Katha in the News!

In Conversation with Rajiv Eipe - Katha Chitrakala 2009 Grand Prize Winner

2010-09-13T04:25:00.000-07:00

IN CONVERSATION

Rajiv Eipe – Grand Prize Winner, Katha Chitrakala Award 2009

Rajiv studied Fine Arts at Sir J. J. School of Art before he went to study Animation Film Design at the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad. Rajiv lives in Mumbai where he mainly does animation and graphics for Television, and secretly wishes to drive a taxi for a living.

A brief interview with Rajiv on his views, inspirations, projects and much more…

First things first, many many congratulations for winning the Katha Chitrakala Award 2009.

What preparation did you do for your entry; and what were you doing when you found out you’d won?

Rajiv: It began with many explorations of illustration styles, and once the treatment that was best suited to this particular story (Dino-long-as-127-kids) was decided upon, many more drawings followed. The story and the characters were so endearing that the drawings just flowed. I’m not sure what I was doing when I found out about the award, but I have a strong suspicion that I was having a cup of coffee.

Which is your favourite children’s book?

Rajiv: When I was young there was a book called ‘The Fox and the Hound- That’s what friends are for’ and I vaguely remember another favourite called ‘Droopy Dragon’. Much later I discovered Maurice Sendak’s ‘Where the Wild Things Are’ and Dr. Seuss books.

Who are some of the children’s book illustrators you admire?

Rajiv: Maurice Sendak, Quentin Blake, Dr. Seuss, Ajit Ninan and Jayanto.

What differences have you found when comparing the present situation with reference to the children’s literature in India, with what books were available when you were a child?

Rajiv: I think publications like Target Magazine, with its high quality of content as well as design are sorely missing in today’s context. I also believe that books are losing out to other media like television and internet in their bid to capture children’s imagination.

What you love most about being a children’s book illustrator? What is most challenging about it?

Rajiv: I wouldn’t really call myself a children’s book illustrator as this is the first book I’ve illustrated; I am an animation film designer by profession. In terms of production, the happiest part about books is that there are fewer drawings! Animation works at 25 drawings per second! Fewer drawings mean that the illustrator can spend more time on each drawing and squeeze out his/her best work. The challenge is to keep things fresh and exciting and sustain the child reader’s interest.

Which medium do you use for your pictures?

Rajiv: I am happiest working with pencils, crayons, sketch pens, inks, watercolors and glue. Computers make life easy when it comes to cleaning and refining images.

You use many different styles and techniques in your illustrations. Do you have a particular favorite?

Rajiv: No real favourite, whichever style is best suited to the story/context takes precedence. I tend to favour techniques that leave my hands dirty.

What are you working on now? Which kind of projects do you want to do in future?

Rajiv: Currently, another book with Katha and a couple of small animation projects.

I would like to illustrate as many books as possible and perhaps one day write as well. An independent short animation film is also in the ‘to-do’ list.

As you follow through each project, with its own demands, how do you find yourself evolving as an artist? Is there a particular direction you see yourself moving in, in the future?

Rajiv: My capacity for self evaluation is rather small, but I would like to believe that with each project I learn a little more and am better prepared for the next. I must confess that I have not found a specific direction to move in yet, but I am excited to do as much work as I can.

What advice would you offer to aspiring illustrators?

Draw Draw Draw!

Thanks Rajiv!

Good old Indian folktales need a Magic Genie

2007-06-29T00:04:00.000-07:00

New Delhi, June 29 (IANS) Once upon a time, traditional folk tales from thePanchatantra or, say, stories of Akbar and Birbal used to be hugely popularwith Indian children.But ask a kid today about her favourite book, and chances are she will namean Enid Blyton, a Nancy Drew, a Hardy Boy and - even more likely - a HarryPotter.

To give an example, the pre-bookings for the seventh edition of the HarryPotter series to be released July 21, is escalating at a rapid rate. Thesixth in the series sold a smashing 160,000 copies in India last year.The story is entirely different for Indian folk tales and other children'sbooks. A predictable storyline, monotonous illustrations, lots of moralbaggage and more importantly sloppy marketing have led to their taking abeating."Most children have heard the folk tales before - either from their parentsor their grandparents. So there is no attraction to read a folk tale book,"said Vandana Bisht, an author based in Delhi."Moreover, they don't find the Indian folk tale books interesting becausethey are not laid out as interestingly as their foreign counterparts. "Most traditional Indian stories have a rural backdrop or a royal setting.Many have birds, animals, trees and flowers talking and interacting freelywith man -far removed from reality and a rather different take on fantasycompared to, for instance, a Harry Potter!

"The main problem I think with these books is that they compromise on the fun factor by attaching too much of moral baggage. Also, kids get bored of seeing the same kings and queens in their royal garb," Bisht told IANS.Currently working on a book based on Tibet and with elaborate illustrations,Bisht has authored many children's books like "Avadhi Folktales" and"Princess With The Longest Hair".

Mamang Dai, another writer of children's books based in Arunachal Pradesh,said that besides lacklustre illustrations, the marketing strategy adoptedby publishing houses and agents here is perhaps not good enough to attractmore readers.Agreed Gita Wolf, publisher of Chennai based Tara Publishing House. "Thereason why certain things are popular is often not because of theirintrinsic merit, but because there is a huge marketing machine behind them.This is increasingly the case."This is not to say there is no merit in Harry Potter - on the contrary. Butsadly, marketing budgets need to be several times larger than publishingcosts - and Indian children's books do not have pride of place in Indianbook shops," Wolf told IANS.Kynpham Sing Nongkynrih, deputy director of publications of the NortheasternHill University based in Meghalaya, said there is a need to revamp folktales to suit the changing tastes of children."

There should be an element of modernisation along with the mythical elementin the folk tales so that children can relate to the stories. There shouldbe contemporary characters with elements of mystical powers. While somethings - a part of the essence perhaps - are going to be lost because ofthis, there will be something gained as well," Nongkynrih saidThe author of numerous folk tale books in the local language of Meghalaya,Khasi, he said there was also an urgent need to transform these stories that hardly goes beyond three pages into full-length novels.Bisht points out yet another reason."Children today are looking towards the West in every aspect. Be it inclothes, movies or food.

So is the case in books. Moreover, the ruralsetting or royal background which the Indian storybooks generally deal withis not identified with by the children," said Bisht.Steering away from this trend, some publishers like Tara Publishing House ofChennai and Katha of Delhi are giving a push to children's books that aremore realistic and have extensive illustrations.One of the books by Tara, "Trash! On Ragpicker Children and Recycling", forinstance, is based on the real life experience of ragpicker children.It talks about one particular child who runs away from home and ends up as aragpicker in the city. His trials and tribulations, humorous instancessprinkled with serious ones like child labour, child rights and recycling,earned this book a mention in the Munich-based White Ravens, a selection ofinternational children's and youth literature.

- Azera Rahman

In the Sky of Cinema – 3: Re-visiting new wave

2007-06-24T22:06:00.000-07:00

KATHA CENTRE FOR FILM STUDIES

In collaboration with

Alliance Francaise de Bombay and National Film Archives India, Pune
presents

In the Sky of Cinema – 3
Re-visiting new wave
Festival Dates: 25th June to 29th June (2007)
Venue: Alliance Francaise, Mumbai

We're looking forward to having you with us!

Sketches from Memory

2007-06-14T23:04:00.000-07:00

Laxmibai Tilak singularly championed the cause of girls’ education in Maharashtra in the early twentieth century. Sketches from Memory is her autobiography, tracing as it does her relationship with her scholar husband through his conversion to Christianity and her selfeducation.

Time Out
(Mumbai ISSUE 21 Friday, June 15, 2007)

The best-known of the classic conversion stories, Laxmibai Tilak’s Sketches From Memory has just been published in a new translation by Louis Menezes, a Jesuit priest now at St Xavier’s School in Mumbai. Unlike the OUP translation titled I Follow After, published in 1950, this translation is from the abridged Marathi version prepared by Laxmibai’s son D N Tilak, and published by Popular Prakashan in 1994. The original autobiography appeared in serial form in Marathi in the late 1930s.

Sketches From Memory is a compelling narrative and unexpectedly humorous. When she is to be “viewed”, Laxmibai consoles herself by thinking that, while her looks and complexion were “truly moderate”, it helped that her nose and eyes, “even if they weren’t proportionate, ...were all in the right place”. Her father had a mania amounting to madness about purity, and insisted everything brought into the house be washed, including salt and sugar. Of course, the concern for purity had its appalling side as well. The father performed rituals for 25 years because a Mahar had accidentally let a drop of water fall on him, and thrashed everyone at home for the slightest breach. Laxmibai’s father-in-law was just as appalling – burning his wife’s poems as soon as she wrote them, and virtually kicking her to death.

The core of the book is Laxmibai’s relationship with her husband, very different from that of her parents and her in-laws. She had a mind of her own, and when Tilak became a Christian she didn’t plan to become one too. But she has her own moments of truth. “Did god make castes,” she thinks, “or did man?” She then decides to “eat and drink from everybody’s hand”.

She attended Tilak’s prayer sessions, and began to like the prayers. “It was a new kind of joy, praying this way, to the god who dwelt within our hearts.” Eventually she too was baptised, but refused to be baptised by a foreigner. Only a fellow Indian would do.

- Eunice de Souza

The Author

Laxmibai Tilak

The Translator

Louis Menezes

Publishers: Katha
Cover Design: Geeta Dharmarajan
Cover Painting: Jagannath Panda
Category: Katha Non-Fiction/Autobiography
Statistics: 5.5" X 8" 408 pages
ISBN 97881-89020-73-6 [PB]
Price: Rs 350 [India and the subcontinent only]

Buy now!

Ma Ganga and the Razai Box

2007-06-14T22:37:00.000-07:00

'Ma Ganga and the Razai Box’ is a delightful story that combines mythology and contemporary environmental issues. A miffed Ganga, an awakened hill people – together they spread once again Shiva’s matted locks – the mesh of roots and branches holding back the topsoil from being swept away by the river.

The Hindu
(Young World, Saturday, 15 June 2007)

Teaching through story telling is often more entertaining and effective than laying down a list of dos and don’ts. The two books from Katha —Ma Ganga and the Razai Box and Satyadas — employ allegory to provide a charming yet instructive account of issues that affect us all.

Young Yasho of the Hill people is the protagonist of Ma Ganga and the Razai Box. Though young, she bears the responsibility of finding a solution to the problem of soil erosion that is depriving her village of the fertile top soil required for cultivation of crops. An added problem is the scarcity of water, as a peeved Ma Ganga has decided not to run her course and instead sleep inside Yasho’s razai box, till the Hill people find Shiva’s matted locks over which she can flow. Complete with vibrant and dramatic illustrations, the story, written by Geeta Dharmarajan, weaves environmental concerns like pollution, soil erosion and desertification with mythology, without losing out on the simple human tale.

The Author

Geeta Dharmarajan

The Illustrator

Sonali Biswas

Publishers: Katha
Cover Design: Geeta Dharmarajan
Category: Children's Books
Statistics: 32 pages
ISBN 81-89020-74-9 [PB]
Price: Rs 80 [India and the subcontinent only]

Buy now!

Satyadas

2007-06-14T22:09:00.000-07:00

Satyadas is a simple allegorical tale of changing fortunes and the exit of human values at the advent of material well-being and prosperity.

The Hindu
(Young World, Friday, 15 June 2007)

Exploring truth

Satyadas is the name of the mysterious visitor who appears on a rainy evening in front of Raghunath’s humble grocery shop. Unable to travel in the bad weather, he is offered food and shelter by Raghunath, the warm and caring host. He goes away the next day, but not before leaving a pouch whose valuable contents will test the limits of Raghunath’s honesty.

While the charcoal sketches bring to life the humble life and household of Raghunath, the story, originally written in Bengali by Bimal Kar and translated into English by Enakshi Chatterjee, is about the decline in human values as one falls a prey to greed. As the prologue to the book describes, it is a story “exploring truth, falsehood and everything in between.”

The Author

Bimal Kar

The Illustrator

Neeta Gangopadhya

The Translator

Enakshi Chatterjee

Publishers: Katha
Cover Design: Geeta Dharmarajan
Category: Children's Books
Statistics: 40 pages
ISBN 81-89020-68-4 [PB]
Price: Rs 75 [India and the subcontinent only]

Buy now!

