a weekly flash fiction column in Golwg magazine. Manon has self-translated two of her own novels, Blasu and Llyfr Glas Nebo, and is translating two of her own middle-grade books for publication in 2023 and 2024. Subsequently, Llyfr Glas Nebo has been translated into nine other languages. The English translation has been longlisted for the UKLA book award 2023. She has also translated the work of authors such as Enid Blyton and David Walliams.

Rita Kothari Author and Translator (Gujarati and English) Rita Kothari is Professor of English at Ashoka University. A distinguished translator, Kothari is also a leading theoretician of translation studies; internationally known for books such as Translating India : The Cultural Politics of English and A Multilingual Nation, also Chutnefying English and Decentring Translation Studies. Her translations of note include Angaliyat : The Stepchild from Gujarati; Unbordered Memories from Sindhi and the Patan Trilogy by K.M.Munshi from Gujarati. Her work on partition and borders intervened to bring the unusual Sindhi experience in books such as The Burden of Refuge and the study of Indo-Pak border region in Memories and Movements. Kothari is a multilingual scholar and her translation interest is manifest in the way she moves between various languages through research and pedagogy. She also writes extensively on language politics, partition, and literary and social traditions of Gujarat and Sindh, and Hindi cinema. Her recent book is Uneasy Translations : Self, Experience and Indian Literature

Ruby Hembrom Founder, Adivaani (first voices) Ruby Hembrom is an Adivasi cultural documentarian and practitioner based in Kolkata. She is the founder of adivaani (first voices), an archiving and publishing outfit of and by Adivasis (the indigenous peoples of India) started in July 2012 as a non-profit organization. She is the writer of adivaani’s Santal Creation Stories for children, a recast of the Santal Creation myths in English, and the prize-winning Disaibon Hul, on the Santal Rebellion of 1855–57. Her documentation initiative grew out of a need to claim Adivasi stake in historical and contemporary social, cultural, and literary spaces and as peoples.

Sian Northey Writer, Editor and Translator (Welsh and English) Sian Northey is a freelance author, poet and translator. A first language Welsh speaker, she writes in Welsh and mainly translates from English to Welsh, and occasionally in the other direction. Her latest book is Cylchoedd (Gwasg y Bwthyn, 2020) – a collection of short stories with photographs by Iestyn Huhges. Earlier this year a bilingual anthology of poetry which she co-edited with Ness Owen – A470:Poems for the Road/Cerddi'r Ffordd was published by Arachne Press; and her translation of the children's novel The Last Firefox (Penguin Random House, 2022) by Lee Newbery will be published by Firefly Press before Christmas. In what feels like ages ago (pre Covid) she, thanks to Literature Across Frontiers, visited Kerala as a member of a translation poetry workshop. During that visit a school workshop was arranged by the British Council. Currently she's a Writer in Residence on a heritage project run by the Church in Wales.

PUBLIC SESSION

From Page to Screen: Pitching translations to OTT platforms

This session will shed light on understanding what works in transitioning a book’s story to screen. The session will cover the OTT food chain structure, networks to tap into while looking to pitch (production houses, OTT platforms, publishers, related intermediary organisations), best practices and guidelines while crafting pitches for OTT platforms, and how to respond to mandates from OTT platforms regarding genres and trends.

Location: Online (Zoom meeting)
Date: 15th September 2022
Time: 4:00 p.m. - 5:30 p.m. IST | 11:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. BST
Duration: 90 minutes

Tickets: INR 499 / GBP 5

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS

Emma Topping

Emma Topping is an Executive Producer and an Entertainment Lawyer with 25 years' experience in the entertainment business. In 2020, she launched Viv Loves Film - a literary, development and production agency specialising in book-to-screen, stage and video game adaptations and world-building media franchises.

Emma also lectures at Screen Film School Brighton, where she co-created and will teach a new BA (Hons) Film Business & Production Degree that launches in September 2022.

Mrinalini Khanna

Mrinalini Khanna is a Writer, Producer and currently Head of Originals for Lionsgate India where she does what she terms “fighting the good fight”, which is the endeavour to produce content that’s simultaneously entertaining, enthralling and intelligent – while defending the idea against the hailstorm that is the combination of business, commerce and perception.

Mrinalini previously produced at NDTV, wrote for Miditech and went on to Head Business Development at Endemolshine India.