Hauntings

2007-06-12T23:53:00.000-07:00

The darksome dozen-plus one. Thirteen haunting tales exploring Bengal’s ghostly repertoir, authored by evocative storytellers such as Tagore, Lila Majumdar and Mahasweta Devi. Hauntings takes you to the supernatural beyond, characterised by witches, vampires and other numinous creations which cross and unfurl from the deep recesses of the mind, combine with the eerie netherworld and produce that shiver in your spine. The stories feature female protagonists who universalise the cry of rape, love, loneliness, betrayal and social marginality as they act from the other side of midnight whichle living the life within. Emotions of jealousy, greed, the hunger for youth, unrequited love, rage, revenge and attachement find passionate expression by means of their supernatural powers, breaking the silence imposed on them in life.

The Express Magazine
(July 2, 2000)

In Bengali literature, the supernatural lurks in every corner - in cremation grounds, bamboo forests, ruins, the people’s minds. It also has a rich tradition of literary magazine, where writers like Tagore and other greats would contribute with a novella, a poem, and very often with a ghost story. True, much of the charm is lost in translation. But do gloss over the language conundrum, and treat yourself to 13 gems of some of the best minds in genre.

Outlook
(June 26,2000)

Of traditional Bengali ghosts, there is a taxonomy, outlined in the introduction to Hauntings ; not only are they divided into male and female spirits, there are about 12 or 13 kinds of ghosts with specific attributes, from the nishibhoot to the petni. Because this anthology traverses a century, it demonstrates the disintegration of these old taxonomics as the bhoot moves from abandoned ruins and deserted ponds to familiar bedroom skylight.
- Anuradha Roy

India Today
(July 17, 2000)

Reading Suchitra Samanta’s introduction to Hauntings: Bangla Ghost Stories was like taking a trip down memory lane, when one had to obey all kinds of dos and don’ts to keep the large variety of ghosts at bay. Like not answering if someone called in the dead of night to avoid the nishibhoot, not approaching a bel tree where the brahmadaitya was supposed to live, or a shaora tree, abode of the shankchunni, after sunset.

From the rich tradition of ghost stories that is an integral part of Bangla literature. Samanta selects 13 sspanning over a century. There are three stories by Tagore, two of which have been made into films-Manithara by Satyajit Ray as part of Teen Kanya and Kshudita Pashan by Tapan Sinha, who retained the title.

The collection is fairly representative. Samanta clarifies her criteria for selection, one of which is that stories with women as protagonists have been preferred.

The Authors

Rabindranath Tagore
Pramatha Chaudhuri
Panchkari De
Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay
Tarashankar Bandopadhyay
Banaphul
Swapan Buro
Lila Majumdar
Kamakshiprasad Chattopadhyay
Shishir Lahiri
Mahasweta Devi

The Translator and Editor

Suchitra Samanta

Publishers: Katha
Cover Design: Geeta Dharmarajan & Arvinder Chawla
Cover Sculpture: Durriya Qazi
Category: Katha Regional Fiction
Statistics: 5.5" x 8" 216 pages
ISBN 81-87649-01-1 [PB]
Price: Rs 200 [India and the subcontinent only]

Buy now!

A Southern Harvest

2007-06-12T23:10:00.000-07:00

A Southern Harvest is a collection of sixteen brilliant and evocative stories from contemporary short fiction in Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu. The stories, by writers both new and established have been translated into English especially for this volume. The collection is edited by Githa Hariharan, winner of the 1993 Commonwealth Writers Prize for the Best First Book. The language sections are introduced by eminent literary figures in that language.

Indian Review of Books

This is a collection of short stories translated into English from the four southern languages – Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam and Telegu. Each language section has four stories, duly introduced by an eminent author/critic of that language situating the short story narrative in the overall context of fiction in that language, as well as siting the chosen stories within that context. It must be mentioned that all the stories selected have been translated for the first time for this edition for Katha Regional Fiction ...

What it has presented is an extremely rich crop of writers who would remain mainly unknown, but for such efforts, to the English reading/speaking public.

What do you say about stories that make you sit up, that wrench your guts and tug at your hearts? The recurrent images of “poverty, pauperisation, dispossession and powerlessness” weave a common strand through the various narratives irrespective of the language … “The Desolation Within” (Telugu) … is a wonderful, touching story which never degenerates into pathos.

… these are not bed-time stories … each disturbing tale shakes you out of your slumber and makes you think.

This book is also special in that the translation policy is explained: if you feel that the stories are uniformly good – the keyword is “uniform!” For the different languages, with their various regional dialects and registers are all compacted into standardised English ... the final product(s) are very readable and have provided us access to literatures which we would have remained ignorant of otherwise.

– N Kamal

Business Standard
(May 1994)

This anthology from Katha is an eye-opener to the literary trends in the south ...

What comes as a bonus to readers is the short but comprehensive introduction that precedes each language section. Writers like Ayyappa Panicker have sketched out a helpful guide to the literary scene in their language … in spite of not being selected on any premeditated themes, the stories seem to have arranged themselves in a strikingly discernible pattern. The images that recur are those of poverty, pauperisation, dispossession and powerlessness ...

As always, this collection from Katha too showcases the best of regional talents.

– Purabi Panwar

World Literature Today
(1995)

The sixteen short stories which comprise A Southern Harvest are in groups of four from each of the major South Indian languages – Malayalam, Tamil, Kannada, and Telugu – and have been translated into English for the first time for this publication. Each cluster of stories is introduced by an Indian critic who specializes in that particular language. The stories are largely from the past decade and represent a mix of established and new writers ...

Renewal is the keyword here, for despite the problems of translation and the fact that thirteen different translators were involved in rendering these stories into English, there is a consistency of readability and level of diction which makes this diverse volume a pleasant unity. Rather than allowing the problematic aspects of translating idiomatic flavours to overcome the project, the translators, by accident of design, have settled on a sense of homogeneity, which is the best compromise possible, given the multifariousness of the material ...

Hariharan’s small volume illustrates that short fiction in South India is in a healthy state.

Indian Express
(July 10, 1994)

All sixteen of the stories here … are appearing in English for the first time and they have the freshness of a bundle of newly harvested paddy. They carry the reassurance that in the literary fields of these four states, the rain god has been kind and has filled the grains of fiction. If there have been years of drought, it has left no lasting disillusionment ...

… there is reason for optimism. As Kethu Viswanatha Reddy points out in his preface to the Telugu section, three thousand short stories in Telugu appear every year in various periodicals. Two-thirds of these are pulp. The rest remain unavailable in translation. If we can bring this valuable one-thirds into a catchment area of what, for want of a better expression, one may call mainstream Indian literature – how much richer it would be.

And if we were to do the same with all the rivers and streams from our different language traditions, think of the new words, experiences and ways of seeing that would flow in. This book is valuable because in its own modest way, it attempts just that.

– Pamela Phillipose

The Authors

Ayyappa Panicker
Paul Zacharia
C V Sreeraman
Manasy
Anand
Ashokamitran
Sa Kandasamy
Thopil Mohamed Meeran
Dilip Kumar
Konangi
P Lankesh
Jayant Kaikini
Mogalli Ganesh
Vaidehi
Kethu Viswanatha Reddy
Swamy
Abburi Chaya Devi
Chakravenu
Allam Rajaiah

The Translators

Ajithan G Kurup
B Chandrika
Usha Nambudripad
S Krishnan
Vasantha Surya
N Kalyan Raman
Ramachandra Sharma
K Raghavendra Rao
Padma Ramachandra Sharma
Vijaya Ghose
E Nageswara Rao
Vasantha Kannabiran
K Balagopal

Edited by
Githa Hariharan

Publishers: Katha
Cover Design: Neeraj and Pallavi Sahai
Category: Katha Regional Fiction
Statistics: 5.5" x 8" 192 pages
ISBN 81-85586-11-X [HB]
ISBN 81-85586-10-1
Price: Rs 120 [PB] [India and the subcontinent only]

Buy now!

The Wordsmiths

2007-06-09T01:10:00.000-07:00

Here are five scintillating interviews that capture the magic and the mystery of the world of the contemporary Indian writer. UR Ananthamurthy, Bhupen Khakhar, Mahasveta Devi, Krishna Sobti and MT Vasudevan Nair offer insights into the art and craft of writing, share their hopes and fears and reveal that unique creative urge which makes their work what it is. Also featured in this volume, the first in the series, is an alluring selection from their writing, fiction and non-fiction. Essential reading for the browser and bookworm!

The Hindustan Times
(April 1997)

The five translated writers featured in The Wordsmiths form an astonishing array of different levels of exploring mostly rural reality in an almost entirely rural way.

UR Ananthamurthy’s “Mouni” is an unwinding of a feud and all virile emotions associated with it, the two adversaries being immigrant land-holders. The disturbing silence observed by the defeated one defeats the “winner.” It is almost suggestive of reality taking the shape one assumes it to have.

Mahasveta Devi’s “Arjun” lays bare socio-econo-political concerns and portrays the downtrodden lot of the tribals of Bengal. Set against the backdrop of the Naxalbari movement, it tears away the veil of exploitation and is a positive attempt of the tribals to assert their identity, rather than be dehumanised completely by the village powers-that-be. So the revolving door of prison imparts strength in the end. Mahasveta Devi is firmly ensconced in tradition alongwith the parallel thread of enlightening modernity. However, she yet firmly stands by the energy imparted by fables, folklore, riddles, rituals, death rites. It is a treasure trove of wisdom for her, and this has been effectively communicated. Relatedly, once exhausted on a walk with tribals, thinking she would die, the tribals promised to get “big boulders” for her grave – the ultimate tribute.

Bhupen Khakhar, a self-professed homosexual, writes about the possession neurosis by leading an insular life (read village life). However, in the village even the apparently otherwise petty takes on major proportions. “Vadki” does exactly that – a tale of a housewife obsessed with her small home world of possessions, set against a domineering husband who even rations sex and swears by childlessness (an excruciating situation for the lady of the house).
Editor Meenakshi Sharma’s selection is truly outstanding. The interviews with Sobti and Ananthamurthy get practically down to brass tacks. The wellspring of creativity is shown in the clear light of day. The interviews with Mahasveta Devi, Khakhar are in-depth explorations of the much microscopically examined “creativity urge.” All the contributors deserve kudos for laying bare their concerns. A good read indeed.

Shri Sadanand Menon says ...

Wordsmiths is one more success story of Katha, the Delhi-based publishing house, which broke fresh ground five years ago with its annual event, the Katha Prize Stories, a compilation of English translations of the best short stories of the year culled from major Indian languages. It is ventures like Katha by Geeta Dharmarajan’s able team, and Sahitya Akademi’s journal of “Indian Literature,” steered by writer/poet K Satchidanandan which have injected fresh energy to this neglected genre.

There is another black hole of Indian Literature in the absence of academic rigour and total disinterest in the mass media, namely the “magical” existence of writers in our imagination. For instance, even for the bulk of our serious readers, MT Vasudevan Nair – recipient of the highest award in Indian literature, the Jnanpith – would be a stranger. Some might have read translations of his stories. But few would have learnt more about his concerns, methods or conceptual paradigms through the vacuous “interviews” in mainstream media, which conceal rather than reveal the writer.

Enter Wordsmiths. Edited by Meenakshi Sharma, it comprises exhaustive interviews with five contemporary heavyweights – MT Vasudevan Nair ( Malayalam), Mahasveta Devi (Bengali), UR Ananthamurthy (Kannada), Krishna Sobti (Hindi) and Bhupen Khakhar (Gujarati). The inclusion of select translations of their fictional and non-fictional works and bio-sketches give a rounded feel to a venture exciting enough to be hailed as the ‘future’ of Indian publishing and a laudable act of bridge-building.

India Today
(June 1996)

This delightful collection from Katha is an introduction to five major contemporary writers: UR Ananthamurthy, Bhupen Khakhar, Krishna Sobti, Mahasveta Devi and MT Vasudevan Nair. Each writer comes in the form of an interview, a translated work and an extract of his/her critical writing thus providing the reader with a fairly comprehensive portrait of the writer.

What strikes you is that these are not just craftsmen of exceptional literary works but formidable thinkers as well – which is also a tribute to the skill of the interviews. Murthy’s discourse on the shabdasutka for instance or the revelation of his Brahminical mind (used here in the widest sense of the word) is stimulating reading. Equally stimulating is painter Khakhar’s revelation as a writer and his refusal to take himself seriously. His story “Vadki” in fact is quite the most charming piece in the collection.

Sobti’s extract from Ai Ladki is a moving account of a daughter watching her mother die. The querulous tones of the old lady are placed delicately alongside the daughter’s patient voice. It is interesting to hear Sobti unfold her knots in an interview that captures her zest of life.

Devi is arguably the greatest living Bengali writer; a woman wholly committed to the world of tribals and who has been studied by the greatest living deconstructionists of all – Gayatri Chakravarty Spivak. It is refreshing to find that behind that politically correct exterior beats a heart that can laugh at its reputation. The last interview is with a man who has become a legend in his own lifetime – MT Vasudevan Nair. “Before I sit down to write,” he says at one point, “I always ask myself: is it necessary to write this?”

If you have wished to find out what is happening in regional literature this is a fine book to start with. It does not matter that sometimes the names are not easy to remember, that you keep forgetting what a vadki or uralppura is. At the end of each story there is a sense of oneness with the author and pride that there is in every part of India a living tradition of creative energy.

– Ira Pande

Indian Review of Books
(March 16 – April 15, 1997)

Since its inception over seven years ago, Katha has been active in promoting a wider awareness of the rich texture of our regional literature. Although initially Katha concentrated on English translations of carefully selected short fiction from various Indian languages, Wordsmiths is, by far, a more ambitious venture, in that it also give us an overall view of the influences that shape our contemporary literature.

Why do writers write and what energises the creative urges that inspire their works? How do they respond to the tool of language and use it to set their imagination free? Do they feel they have a special responsibility to society and if so, what is the price they have to pay to carry it out? UR Ananthamurthy, Bhupen Khakhar, Krishna Sobti, Mahasveta Devi and MT Vasudevan Nair, five pre-eminent writers from different parts of the country, who write primarily in their respective mother tongues, reflect on their aims, aspirations and preoccupations and share with us, through the pages of Wordsmiths, their distinctive observations on issues such as these.

The book has been cleverly structured to portray the writers and their work in a broader context – we have a short story and an essay by each writer supplemented by a brief introduction, an interview and his/her curriculum vitae – and offers us wide-ranging insights into the nuances of the creative process and the stimulation of confronting the unexpected ...

Wordsmiths is an excellent introduction to Indian writing that encompasses many areas – geographical, cultural, rural and urban. Notwithstanding the opinion of critics like Leavis who contend that anything a writer has to say is found in his or her work, the comments of writers on life and literature help us understand better how they write out of the flux of a changing society, as also the complexities of their “urge to explore, experiment and reinvent society.”

– Veena Seshadri

The authors

U R Ananthamurthy
Bhupen Khakhar
Mahasveta Devi
Krishna Sobti
M T Vasudevan Nair

The Editor

Meenakshi Sharma

Publishers: Katha
Cover Design: Geeta Dharmarajan
Category: Katha Profiles
Statistics: 5.5" x 8" 210 pages
ISBN 81-85586-48-9 [PB]
Price: Rs 195 [India and the subcontinent only]

Buy now!

Parthiban's Dream

2007-05-30T00:36:00.000-07:00

A melting pot of mystery, adventure...

Chandamama
(June 2007)

A gripping story spanning a wide canvas, Parthiban’s Dream is a melting pot of adventure, mystery, romance, black magic and history. It is cast in the times of the Cholas and Pallavas, and brings alive the period in its lively and intricate description of the life and times of the people. In the background is the bustling port town of Mammallapuram (now called Mahabalipuram) and the sound of stone-chipping and sculpting can almost be heard as the writer describes the dream of Narasimhaverma Pallava, the King of Kanchi.

In the foreground is Woriyur where the waning Chola kingdom is surviving on the dreams of King Parthiban. Burning with desire to restore the Chola kingdom to its past glory, Parthiban raises his flag in defiance of the powerful Pallava ruler and refuses to pay taxes to the Pallava state. A war ensues and Parthiban loses his life on the battlefield. Enter a strange character – the Sivanadiar – a strange old man ostensibly dressed like a devotee of Lord Shiva, but obviously he is a lot more than that. Parthiban dies, leaving his infant son and young wife in the cares of the Sivanadiar.

The novel picks up the thread of the story six years after the death of Parthiban, with his son grown from a mere slip of a lad to a handsome and chivalrous young man, the pride of father’s kingdom. He lives his father’s dream as does his mother Arul Mozhi. The presence of the mysterious Sivanadiar, and the dream of King Parthiban overshadow the entire novel.

The adventurous Vikraman visits Mammallapuram and gets a glimpse of the beautiful Pallava Princess Kundavi. Unaware of each other’s identity, the two fall in love with each other. However the Chola Prince’s identity is revealed and the wrathful Narasimhaverma, finding his enemy of his doorstep, banishes him from his kingdom. Vikraman seeks his fortune in the lonely island of Shenbaga Nadu where he is easily accepted by the people as their ruler. Bolstered by his new status, Vikraman makes bold to regain his old territory. Black magic in the middle of thick forest, a vicious hunchbacked dwarf, and several shadowy characters from a hazy past complete the picture that is Parthiban’s dream. Who is the Sivanadiar? What role does she play in the story? Do Vikraman and Kundavi marry in the end? To know the answers to these, you really must pick up the book.

A simple and elegant style of writing and eloquent charcoal illustrations in a folksy style are highlights of the novel. A pictorial historical map, tracing the Pallava and Chola kingdoms, would have added spice to the presentation.

- Sumathi Sudhakar.

The Author

Kalki

The Translator

Gita Rajan

The Illustrator

Srivi Kalyan

Publishers: Katha
Cover Design: Geeta Dharmarajan
Cover Art: Srivi Kalyan
Age Group: 10 + years
Statistics: 240 pages
ISBN 81-89020-64-1 [PB]
Price: Rs 150 [PB]

A World of Words

2007-05-16T00:00:00.000-07:00

KATHA's Storytelling Workshops for Children begins again in May 2007, from 21st to 25th: a five-day module of fun, intrigue, adventures and thrills. In today's context of globalization where the dynamics of marketing, product promotion and packaging have made reading choices a foregone conclusion for children, Katha perceived a need for introducing children to fiction that has been written by the great wordsmiths of our country but which have completely bypassed their readership.

This Story-telling workshop for kids in the age group 3 - 9 years, is an initiative by Katha to bring to children in the age group the best of Indian fiction, both classical and contemporary. It seeks to cultivate in young minds a taste for fine writing and subtle sensibilities. Stylishly presented, the workshops will present books that strike the right balance of Indianness in content, and a global up-market look and feel. These are stories children would love to read and be seen with!

Come, join the KATHA family!

Register @

KATHA
No 8, 1st Main Road,
Karpagam Gardens,
Adyar,
Chennai 600 020

Timings: 10.30 AM – 1 PM

Age Group: 3 – 9 Years

Dates: 21 – 25, May 2007

For further details and enquiries, please contact us at 4211 4326/ 94443 90134

Daddoo's Day Out

2007-04-19T21:32:00.000-07:00

Daddoo, the little frog, decides to do something different on her day out ... A lively book that celebrates friendship and introduces children to the world of animals, colours and sizes.

The New Indian Express
(Wednesday, April 18, 2007)

Does Daddoo’s Day Out remind you of the popular film, baby’s Day Out? This book, written and illustrated by Prabjhot Kaur is somewhere on the same lines and even won the Runner-Up Prize at the 10th Noma Concours for Picture Book Illustrations!

The story revolves around Daddoo, a cute young frog, who lives in a small pond with her mother (Ma) and her friends. Her life goes on happily until one day when Daddoo gets bored of doing the same things everyday and decides that it was high time she went exploring into the outer world and made new friends.

The story is all about Daddoo’s day out in the world that lay beyond her small pond, where she meets other animals like a black snake, white swans, and an alligator! By the time she makes her escape from Mr Alligator, it becomes dark and even starts raining, leaving poor Daddoo miserable, under a mushroom’s umbrella. How Daddoo realizes her folly and how she gets back home is what the rest of the story is all about.

The story has illustrations in bright and bold colours that merge into each other to give an adventurous feel to the story. They are present in all pages and have been done in a very novel style, with a lot of lines in them. They are used to convey certain ideas that cannot actually be put forward with words alone and the language used through out the story is very lucid and easy to understand.

The story’s concept or more popularly called ‘the moral’ has been subtly expressed and clearly explains to the Gen-X, what a nightmare, leaving home at such a tender age, could turn out to be. The way in which Daddoo, at the end of her day out, says, “I want to go home!” strikes a chord with the readers and clearly portrays how lost a child can feel without the protection of his/her family and friends.

The author has taken the fact that children no longer want to stick to their roots, thanks to the increase in individualism in our society, and has spun a simple but impressive story that tells us what the consequences of such a rash decision can be.

Tips for parents and teachers:

A great read-aloud book to share with a young child.
A beginner’s book for children learning to read.
The story with its view of life in a small pond and the larger forest can be used as a supplementary reader in the classroom.

The Author & Illustrator

Prabjhot Kaur

Publishers: Katha
Also available in Hindi
Age Group: 5-8 years
Statistics: 24 pages size 10 x 8
ISBN 81-87649-94-1 [PB]
ISBN 81-89020-13-7 [Hindi]
Price: Rs 75 [PB]
Rs 50 [Hindi]

Lingers for long ...

2007-04-16T03:32:00.000-07:00

The Daily Pioneer

Not flowers of henna is a collection of 15 short stories. These stories are a translation of Kamleshwar, the noted Hindi litterateur. Usually whenever a novel is translated into any other language it loses its essence but the beauty of these stories is that in spite of being translated into English they have not lost their impact. The book also includes the much acclaimed Not flowers of henna (kitne Pakistan) one of the authors finest novels.Take for example the story The Wait, nowhere does one feel that it was not originally written in English. This because the translator, Jai Ratan has equal command over three languages - Hindi, Urdu and English. Though it is true not all stories are able to retain their original impact or the message they are able to convey to the reader.

The stories are moving bringing about the pathos of the people like in the case of The River of Flesh. It's about how Jugnu, the main character goes on with her life.

That despite the fact that everybody is aware of the fact that she is unwell, she has to get on with her job because without that she would not get any money for her treatment. When she falls ill the second time she is forced to borrow from her so called customers and the only option left for her is to pay them back by servicing them. It is another matter that they take advantage of her situation and the debt seems to be endless.

On the whole the author has dealt with each story with such sensitivity that at the end of it you realise that life is not about the big events. It is made up of little and small experiences man goes through in his everyday life.

- Shalini Sakena

The Author

Kamleshwar

The Translator

Jai Ratan

Publishers: Katha
Cover Design: Geeta Dharmarajan
Category: Katha Hindi Library
Statistics: 5.5" x 8" 204 Pages [PB]
Price: Rs 250 [India and the subcontinent only]

These are my Children

2007-04-15T21:52:00.000-07:00

Poignant, bittersweet, earthy. Nine heartwarming slices of life from Goa about empty nests, affections betrayed, relations made and unmade.The entanglements and entailments of human feeling echo through this engaging gallimaufry of stories from the pen of one of Goa's finest writers. In this deeply sensitive translation from the Konkani, These Are My Children mirrors a Goa that may have changed with time yet holds on steadfastly to a character and energy that is all its own.

The Statesman
(Thursday, 12th April, 2007)

From the Katha stable comes the book These are my Children by Konkani writer, Damodar Mauzo, which has been translated by Xavier Cota into English. The book narrates stories from Goa that speak of affections, love, betrayal and relations made and unmade. Human feelings are aplenty in these nine beautiful portrayals by one of Goa's finest writers.

Rich in vocabulary and few characters, the nine not-so-short stories have strong characters – rich and poor, good and evil – that impart an important message. Whether it is living in harmony or treating the rich and poor as equal or even debating the righteousness of someone’s actions; the stories are educative and important for character building.