Sidharth Jain

Sidharth Jain has worked as a Producer in the Indian entertainment industry for over 15 years. He founded The Story Ink in 2018, now India’s largest book to screen adaptation company, having set up 200+ books across 50+ production houses. The Story Ink represents 250+ authors and controls the screen rights of more than 500 books.

In 2021 Sidharth founded a development and production company - House of Talkies, which has a multi-format slate of film & series projects. Sidharth previously worked with Hotstar, iRock Films and Hyperion Studio, after selling his dotcom company to Ebay India (Baazee.com).

This event aims to be accessible to all. Any interested participants who need a fee waiver can write to us with their reasons for the same at info@art-x.co.

PUBLIC SESSION

International Publishing Fellowship: Meet the Fellows | Part 2

The third event of the year-long programme is a continuation of our previous event, designed as a series of presentations by Fellows from India and the UK. The Fellows will present a 5-minute talk introducing their work and focus areas within publishing. Each presentation will be followed by a brief Q&A where other programme participants and the broader publishing community (you!) can ask questions.

Location: Online (Zoom meeting)
Date: 25th August 2022
Time: 4:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. IST | 11:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. BST
Duration: 90 minutes

PUBLIC SESSION

International Publishing Fellowship: Meet the Fellows | Part 1
The second event of the year-long International Publishing Fellowship is designed as a series of presentations by 6 of the 12 Fellows to introduce the different aspects of their work.

Location: Online (Zoom meeting)
Date: 21 July 2022
Time: 4:00 p.m. - 5:30 p.m. IST | 11:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. BST
Duration: 90 minutes

PUBLIC SESSION

The Right Choice: Understanding Acquisition and Licencing of Rights for International Translations
The first event of the year-long International Publishing Fellowship is designed as a Masterclass and will respond to the challenges emerging from the knowledge gap in rights acquisitions of titles from India and the UK.

Location: Online
Date: 30 June 2022
Time: 6 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. IST / 1:30 - 3:00 p.m. BST
Tickets: INR 499 / GBP 5
Duration: 90 minutes

Our expert speakers for the discussion-masterclass are:
Arpita Das - Founder-Publisher, Yoda Press
Susanna Nicklin - Founder, The Marsh Agency and The Indigo Press

One of the challenges identified early in the ‘India Publishing and Literature Sector Study (2021) was the lack of training in the area of rights acquisitions for international writers and translations, especially in India where there is no formal training available for this sector. The context and processes of rights acquisition and licensing varies in formality across India and the UK, coupled with limited knowledge, networks and access to databases of translated works available for rights acquisition of international titles.

Led by Arpita Das and Sussana Nicklin, this discussion-led Masterclass will foreground copyright laws, essential steps in rights selling, various aspects of rights acquisition and share pathways to learning and honing related skills:

- The legal processes involved in acquiring and licencing a translation — contract negotiation, laws and regulations, royalties and payments, and related legal issues
- Scouting and contacting international agents, international publishing houses, and building networks
- Different modalities, platforms and methods of acquiring rights — book fairs, personal contacts, visits to publishing houses, and networking events among others.

This event aims to be accessible to all. Any interested participants who need a fee waiver can write to us with their reasons for the same at admin@art-x.co.

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS Arpita Das Founder-Publisher - Yoda Press, Visiting Faculty and Senior Writing Fellow - Ashoka University, South Asia Series Editor - Melbourne University Press Arpita Das has been part of the Indian publishing industry since 1998. She is the founder-publisher of the award-winning independent publishing house, Yoda Press, which she founded in 2004. She is a Board member of PublisHer (womeninpublishing.org) and South Asia Series Editor at Melbourne University Publishing. Apart from her publishing work, she is also Visiting Faculty (Creative Writing Programme) and Senior Writing Fellow (Undergraduate Writing Programme) at Ashoka University.

Susanna Nicklin CEO – The Marsh Agency and Indigo Books Susanna Nicklin is the owner and founder of The Marsh Agency, an international literary agency specialising in selling translation rights for English language books. She is also the owner and founder of The Indigo Press, an independent publishing house with a focus on internationalism, feminism, and social justice. She is the former Director of Literature at the British Council, where she created international partnerships, projects and programmes for British writers and their international peers. She is also a former director of English PEN, where she founded the PEN translates programme, which selects texts from all over the world to receive funding for English-language publication. She has also owned an independent bookshop and directed many literary festivals and events. She is Deputy Chair of The English Association, the learned membership society for teachers and learners of English at all levels in UK education.