The entanglements and entailments of human feelings echo through this engaging range of stories. In this deeply sensitive translation, changes with time that have entered Goa are spoken of but repeatedly narrates the character and energy that is typical; of the place. How Goa through its very strong characteristic customs and values retains its old world charm in spite of the ever-growing changes engulfing the new world is the main theme behind the book.

The Vow is a story about a priest and an old man. The priest finds solace in treating the needy., telling people about God and His grace while the old man shows strength of character by keeping a vow that a mother once kept to get her son back. The priest deeply moved by the old man’s faith, devotion and fatherly affection, learns more about life and God through him.

When sons go awry and do not listen to their father, sometimes young age and deep conviction in one’s abilities leads the youthful, intelligent men onto a path of their own. Minguel’s Kin is also the story of a man whose son goes away to prove his mettle without the help of his father and his money.

The story sharing the name of the book is These are my Children. This story narrates the woes of an old woman in Goa who bore three children, Abel, Anthony and Angela but all three of them go to foreign lands leaving her alone. She loves the coconut trees in her yard as they are named after her children reminding her of them and keeping her company. When the notice to hand over the land to the government is served so that a train path can be laid there, she is troubled as now with the land would go her children (the trees) she had nurtured with immense care and great love. Here is an excerpt from the story, These are my Children.

It was a nightmare. She tossed and turned the whole night long.

The three saplings she had planted in the names of her children had grown into healthy coconut trees. She had lavished those young plants with all the maternal love that couldn’t reach her children across the seas. They weren’t just like her children. They were her very own Angela, Anthony and Abel.

“Don’t pour your heart out for them, dear,” Diniz would chide. “After all, they’re only trees. What if one of them falls in a storm, tomorrow?”

And she would be furious. “Why should the tree fall? If it must, then may it fall on me! If it’s ruined, may I be ruined with it!”

- Aroma Sah.

The author

Damodar Mauzo

The Translator

Xavier Cota

Publishers: Katha
Cover Design: Geeta Dharmarajan
Category: Katha Konkani Library
Statistics: 5.5" x 8" [PB]
Price: Rs 200 [India and the subcontinent only]

Buy now

The Secrets of Kalindi

2007-04-13T03:53:00.000-07:00

Have you ever had the urge to protect an elephant from poachers? Or work with a scientist who's doing research in solar energy? Have you wished for the power to motivate a whole village or help a group of women achieve their dreams?

If you are looking for action, adventure and fun, then this is the book for you. The Secrets of Kalindi has many, many stories within it, and many, many endings. You are the star of this book. You decide what you want to do! So go ahead and choose the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle that will make your picture. Learn a little about how you can help Planet Earth - our only home. Happy adventuring!

Hindustan Times
(December 13, 1998)

Have fun reading and enjoy the puzzles too.

YoCee.in
(The Hub for Kids in Chennai)

This book is no ordinary book. In this book you literally write your own story! You should not read this book from the first page to the last. Read till the end of a page and choose from the options open to you. This will take you on different trails.This example is worth noting!You and your friends are ready to go on a two-day excursion to Kalindi Kunj. You reach the place by nightfall and you go to sleep. The next morning you find that you are up before everyone else. You feel that there is time for a little exploration. You have the following options:If you want walk to the ruins go to page 50If you want to go off on your own turn to page 8 If you decide to stay with the group go to page 6...

The story keeps branching! The rest is up to you. You are the one who chooses the path.With eye-catching illustrations and mysterious touch, ‘The Secrets of Kalindi’ has many stories within it that leads you to different endings. Brought out by Katha Publishers, this book is by Geeta Dharmarajan and is priced at Rs. 75.

- J Anirudh, Class 9, Sri Sankara Senior Secondary School, Adyar.

The Author

Geeta Dharmarajan

The Illustrator

Atanu Roy

Publishers: Katha
Category: Katha Books for Children/Balkatha/A Jaldi Adventure Book
Statistics: 80 pages
ISBN 81-85586-44-6 [PB]
Price: Rs 75 [India and the subcontinent only]

Igniting young minds

2007-04-09T22:15:00.000-07:00

The dreams of thousands of children in Delhi's slums are lost in poverty. As part of a unique initiative, a Delhi-based NGO has set up Asia'a first computer clubhouse. Suruchi Khubchandani reports.

Amidst the chaotic traffic signals of the Capital, the race among them to get going is what we witness everyday. Often clad in torn clothes, these innocent faces make for a heart-wrenching sight.

Statistics affirm that there are about 100 million children who live on the streets in our country today. Sans any respite, most of them starve, dwell in unhygienic conditions and bear the burden of virtually parenting their siblings. Education or brush with technology is unthinkable.

But for a Delhi-based NGO, Katha, the status quo wouldn't have ever changed, at least in the Govind Puri slum cluster of south Delhi. Katha, which has stemmed from the renowned publishing house with the same name, had with the initative of Geeta Dharmarajan kick-started a literacy project, It started with just five children in the slums of Govind Puri way back in 1988. In a small setting at Sarvodaya Enclave three months back, the NGO gave shape to Intel's first Computer Clubhouse in the Asia-Pacific region besides giving a reason to the street and slum kids to smile. Not that they no longer feel the need to go and beg for alms or do nitty-gritty jobs at the traffic junctions, the enticement of a new technology, is helping hold their steps back.

The rendezvous with computers for these children starts every morning and afternoon, when the vans known as the 'Tamasha Road Vans (TRS) collect them from areas such as INA, RK Puram, Hauz Rani and Saket. Says coordinator Rajesh, Exploring various keys of the keyboard, their functions fascinated these children. With the passing days, they have learnt to draw and play on the computer and in the process have become familiar with many things including words. From the initial ''I can't' the proposition has changed to 'I can', they have knocked the T. More than 157 kids have visited the computer club and 50 have become regular. Besides divulging in Word programs, movie software and games, the children upto the age of 12 years, have transgresses to browsing the net.

But as it goes, the start is always a Herculean task and the computer club also found it difficult to attract and retain the children initially.

Starting from 10 children in the first month, the count increased. "It is not always easy to convince a child, more so if the child happens to be a breadwinner. These children have never been to a school so they are quite reluctant to follow a routine and use their thinking power. But when they come here, get acquainted with the computers and experience the thrill of operating one, they became quite regular. In fact, lately the numbers have increased to the extent that the TRS became jam-packed and children who were left out started running after it," adds Rajesh.

A spin-off of this set-up being that these children observing the well-dressed people doing rounds of the place have suddenly becomes conscious and aware of their own.

Amrita Talwar of Katha says, "They have become hygiene conscious and want to take a bath, comb their hair. In the long run, this exposure will instil lifelong learning skills in them, who are oblivious to such mannerisms."

Katha is back with its Summer Workshops!

2007-04-02T21:29:00.000-07:00

Summer visits Chennai in full force, and together with it comes Katha's refreshing array of workshops for children, this 2007, through April and May - with more stories, activities and games than ever before, designed and created especially for youngsters! Katha's Books for children and young adults transport them to a land of make-believe, yet root them to the very real world around them. Katha displays its superbly told stories this summer, through its story-telling workshops, with fresh perspectives in language, illustration and design - chosen with care to suit the target age group.

Katha wishes to leave a creative imprint on the fresh minds of children much before they take on the fine print of an adult world. Something that will linger on and colour their years to come.

Come, be a part of the fun-filled Katha family, and listen to our stories!

Katha will hold these workshops for children in the age group 3 - 9 years, on the following days in April:

Module I: April 9th - April 13th 2007

Module II: April 23rd to April 27th 2007

Age group: 3 - 9 years

Timings: 10.30 AM to 1.00 PM

Katha's storytellers will entice you with beautifully rendered tales, challenging activities and creative games. Workshops are scheduled for May as well.

The Summer Workshops will be held at:

KATHA
No 8, 1st Main Road,
Karpagam Gardens,
Adyar,
Chennai 600 020

For further details, please feel free to call us at 4211 4326/94443 90134.

The man from Chinnamasta!

2007-04-01T21:47:00.000-07:00

Goswami weaves into her narrative the turbulent history of Assam and her prose is marked by compassion and humanity. In the novel, we see the force with which the great weights of tradition and religious ritual come up against the dramatic urgency of change.

The Hindu, Literary Review
(Sunday, 1 April, 2007)

THE 65-year-old writer Indira Goswami has a dedicated readership in her native Assam, where she is known as Mamoni Baideo. Renowned for her knowledge of the Ramayana literature, she has been a faculty member in the Department of Modern Indian Languages at the University of Delhi; she has won several awards, including the Jnanpith Award in 2001; and it is a mark of her position of respect in the Assamese community that she was also, until recently, involved in peace talks between the Government and the ULFA militants of Assam.

Goswami's classic novel Chinnamastar Manuhto (The Man from Chinnamasta) is set around the 2,000-year-old Kamakhya Temple of the Sakta cult. Legend has it that this Shakti Peeth marks the spot where Sati's sacred yoni fell to the earth. The novel tells the story of Chinnamasta Jatadhari, a hermit who leads the effort for change in the cruel ritual of animal sacrifice, and others around him — notably Ratnadhar, the sensitive youth who falls to the ground and sobs when he sees a buffalo being dragged for its slaughter, and Dorothy Brown, the estranged wife of the college principal who comes to the Jatadhari seeking peace of mind.

It is not hard to see why Goswami is so well loved by her readers. Her prose is marked by compassion and humanity. She weaves into her narrative the turbulent history of the State, including the bitter defeat of the Ahom king at the hands of the Mughals in the 17th century, and the confrontation between the English forces and the Burmese at the end of the 18th. And in the 1920s setting of the novel, we see the force with which the great weights of tradition and religious ritual come up against the dramatic urgency of change.

In this aspect, The Man from Chinnamasta is also a courageous novel — for, at its heart is an impassioned protest against the horror of animal sacrifice. As a child, Goswami saw animal sacrifices being performed at the temple. The anguish of Ratnadhar, which reappears in one of her poems, draws its force from her childhood experience of witnessing this cruelty.

Vivid imagery

The novel begins by invoking the great river of Assam, the Brahmaputra, as a beast moving its "mighty shanks" as it flows. Ever the dramatic storyteller, her opening images contain hints of disease ("leucoderma victim"); deprivation ("widowed mother"); and even menace, later, where the curve of the river is described as "a sacrificial machete". And then, suddenly, the prose bursts forth to describe the glorious natural profusion of seuli, kendur, outenga, ashoka and khokan in the Nilachal hills. The Jatadhari himself strides on to the scene, "an ancient landmass arising from the water". Goswami's sentences are drenched with the green beauty of the landscape.

This spirited translation from the Asomiya, by Prashant Goswami, conveys a sense of the novel's vivid imagery. The translation was nominated for the Hutch Crossword Book Award 2006 in the category of Indian writing in translation.

Commendable project

And finally a word about the commendable Katha project, which has been working in the areas of language, culture and translation for close to two decades. What a difference it has made to the world of Indian writing! The elegantly designed books, with cover paintings by contemporary Indian artists (the Tyeb Mehta painting on the cover of this volume depicts the violence of the struggle between man and animal); the statement that 10 per cent of the cover price will go to help a child in one of the 17 Katha schools; the reassurance that Katha regularly plants trees to replace the wood used in the making of the books — it's a rare project that has so much integrity. Katha's greatest contribution has been in bringing to us newer and newer voices from all over this diverse nation, helping us to understand each other and ourselves.

The Author

Indira Goswami

The Translator

Prashant Goswami

Publishers: Katha
Cover Design: Geeta Dharmarajan
Cover Painting: Tyeb Mehta
Category: Katha Asomiya Library
Statistics: 5.5" x 8" 200 pages
ISBN 81-89020-38-2 [PB]
Price: Rs 250 [India and the subcontinent only]

Not Flowers of Henna

2007-04-01T21:28:00.000-07:00

The Hindu, Literary Review

(Sunday, 1 April, 2007)

TWO months after his death, Katha has come out with a translation of 15 short stories penned by Kamleshwar in a literary career that began in 1946. Though the collection has been in the making for sometime now, it was hastened after his death in January this year.

All fresh translations by Jai Ratan, the collection is testimony to Kalmeshwar's belief that "life is not made up of a sequence of big catastrophes, but is woven out of the warp and woof of small everyday experiences". And, in each experience lies a story — be it as a signboard painter, night watchman, and scriptwriter for All India Radio or editor of a literary magazine. Only it requires a good narrator.

With 200 short stories, 10 novels, several film scripts including "Aandhi", "Mausam" and "Mr. Natwarlal", besides reams of editorial writing to his name, this collection is only representative of the corpus of work written by Kamleshwar.

For further details, go here.

To order your copy, write to us.

Kamleshwar's Book Launched

2007-03-28T02:29:00.000-07:00

New Delhi, March. 25 (PTI): A translated collection of short stories by renowned Hindi writer Kamleshwar that deals with subjects like prostitution, politics, love, marital discord, pride and passion was released here, on 23rd March 2007.

In the 15 stories that are compiled into "Not Flowers of Henna" -- translated into English by Jai Ratan and published by Katha -- Kamleshwar stresses on positive lessons for mankind to reconstruct the society and its norms.

The book was released on Friday by well-known Hindi fiction writer Krishna Sobti.

After the release, writers and critics remembered Kamleshwar as a great author whose stories "depicted trials and tribulations of a fast changing society that looked for new values in the wake of collapse of the old value system". "Not Flowers of Henna" includes Kamleshwar's most famous story "Kitne Pakistan?"

Kamleshwar -- Sahitya Akademi award winner in 2003 -- and Sobti are among more than 30 authors whose works are featuring in the five-day Paris Book Fair that began on Friday.

Vijay Tendulkar

2007-03-26T23:35:00.000-07:00

This selection, containing lectures by Tendulkar and essays on his works by scholars and critics, is an insight into his creative intellect as a writer willing to take on society and its conscience-keepers!

The First City Magazine
(December 2001)

“Well compiled and published, this book does a good job of presenting one of the greatest icons of modern Indian theatre and film.”

The Pioneer
(January 19, 2002)

“ A book which, as the cover claims, is an attempt to provide an insight into the creative intellect of Tendulkar’s mutifaceted personality, is certainly worth reading for a student and critic of the palywright.”

“ Vijay Tendulkar provides great insight into the creative genius of the multifaceted playwright.

Femina
(December 15, 2001)

“A commendable publication from Katha.”

The author

Vijay Tendulkar

Publishers: Katha
Cover Design: Geeta Dharmarajan
Category: Katha ALT Series
Statistics: 5.5" x 8" 152 pages
ISBN 81-87649-17-8 [PB]
Price: Rs 200 [India and the subcontinent only]

Ayoni and other stories

2007-03-26T22:27:00.000-07:00

From dark dilemmas to sharp wounds. That is what this unique collection by writers spanning a century can be summed up as. The stories, unflinching in style and content, focus on women’s issues like abortion, rape, dowry and beyond. Each piece is reflective of a path-breaking vision that has altered the Telugu literary scene – in form, style and content.

The First City
(February, 2002)

“The stories focus on highlighting the problems that women face in their everyday lives.”

The Authors

Abburi Chaya Devi
Gurazada Apparao
Kanuparti Viswanathareddy
Kuppili Padma
Rachakonda Viswanathasastry
Sivaraju Subbulakshmi
Vivina Murthy
Chalam
Indraganti Janakibala
Kavanasarma
Kodavatiganti Kutumbarao
P Sathyavathi
Ranganayakamma
Sripada Subrahmanyasastry
Volga

The Translators & Editors

Alladi Uma and M Sridhar

Publishers: Katha
Cover Design: Oroon Das
Cover Painting: T Vaikuntam
Category: Katha Telugu Library/Short Fiction
Statistics: 5.5" x 8" 208 pages
ISBN 81-87649-00-3 [PB]

Rs Price: Rs 200 [India and the subcontinent only]

The Life and Times of Pratapa Mudaliar

2007-03-26T22:16:00.000-07:00

Katha presents the first Tamil Novel, originally published more than 125 years ago.

The New Indian Express
(May 21, 2006)

It was 1879 when Samuel Vedanayagam Pillai, retired district magistrate of the South Indian town of Mayuram, wrote the first Tamil novel, Pratapa Mudaliar Charithiram: The life and adventures in Tamil of Pratapa Mudaliar. And though, over the past century, the book has proved to be a best-selling, enduring classic, it's only 140 years later that it has finally been fully translated into English.

This delay is one that the novel's translator Meenakshi Tyagarajan - great grand-daughter of famous writer and social reformer A Madhaviah - finds quite bewildering. "It's definitely very strange that it's not been translated so far. Ashokamritram said precisely this at the launch of the book. The first Telugu and Kannada novels' translations emerged immediately after they were written, in a few years. Also, it's not difficult to translate."

But it's an interest that caught her only six decades after she first read the book. "I first read it in my early teens, but if you read anything for an exam, it kills your enthusiasm," she explains. "But now, after I translated Padmavati (by A Madhaviah), this seemed to be the logical thing to do."

The novel is a humorous and satirical account of the escapades of its lead character, Pratapa Mudaliar, (and, since Pillai was an impassioned believer in women's rights, Mudaliar's wiser wife, Gnanambal). It can't really be considered an authentic, realistic account of the times in which it was produced; it is more in the tradition of escapist folk tales, anecdotes and parables, with its homespun wisdom and humour, and is similarly studded with morals.

This was due to Vedanayagam Pillai's intention of using his prose work as a medium for advocating and bringing about social reform. Far from being a straightforward storyteller, Pillai was rather more concerned with moral precepts, such as his conviction in women's emancipation, since he regarded the "degradation" and "slavery" to which he saw they were subject was one of the "crying evils of the land."

What Pillai also pioneered in his prose (and previous works of poetry, also in a moralistic vein) was a simpler, more colloquial idiom, which the public easily understood. This was a far cry from the high-flown, elevated verse in praise of divinity to which they were accustomed. And though this verse had a certain rarefied beauty, Pillai thought that its arcane vocabulary was one that wasn't even to be found in dictionaries, nor held any practical value to the common public. This was why his novel employed the tale-within-a-tale format "with large chunks of lecturing," says Thyagarajan. "He tuned it to appeal to the public, and it combined his passion for the Tamil language with his desire to entertain and teach."

So, with Pillai's penchant for proselytising, it's understandable why, as Thyagarajan says, "Modern readers would like this book only as a curiosity, or light entertainment." Though she does concede that "there is contemporary applicability of some of his ideas, such as on the judiciary and welfare state."

The Hindu
(1885)

"The book has ... rare merits and its popularity has been so great that the first edition of a large number of copies ran out in a few months ..."

The author

Mayuram Vedanayagam Pillai

The translator

Meenakshi Tyagarajan

Publishers: Katha
Cover Design: Netra Shyam
Cover Painting: Vijay Belgave
Category: Katha Tamil Library/Novel
Statistics: 5.5" x 8" 272 pages
ISBN 81-89020-42-0 [PB]
Price: Rs 295 [India and the subcontinent only]

Sleepwalkers

2007-03-26T21:13:00.000-07:00

A story of migration, oblivion and strange forgetfulness, Sleepwalkers is a moving tale of shifting identities and locales. Revolving around the two cities, Lucknow and Karachi, it depicts the predicament and misery of post-Partition refugees, uprooted from their homeland.

This is Lucknow ...tilting their caps in the Lucknavi style, several street converge upon the square ... the mohajirs had transported an entire city within the folds of their hearts ... Who knows what remains at the spot where this city had earlier stood! Here it has acquired such splendour that any visitor to Karachi repeatedly asked, "Have you seen Lucknow in Karachi?"

So starts this much-acclaimed novella about migration. Simple, suggestive, subtle, Joginder Paul's Sleepwalkers makes for a satisfying read.

The Hindu
(June 7, 1998)

"Throughout this amazing tale of the real and the imaginary, what is and what was, paradise lost and paradise regained only to be lost again, there is a compassion, a sense of complete empathy with these troubled, night-walking souls. Joginder Paul has obviously trod similar ground and experienced at first hand the bewildering uncertainty of the migrant sensibility. Reading the novels in English one feels truly in a world transported, not created or re-created as most translations attempt to do."

The Statesman
(1 June, 1998)

"This collection is multifaceted and worth buying. The translators give the reader a taste of the richness of Urdu literature."

The author

Joginder Paul

The Translators

Sunil Trivedi and Sukrita Paul Kumar

The Editor

Keerti Ramachandra

Publishers: Katha
Cover Design: Geeta Dharmarajan
Cover Painting: Sanjay Bhattacharya
Courtesy: Neera and Rakesh Malhotra
Category: Katha Urdu Library/Novel
Statistics: 5.25" x 7.5" HB 128 pages
ISBN 81-87649-14-3
Price: Rs 120 [India and the subcontinent only]

Five Days in Paris

2007-03-26T01:05:00.000-07:00

Looking beyond English

(The Hindu, Monday, Mar 19, 2007)

NEW DELHI: There will be more than the usual Indian flavour in the French capital this month. While the taste of "desi'' cuisine may not have gained a foothold in Paris in a big way, but the more potent Indian literature promises to make its presence felt at the Paris Book Fair this month. The big names from the world of words may have already been recognisable, but Katha is trying to get the names of non-English literature noticed too.

With regional authors fighting for attention in the country, Katha is hoping to take this "mission'' beyond. Having nearly 300 writers in 21 languages, Katha really has access to the best stories in India.

The publishing house is hoping to introduce its French readers to a "star'' they may have not been really aware off -- Krishna Sobti. Considered the grand dame of Hindi literature, she has created strong women characters. Born before Independence in West Punjab in present-day Pakistan, she is known for her honesty and the way she looks at things. With many awards, she is a name that goes beyond the limits of language and Katha is hoping that it will achieve that by making her their author of focus.

- Mandira Nayar

The Master Carpenter

2007-03-25T23:10:00.000-07:00

When the winds blow wild snuffing out the flames, it is the Master Carpenter who takes up the challenge. Some quick calculations later he raises a stone slab, and the lamp burns steady. When his own heart plays games, the games of desire, once again he triumphs. But how does a father react, who knows that his son has far surpassed his talent, and fallen short of his heritage?

The legend of Perumthachan, the Master Carpenter is recreated vividly from a popular folk tale by MT Vasudevan Nair, the Jnanpith, Sahitya Akademi and Padma Bhushan award winning writer.

The Hindu
(Sunday, November 6, 2005)

ONCE again, thanks to Gita Krishnankutty, readers the world over can enjoy M.T. Vasudevan Nair's exquisite prose in The Master Carpenter. Set in the caste sensitive brahminical society of Kerala, the story of the master carpenter or Perumthachan is a powerful story of love, arrogance, restrictions of caste and the close, almost cloistered life, at the illam.

Everybody has heard of the great skill of the Perumthachan. He is not merely a carpenter, he is a sculptor and an architect too.

The screenplay begins at dusk with an old ambalavasi trying to light a stone lamp. But the wind is strong and the lamp is extinguished. A man lying in the tanner pandal close by gets up and strategically places a stone slab in such a way, breaking the path of the wind. He wears a sacred thread and he is mistaken for a namboodri. But he tells the ambalavasi that he is a carpenter who has been presented with the thread because he built a temple. Immediately the ambalavasi recognises that this is no ordinary carpenter but the Perumthachan. News spreads that the Perumthachan is in town.

He is summoned by Unni thamburan to the kovilakkam and is soon assigned the task of carving an idol for the temple. Perumthachan is irresistibly drawn to Bhargivi thamburatti. And in a minute of misunderstanding, he is not allowed at the consecration of the idol he so lovingly fashioned with the facial features of the thamburatti.

Years pass, and Perumthachan trains his son Kannan in the art and soon Kannan's fame spreads. He is considered as skilful, if not more so, than his father. Perumthachan is at times upset at his son's arrogance, his ability to unduly influence his clients and at times even a strain of avarice.

It is the Perumthachan's wish that he should be the one to build a Saraswati mantapam that Bhargivi thamburatti wanted. But with her long dead, would the young Kunhikkavu thamburatti agree to have it built? Because it was her mother's wish, she agrees and it is Kannan, not Perumthachan, who is called to do the work. Once again, as in the previous generation, there is an undercurrent between Kunhikkavu and Kannan. Unlike the Perumthachan, Kannan does not acknowledge his place in social hierarchy. He finds this stifling and refuses to succumb to it. So much so it leads to disastrous results and it is up to Perumthachan to restore the honour of the kovilakkam.

M.T. Vasudevan Nair has told this legendary story of the master carpenter with finesse, bringing to mind the old rituals and traditions and a world long since forgotten. He systematically builds up the suspense until ultimately the ending comes upon you surprisingly, almost shockingly, leaving you cold and unbelieving.

The Little Magazine

"...one of the best loved writers in Malayalam."

Outlook

"...MT is a versatile genius who has mastered the art of fiction."

The author

M T Vasudevan Nair

The Translator

Gita Krishnankutty

Publishers: Katha
Cover Design: Geeta Dharmarajan
Cover Paintng: G R Iranna
Category: Katha Malayalam Library/Screenplay
Statistics: 5.5" x 8" 248 pages
ISBN 81-89020-23-4 [PB]
Price: Rs 200 [India and the subcontinent only]

Separate Journeys

2007-03-22T23:24:00.000-07:00

A unique collection demonstrating the vitality and versatility of Indian writing today. "It is sheer serendipity that the stories all happen to be by women."

The Telegraph
(April 24 1998)

"A splendid showcase of short stories by Indian women writers."

Times Literary Supplement

"Her selection reveals a pattern of echoes, resonances and related trajectories pointing to the common concerns of modern Indian writers, and it highlights what some see as women's determination to shed the confining garments of decency in which they have been clothed by male critics."

The Statesman
(May 25 1998)

"After reading Separate Journeys one feels that the very diversity that differentiates the stories also loops them together, sensuously, delicately. It's like some bright colours cajoled into each and every fibre by varying hands and minds."

Indian review of Books

"The fifteen stories in this collection are of such high standard that it is difficult to choose a few to mention in a short review ... the translations are excellent ..."

The authors

Mahasweta Devi
Anupama Niranjana
T Janaki Rani
Anita Desai
Mamoni Raisom Goswami
Ashapurna Devi
Urmila Pawar
Mrinal Pande
Kamala Das
Viswapriya L Iyengar
Qurratulain Hyder
Jeelani Bano
Rupavati
Rajee Seth
Varsha Das

The translators

Mahua Bhattacharya
Tejaswini Niranjana
Vakati Panduranga Rao
Pradipta Borgohain
Rimli Bhattacharya
Asha Damle
Mrinal Pande
Kamala Das
Qurratulain Hyder
Geeta Dharmarajan
Jai Ratan
Varsha Das

Publishers: Katha with Garutman
Cover Design: Geeta Dharmarajan
Cover Paintng: T Vaikuntam
Category: Katha Asia Library/Short Fiction
Statistics: 5.5" x 8" 216 pages
ISBN 81-85586-79-9 [PB]
Price: Rs 250 [India and the subcontinent only]

Mapping Memories

2007-03-22T22:47:00.000-07:00

Mapping Memories bring together writers from India and Pakistan. The powerful Urdu short stories written by eminent writers, after 1960, reflect the common sensibility evolved through a shared linguistic and cultural heritage.

The Statesman
(June 29 1998)

"All the stories in the collection, from the serious to the light-hearted, the poignant to the bizarre, the surreal to the frightening, are welletched vignettes that transcends all caste creed, language barriers to create a language of their own."

The Pioneer
(June 13 1998)

"Katha's Mapping Memories ... in the fiftieth year of Independence, appears as a timely panacea for the divisive ills festering in the nuclear heat of the current political imbroglio. This exquisitely produced collection of fifteen Urdu short stories has been fastidiously and lovingly put together in accordance with the laudable editorial principle of capturing the 'human predicament in the subcontinent' and telling 'the tale of the shared cultures nourished by India and Pakistan.' Perhaps the signal achievement of the collection is that it opens windows to a vista hitherto closed to non-Urdu speaking readers ... With apparent effortlessness, the translators have accomplished a marvellous job in capturing the idiosyncratic resonances of the spoken language. In becoming the vehicle for the message of peace and harmony, these stories acquire a 'godly' character and, as a body, take on the appearance of a welcome 'bridge over troubled waters.' ''

The Authors

Anwar Qamar
Bano Qudsia
Enver Sajjad
Farkhanda Lodhi
Gyas Ahmed Gaddi
Intizar Husain
Jeelani Bano
Joginder Paul
Mohammad Mansha Yad
Qurratulain Hyder
Salim Agha Qazilbash
Surendra Prakash
Syed Muhammed Ashraf
Umrao Tariq
Zaheda Hina

The translators

Rashmi Govind
Tahira Khan
Shobhana Bhattacharji
Neshat Quaiser
Krishna Paul
Naghma Zafir
GIllian Wright
Rashid
Qurratulain Hyder
Atanu BHattacharya
Sara Rai
Saleem Kidwai
Anupama Prabhala Kapse, P L Narasimhan
Ayesha Sultana

Publishers: Katha
Cover Design: Roma Sinai Mukherji
Cover Detail: Detail from Sheba Chhachi's cleave/to, photo-text-sculpture installation
Courtesy: Eicher Gallery
Category: Katha Urdu Library/Short Fiction
Statistics: 5.5" x 8" Pb 234 pages
ISBN 81-85586-76-4
Price: Rs 175 [India and the subcontinent only]

Mumbai: Film Festivals Galore - II

2007-03-22T21:49:00.000-07:00

Katha Centre for Film Studies in collaboration with Alliance Francaise presents:

‘Everytime we say Goodbye,’ a three day film festival showcasing three directors and three countries.

THURSDAY, 22nd March ...

Director: Hou Hsiao Hsien
Country: Taiwan
Three films from the acclaimed Taiwanese Director, Hou Hsiao Hsien
Film : Good Men, Good Women ( Haonan Haonu)
Year: 1995
Language: Mandarin/Cantonese/Japanese/Taiwanese
Country: Japan/Taiwan
Runtime: 108 minutes
Timings: 10.30 a.m to 1 p.m.

Film : Goodbye South, Goodbye (Nanguo zaijan, nangu)
Year: 1996
Language: Mandarin/Hokkien
Country: Taiwan
Runtime: 124 minutes
Timings: 1.30 p.m. to 3.45 p.m.

Film : Three Times (Zui hao de shi guang)
Year: 1996
Language: Mandarin/Taiwanese
Country: France/Taiwan
Runtime: 139 minutes
Timings: 4.15 p.m. to 6.30 p.m.

FRIDAY, 23rd March ...

Director: Satyajit Ray
Country : India
Satyajit Ray’s ‘Appu Trilogy.’

Life of a Bengali family and their son Apu, as he moves from childhood in a rural village, through his youth in Benares where the family later moves, to manhood and marriage in Calcutta.

Film : Pather Panchali ( Song of the Road)
Year: 1955
Language: Bengali
Runtime:115 minutes.
Timings: 10.30 a.m. to 12.30 p.m.

Film : Aparajito (The Unvanquished)
Year: 1956
Language: Bengali
Runtime:110 minutes.
Timings: 1.30 p.m. to 3.30 p.m.

Film : Apur Sansar (The World of Apu)
Year: 1959
Language: Bengali
Runtime:105 minutes.
Timings: 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.

MONDAY,26th March ...

Director: Bella Tarr
Country: Hungary
Film: Satantango
Year:1994
Lanuguage: Hungarian
Runtime: 450 minutes

A 7 and a half hour masterpiece. Filmed in Hungary from 1991 to 1994, the work examines a village as a microcosm of a country's political leanings.

Timings: 10.30 a.m. onwards.

We're looking forward to having you with us.

Water!

2007-03-21T21:32:00.000-07:00

A modern classic, Water, set in the summer of 1969 in the middle of the worst drought seen in Chennai, portrays the daily struggle of ordinary people trying to survive the crisis. Water, or the lack of it, is the recurrent metaphor in this realist-impressionist novella. An entire landscape of thirst is masterfully conjured up by the story’s locus on a single street whose very existence (and near destruction) revolves around the everyday quest for water.

The Indian Express
(January 20, 2002)

“It is a simple story, told simply, written simply and woven as a simple yarn. Yet Water holds one’s attention in the first few lines itself.”

- Prarthana Gahilote

First City Magazine
(February, 2002)

“The writer has been described as someone ‘who can bring out the strength of simplicity, who can make the everydayness of life speak’. The novel is well written, Ashokamitran has an interesting narrative style and water is a recommended read.”

The Sunday Statesman
(20 January, 2002)

The vision of women’s empowerment which emerges in Water is nothing short of remarkable, advocating as it does, freedom of choice, the mark of liberation in the true sense of the term. Were it not for Holmstrom’s translation of this work into English from the original in Tamil, Water would have remained confined to a select readership. We owe her however, a greater debt of gratitude for the quality of her translation. The transition from the source to the target language is so effortlessly achieved as to make us forget that the English version of Water is not the original one.

Nepalnews.com
(Kathmandu, Sunday, February 24, 2002)

“Water is a lyrical novella, and the best kind of literary translation: it gives readers a chance to enter the imaginative world of another language while also enjoying themselves. It also lets readers re-discover the novella form, which is common in regional language literature, but unusual in English. This book is so refreshing, it almost tempts me to re-read my collection of Katha Prize Stories anthologies."

The author

Ashokamitran

The translator

Lakshmi Holmstrom

Publishers: Katha
Category: Katha Trailblazer Series/Novel
Cover Painting: Shamshad Hussain
Statistics: 5.25" x 7.5", 160 pages
ISBN 81-87649-13-5 [HB]
Price: Rs 150 [only in India and the subcontinent]

Home and Away

2007-03-21T21:10:00.000-07:00

Love and hatred, desire and disappointment, pleasure and pain, reunion and separation: that’s the gamut of emotions that come alive in Ramachandra Sharma’s Home and Away.

The First City Magazine
(February 2002)

“Arresting narratives make for an engaging read.”

The Pioneer
(January 19, 2002)

“Excellent collection of stories in simple prose, peppered with coloquial flavour. The simple narrative successfully delivers an entire range of emotions and experiences the author has had over the years, each experience leaving an indelible mark and somehow influencing the next one.”

“Katha publications, in presenting a translation of some of his best works, have invited the reader into a rich world, where the stories themselves tell a tale.”

The author

Ramachandra Sharma

The translator

Padma and Ramachandra Sharma

Publishers: Katha

Cover Design and Illustration: Nataraj Sharma
Category: Katha Kannada Library/Short Fiction
Statistics: 5.5" x 8", 192 pages
ISBN 81-87649-15-1
Price: Rs 200 [India and the subcontinent only]

Tale of Two Novellas

2007-03-20T22:09:00.000-07:00

The Financial Express
(New Delhi, Sunday, June 24, 2001)

“Coconut Palms, hot, sizzling dosas or political banter - he is at ease with all of these. Paul Zacharia, one of the best known Malayali writers of today, is known for his dedicated sense of writing. His political columns have often spruced up controversies.”

- Excerpts from Paul Zacharia's interview with Prachi Raturi

The Book Review
(6 June, 2001)

“I am not alone to experience this author-ruling-over-his-text phenomenon. Seemingly, Katha’s Geeta Dharmarajan also realizes it, at least that is what the beautiful cover of the book proves to be. Look at it. The title is written in tiny, almost invisible letters, while the author’s name appears prominently, in large, bright letters, underscoring the importance of the author in relation to his book.”

“But Praise the Lord is different. It is a work that the readers hold close to their heart. I for one have already read the original version two or three times, and yet I sat through the English version at a stretch, more often than not re-reading several passages. And to my surprise, I found that reading could still be a pleasure.”

“The book Praise the Lord and What News Pilate published by Katha holds testimony to this dual role Paul Zacharia plays with remarkable virtuosity. The two novellas do not in any way reflect any political or ideological issues that call for urgency. These are pure narratives tinged with pungent humour. The story seems to be simple, but what makes it fascinating is architecture, its characters and above all its language.”

“This book is undoubtedly the best example of Kerala’s overgrown contemporary fiction that we could show the world."

- M. Mukundan

The Financial Express
(New Delhi, Sunday April 22, 2001)

“Faithful Translation.”

“The first English translation of Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award winner, Paul Zacharia, is indeed refreshing. In the first of the two novellas in this edition, Zacharia captures, in simple sentences, the nuances of life in a rubber plantation in the humid climes of Kerala.”

The Indian Express
(New Delhi, Sunday, May 20, 2001)

“Paul Zacharia’s novellas, Praise the Lord and What News, Pilate?, illustrate in the Rushdiean age of clever writing how simple prose can be used to describe powerful emotions. Despite the brevity of the book (another blessing in this age of fast forward) the issues that it raises stay with you long after you have finished reading it.”

- Ashwin Ahmed

The Asian Age
(Sunday, 3 June 2001)

“The pungent humour, the sharp wit, the exacting eye for detail, athe absurd. All counched in the best of words.”

India Today
(May 7, 2001)

"The man doesn’t write novels, preferring to stick to the genre of the short story, or at times a novella, condensing his whimsical messages into a curtailed amount of prose. Usually his stories are decoctions of multiple tastes, often divergent with each other, variations of meaning and introspections. And the poniard of a subtle sensuality is always thrust into nodal points of the narration, proving Zacharia a maestro of super-suggestion. In many ways, it is also extraordinary hallmark."

- Ravi Shankar profiling Paul Zacharia

The Outlook Weekly News Magazine
(June 4, 2001)

“If Gabriel Garcia Marquez is the best writer in Malayalam, then Gita Krishnankutty’s translation proves that Malayalam reads much better when written in English. These stories explore the logic of deception, which animates the vocative.”

- Sanil V

The Telegraph, Calcutta
(Friday 4 May, 2001)

“Krishnankutty’s Translation is sensitive; she has retained several vernacular suffixes, but succeeded in keeping the text from becoming unwieldy or incomprehensible. Two novellas is certainly a stimulating read.”

- Cyril Arijit Ghosh

Frontline
(July 20, 2001)

“A decade later, however, the writers came to their own and the genre began to exhibit great variety in themes, styles and worldviews. One of the finest writers to emerge from the movement was Paul Zacharia - Known only as ‘Zacharia’ to Malyalam readers- seldom prolific, but ever careful and innovative. What makes Zacharia different is his vision that alternates between the tragic and the comic and his tenderness kept intact even in the most sarcastic of moods, without at the same time falling prey to sentimentality that is the bane of many compassion- driven writers.”

First City Magazine
(May 2001)

“Translated by Gita Krishnankutty, this wonderfully written book secretes a sort of superadhesive, gluing the book to your hands till you have read each and every word of it.”

“Though the book has a very basic plot, the way it has been written is enough to keep even the most meandering of minds enraptured.”

The Pioneer
(Saturday May 12, 2001)

“Praise the Lord is a rare work of art in terms of translation. Credit must go to Gita Krishnankutty for not letting linguistic limitations inhibit translation of even a typical Malayali slangl. Her rendition of Zacharia is almost perfect.”

“This is a work worth reading for two reasons. First, it is a fine work of literature by a master story-teller from God’s Own Country. Second, it is an even more superb work of translation of a remarkable portrayal of an ordinary life caught in even more ordinary events that, ironically, is what makes life what it is.”

The Author

Paul Zacharia

The Translator

Gita Krishnankutty

Publishers: Katha
Cover Design: Geeta Dharmarajan
Cover Painting: K S Kulkarni
ISBN 81-87649-10-0 [HB]
Price: Rs 120 [In the Indian subcontinent]

Katha in Paris!

2007-03-18T22:42:00.000-07:00

Mukundan, Sobti, Kamleshwar books head for Paris Book Fair

New Delhi, March 18 (IANS): Delhi-based publisher Katha will showcase author Krishna Sobti's works along with Kamleshwar's "Not Flowers Of Henna", M. Mukundan's "Dance", Laxmibai Tilak's "Sketches From Memory" and Damodar Mauzo's "These Are My Children" at the Paris Book Fair this year.

Katha's slice of verse, in an anthology by stalwarts like Na Pichamurthy and young artistes like Kanimozhi and Udaya Narayana Singh ("Second Person Singular"), is also bound for the March 23-27 fair. The children's section will include "Kaleh And The Sing Song Castle" by Rizio Yohannan Raj, "The Chase, First Sun Stories," - by various contributors - and "The Famous Smile" by Geeta Dharmarajan.

"The Vigil" by Shurhoezelie Liezietsu, "Looking for Ismail Sheika," by Homen Borghohain, "The Full Moon In Winter" by Dilip Chitre, "Tales Of City" by various authors, and "Anoma's Daughter" by Santanu Kumar Acharya are listed under college fiction. Sobti, the Hindi author of "The Heart Has Its Reasons" and "Listen, Girl", will be in the spotlight at the fair as "author in focus".

"Sobti's style and idiom impart an authentic touch to whatever theme and situation she portrays. The essence of her creativity lies in her honesty and eagerness to reach the truth and to look into things, rather than at them," said Katha managing editor Rizio Yohannan Raj.

"Sobti guards her freedom as a writer and as an individual zealously. The honesty, range and depth of her works make her one of the representative authors of Katha whose vision is to present the eclectic nature of Indian fiction to a wider readership," she added.

Katha also plans to publish three more novels - "Damn You, Mitro", "Sunflowers In The Dark", "Memory's Daughter" - by her later this year. Kamleshwar's "Not Flowers Of Henna" (Rs.200) - translated by Jai Ratan into English - brings together 15 of his short stories in his characteristic open-ended, restive grope for meaning among the ruins of memory. The collection includes "How Many More Pakistans?" - the famous precursor to his celebrated novel "Kitne Pakistan." Kamleshwar died in New Delhi on Jan 27.

Mauzo's "These Are My Children" (Rs.200) - translated from Konkani into English by Xavier Cota - is a bittersweet slice of life from Goa about empty nests and affections betrayed.

Set up in 1988, Katha focuses on English translations from 21 Indian languages.

- Shinie Antony

Motifs with a motive

2007-03-09T22:20:00.000-08:00

Illustrator Sonali Biswas tells AMRITA TALWAR about her work for Geeta Dharmarajan's latest children's book

(Metroplus, The Hindu, February 8, 2007)

Over 400 million people in villages, towns and cities depend on the river Ganga for their daily needs. Instead of protecting the river, people pollute it by dumping sewage and chemicals, create soil erosion and endanger the water species. While environmentalists try to put two and two together to undo this, author Geeta Dharmarajan has come up with a simple solution: she along with illustrator Sonali Biswas has used the tool of katha (story). In "Ma Ganga and the Razai Box", brought out by Geeta's publishing house Katha, she has not only narrated the problem but has offered a solution too. She feels that stories reach out to people and can change their outlook towards things.

This is the story of Yasho, a young girl who saved her village by softening Ganga's fury the same way as Lord Shiva did. Ancient myth tells us that Shiva took the weight of the mighty Ganga on his head and allowed the water to come out slowly through his locks, which prevented the river's force from destroying the earth. In the same way young Yasho planted trees, and their roots, which resemble Shiva's matted locks, helped in arresting soil erosion.
Says Sonali, "After reading the script I realised that the illustrations had to be well-researched. I consulted books, magazines and the Internet. I visited the hill state of Uttaranchal to work out the details and depict the village folk."

The various illustrations such as Shiva's matted locks, roots of the trees, Yasho's portrait, Ma Ganga and the Razai box are beautiful and symbolic. Sonali has drawn the sketches on rice paper and used the hues of green, blue, brown and earthy colours. Her motifs for "Razai Box", carvings on the door have been derived from Uttaranchal folk art. For Shiva's illustration Sonali was inspired by the sculpture of Shiva in the Elephanta caves.

The favourite

But her favourite illustration is the razai box. For that, Sonali created a box and decorated it with a motif used in Kumaoni floor paintings.

"I associated it with wooden boxes in which we put our quilts. After that I checked out various Kumaoni paintings and created a motif. It was ritualistic and a symbol of hills," says Sonali.

Sonali has been illustrating for children for over a decade. She is the recipient of the Chitra Katha Award 2003 for Outstanding Illustrations for "One Lonely Unicorn". She has also received the Runner-Up award from Noma Concours for Children's Book Illustrations in 2000 and an Honourable Mention at the Biennial of Asian Illustrators, Japan in 2002.

"Illustrating for children is all about colours, fun, font and clarity. Drawings should be emotive, creative but not too confusing. I get a lot of satisfaction when I illustrate for children. I feel my paintings can breathe."

Mumbai: Film Festivals Galore

2007-03-09T21:25:00.000-08:00

Greetings from the Katha Centre for Film Studies!

We have two events coming up, this week:

On Monday, the 12th of March, 2007, Katha Centre for Film Studies in collaboration with Bhavan's Cultural Centre, Andheri will be screening "Beijing Bicycle" by Wang Xiaoshuai.

Year: 2001

Country: France/ Taiwan/China

Language: Mandarin

Runtime: 113 minutes

The screening will be held at 11 a.m. at the S.P. Jain Auditorium, Bhavan's College Campus, Andheri West.

On Thursday, 15th March, 2007, Katha Centre for Film Studies in collaboration with Alliance Francaise and SNDT Women's University has organised a special screening of "Bronx Barbes" by French Director Elaine de Latour, who is visiting Mumbai especially for MAMI. You will be able to meet the director, who will introduce and discuss the film before and after the screening.

Year: 2000

Country: France

Language: French/Nushi

Runtime:110 minutes

Venue: SNDT Committee Room, English Department, SNDT Women's University, Churchgate, Mumbai . Timings: 3.30 p.m. onwards.

Please do come and get your friends along!

PS: Check this space for the 3-day Film Festival coming up on 22nd March.

Not Flowers of Henna

2007-03-07T21:00:00.000-08:00

From Katha ...

A first view of Padma Bhushan Awardee Kamleshwar's "Not Flowers of Henna" right here. At our New Books Section.

Take a look!

Alma Kabutari in Chennai!

2007-03-04T21:30:00.000-08:00

Katha takes great pleasure in inviting you to the launch of its latest release …

"Alma Kabutari"

by renowned writer and SAARC Literary Award winner, Maitreyi Pushpa, translated from the Hindi by Raji Narasimhan.

The saga of Alma Kabutari does not begin with Alma herself. It has its roots in centuries of social and sexual subjugation of the kabutaris by the upper-caste kajjas. Like Chittor's Rani Padmini of yore, from whom the kabutaris are descended, the onus of breaking the vicious circle and reclaiming human status for her people falls on young Alma. The engrossing story of young Alma's evolution from victim to survivor to tenacious rebel, Alma Kabutari opens a window to the suffering and exploitation of a tribe that teeters at the very fringes of society even today, and that urgently needs our concern and understanding.

The book will be released by Ms Sumathi, well-known writer and lawyer, who will also speak on it. A reading of choice excerpts from the book will follow.
The launch will happen at 1.00 PM, on 6th March, 2007
in
The Auditorium, Women's Christian College,
College Road, Chennai-600006

We're looking forward to having you with us!

For more information, please contact 4211 4326/94443 90134
or email us at: kathachennai@gmail.com

Kings, Kinship and Valour

2007-02-13T01:55:00.000-08:00

Tales of Adventure

"Stories of kings and battles of long ago."

The Hindu
(The Young World, 12th January 2007)

Abanindranath Tagore's Rajkahini is a series of tales about kings, kinship and valour. The stories also prove that kingship isn't just about grandeur and luxury. He was a painter and perhaps that's why his novel at most parts seem to be word pictures of forts, battle and kings of long ago.

Rajkahini may at times, when the details get too much, seem very like a very colourful history book. The first few stories may seem superior in terms of characters, situations and the settings while in the later tales the decline of circumstances and grandeur in the personal characteristics of the royalty is striking. Their descendants undergo a natural decline and this is subtly indicated throughout the stories. The earlier stories are tales of valour where men live by the sword and in the latter ones the battlefield is abandoned and treacherous methods of poisoning are adopted to ensnare and kill.

Translated from the original Bengali version, it almost seems as if the translator has superimposed English over the work.

- Paromita Pain

About the author

Abanindranath Tagore

Illustrations and Inside Drawings

Vikram Nayak

Publishers: Katha
Series: Katha Pocket Plus Series

Age Group: 13-17 years

200 pages

ISBN 81-89020-52-8 [PB]

Price: Rs 120 [in India and the subcontinent]

The Kala Ghoda Festival!

2007-02-05T20:55:00.000-08:00

Greetings from the Katha Centre for Film Studies!

Its amazing to see such a good line up of films at the Kala Ghoda festival and I hope all you film buffs are making the most of it!

On Friday, February 9th, 2007, its 'Cinema Satsang-IV' at Alliance Francaise auditorium, Churchgate. The film to be screened is : FITZCARRALDO by Werner Herzog

Year: 1982

Country: Peru/West Germany

Language: English/German

Runtime: 158 minutes

And Excerpts from 'BURDEN OF DREAMS' by Les Blank which is a documentary on the chaotic production of 'Fitzcarraldo.'

Year: 1982

Country: USA

Language: Spanish/English/German

The films will be screened and discussed by Devdutt Trivedi. The screening is free of cost. It will begin at 2.00 p.m. and discussions end at 5.30 p.m.

Many of you got to watch the prologue of 'Visions of Europe' by the Hungarian director, Bella Tarr, at the last Cinema Satsang. After 'Cinema Satsang –IV' we can all proceed to Gallery Beyond and watch screened as a part of the Kalaghoda festival at 6.30 p.m.

Do come - and bring your friends along!

****************************************

Deepti D'Cunha,

Research Associate: Katha Centre for Film Studies

B84, Sumeru, MHADA, SVP Nagar, Andheri West, Mumbai 400 053

Tel: (91-22) 2631-3198 / 26341871 Cell: 9820522468

The man from Chinnamasta - in the news!

2007-01-23T23:44:00.000-08:00

Indira Goswami in "Indian Booker" race

Writer Indira Goswami may have drawn criticism from several political quarters of late for her inability to bring the ULFA forward for talks but her writings continue to bring laurels as she has been short listed for a Hutch Crossword Book Award, billed as India's answer to the Booker. Goswami's "The Man from Chinnamasta", translated into English by Prashant Goswami from her Assamese work "Chinnamastar Manuhto", along with "In a Forest, a Deer" by C S Lakshmi and M Mukundan's "Kesavan' s Lamentations" are the three novels shortlisted in the Indian Language Fiction Translation category. The awards will be given away on February 21 in Mumbai.

Talking to PTI over phone from Guwahati, Indira said the shortlisting is a big boost for Assamese translators. "There was this notion that Assamese translators cannot make it to the big league but Prashant's effort negates that," she said.

Goswami wrote "The Man from Chinnamasta" to protest against the sacrifices at the Kamakhya temple. The temple is considered to be the greatest shrine of mystic Shaktism, one of the main religions of the state during the medieval period. Goswami said rituals are like diseases that affect the society. "This book deals with various aspects of rituals carried out at the temple including animal sacrifice," she said.

Read accounts of Katha's launch of "The man from Chinnamasta" at Delhi and Chennai.

Building Bridges

2007-01-22T17:58:00.000-08:00

On Thursday January 18, 22 students of classes IV and V of Shiv Niketan school gathered at the natural environs of the Delhi Zoo to hear Katha’s popular children’s story writer Geeta Dharmarajan’s The Magical Web Bridge.

Katha chose zoo environs as the backdrop of the event to tell the children about the resident and migratory birds at the zoo apart from highlighting the beautiful story that builds friendship bridges.

Storyteller Harpreet Kaur held the students spell bound while telling them the story of Baya bird who builds a nest for the mother of his children. Weaving the nest, the Baya bird puts a little prayer into every beautiful green he could find under the sun. But the Baya bird who lived on this part of the city longed to make friends with birds that lived on the other side of the sea.

One day the Baya meets a large spider and discusses his plan. Soon the two start work together and in a year’s time they build a beautiful bridge for all to see. Soon many of their friends join in to help Baya and the Spider. One must pick up this book to know how the Baya achieved his dream.

Conducting the workshop, the storyteller asked the children if they had seen any nests. Or what kinds of birds were visible on their window sills? And why did the birds migrate? And so on.

At the end of the storytelling the children were asked to portray their imagination. Ishan Banerjee of Class V, Shivaned Khedan of Class IV and Raj Ratan Patel of Class V bagged the first, second and third prizes respectively. Katha congratulates their creative work! You can see their works displayed here.

The fabulously illustrated book by Sonali Biswas vividly captures the spirit and joy of friendship and teamwork.

Making an entry into the zoo, the Delhi Zoo official Mr Riyaz Khan gave description of the birds that migrate to India all the way from Europe and Central Asia during cold months. Sharing information about the birds, Mr Khan said that the birds came to India in groups and settle in Bharatpur and Delhi Zoo. But due to scarcity of water in Bharatpur this time most species nested in Delhi Zoo. The Zoo is flocking with heronries of cackling Painted Storks, huge cotton white Pelicans and Spoonbills. The dabbling ducks, which were seen at the scene of the activity (near the pond), were Common teal, pintails and common Pochards and Shovelers.

Mr Khan provided the group with interesting tit bits on bird migration, feeding habits, identification tips and their behaviour pattern.

All in all, a wonderful time with nature.

Opening a Razai Box!

2007-01-12T20:36:00.000-08:00

From its vast treasure box, publishing house Katha brought Geeta Dharmarajan’s book Ma Ganga and the Razai Box for a storytelling and activity session at Oxford Bookstore, Statesman House, on Friday January 12.

Ma Ganga and the Razai Box is the story of a young village girl Yasho who is determined to make her village green and beautiful. As we all know, Ganga is the life line of many states. This is a delightful tale that combines mythology and contemporary environmental issues and emphasizes the call of the hour today, to save our planet.

The author, Geeta Dharmarajan, loves writing stories for children. Earlier, she conceived and edited a children’s magazine called Tamasha!, named after a big fat elephant created by her. She has 16 books and over 400 published pieces to her credit.

Sonali Biswas is the recipient of the Chitra Katha Award 2003 for Outstanding Illustrations for Katha publication, One Lonely Unicorn, a story-counting book. She has also received the Runner-Up award from Noma Concours for Children’s Book Illustrations in 2000 and an Honourable Mention at the Biennial of Asian Illustrators, Japan in 2002.

Mrs Nupur Awasthi conducted the storytelling session and the workshop explored issues related to River Ganga, its geography, role in the economy, the wildlife and threat to its existence.

After the storytelling, the children were asked to express the story in drawing. Sonali Biswas judged the artwork. Srishti Rawat of St Mary’s, Saksham and Dhoopchayya of Bluebells won the first, second and third prizes respectively.

About 30 students from Classes IV, V and VI of St Mary’s School, Dwarka and Bluebells School International, Kailash Colony participated in the workshop.

Media Relations in Delhi:Lakshmi Ramakrishna
Katha, A 3 Sarvodaya Enclave, New Delhi

The Katha Film Festival '07 ...

2007-01-08T23:58:00.000-08:00

... @ Mumbai!

Katha Centre for Film Studies is back at the Alliance Francaise, Churchgate with a week long program of Film Screenings from Friday, 12th of January to Thursday, 18th of January 2007.

After a very successful Inaugural Festival in June 2006, we again bring you an eclectic choice of films from the world of cinema specially curated by individuals for whom cinema is a way of life!

Films will be introduced and screened by the curators and discussed and debated from 10 in the morning to 8 at night at the Alliance Francaise Auditorium, Churchgate.This festival is in collaboration with the National Film Archives of India, Pune and NFDC.

On the 12th and 13th of January, 2007, the Festival begins with two days of Indian films dedicated to the theme of Mumbai’s Chawls. Amrit Gangar(a film scholar, writer, curator) has specially put together a package of five feature films, a short film and a compilation on representation of Bombay in films tilted: "'CHALCHITRA: CHAWLCHITRA’-:Popular Hindi Cinema and Mumbai's Chawl." He will be leading an intensive session of discussions and debates on the polemics and politics of space in urban context.

On the 15th of January, 2007, Anuja Ghosalkar’s focus will be films by women directors. Anuja Ghosalkar has been teaching Cinema in Bombay for the last five years and is a researcher as well. She also was a part of the curatorial team for India’s first International Women’s film festival called, ‘Made By Women’, that traveled to eight cities across the world.

We have a young student of BMM, Suyash Barve, who will share his experience and love of cinema, which a package of feature and documentary films on the 16th of January, 2007.

Darius Cooper (professor of literature and film at San Diego Mesa College, writer, poet and critic) will be screening three feature films and introducing, exploring and analyzing various theories of cinema on the 17th of January.

We end the Festival with film enthusiast and cinema buff, Kiran David’s exciting selection which is packed with films from Japanese cinema.

The schedule of films is as follows and is subject to last minute changes. For information please contact us at : ppdada@gmail.com or 26313198 at the Katha Centre for Film Studies.

ABOUT US

KATHA , based in Delhi, is a "profit-for-all" non profit organisation that works in the broad areas of language, culture and translation, as well as poverty alleviation.

Known as a premier publishing house based in Delhi, Katha focuses on quality English translations and works with over 300 writers and 21 Indian languages. It has been at the leading edge of translation practices for over 18 years

Katha Centre for Film Studies, based in Mumbai, is one of KATHA’s responses to a growing need to situate and understand the significance of cinema as a unique language of contemporary art practices that has had an enormous impact on the masses.

From 1st April, 2006, Katha Centre for Film Studies has been active inthe city of Mumbai. Ever since our Inaugural festival, in June 2006, Katha Centre for Film Studies has been active in organizing regular screenings in collaboration with various institutions around the city like SVKM’s Law College, IIT Powai, Mumbai University, Bhavan’s Cultural Centre, Andheri, with the aim of creating spaces which would give room to debates/ discussions/ conversations on the excellence in cinema and would look at the medium critically and carefully.

The schedule of films for the festival beginning on the 12th of January is as follows and is subject to last minute changes. For information please contact us at : ppdada@gmail.com or 26313198 at the Katha Centre for Film Studies.

PLEASE NOTE:

1) The schedule is subject to last minute changes.
2) Entry is strictly on a FIRST COME FIRST SERVE basis. The Alliance Francaise Auditorium is a 75 seater. Those seated for the film will not be asked to leave if they wish to watch the next film.
3) The screenings are free of charge.There are no tickets or passes issued.
4) Literature containing Reviews/ Essays will be available on the films. A nominal amount amount will be charged for this.

12th January 2007 Friday

AMRIT GANGAR
(a film scholar, writer, curator) will introduce, debate and discuss the films which evoke polemics and politics of space in urban context.

Theme: ‘CHALCHITRA: CHAWLCHITRA’
Popular Hindi cinema and Mumbai's Chawl

Introduction: 10 a.m. to 10.30 a.m

Asli Naqli 10.30 a.m. to 1.15 pm.
Directed by Hrishikesh Mukherjee Year: 1962 ; Duration: 160 minutes ; Language: Hindi

Lunch Break : 1.15 p.m. to 1.45 p.m.

Bluffmaster 1.45 p.m. to 4 p.m. Directed by Manmohan Desai Year: 1972 Duration: 135 minutes ; Language: Hindi

Coffee Break : 4.00 p.m. to 4.30 p.m.

Piya Ka Ghar 4.30 p.m. to 6.45p.m.
Directed by Basu Chatterjee; Year: 1972; Duration: 135 minutes ; Language: Hindi

KK Mahajan's story of Piya ka Ghar's chawl shoot 6.50 p.m. to 7.15 p.m.

Harbour Line Stories Etc. 7.20 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Directed by Amrit Gangar; Year: 2001; Duration: 35 minutes

13th January 2007 Saturday

AMRIT GANGAR,
continues the discussion on the theme of ‘CHALCHITRA: CHAWLCHITRA and will introduce, discuss and screen the following films.

Introduction: 10 a.m. to 10.30 a.m.

Compilation: Representation of Bombay in Cinema 10.30 a.m. to 11 a.m. by Amrit Gangar; Duration: 25 minutes

Katha 11 a.m.. to 1.30 p.m.
Directed by Sai Paranjape; Year: 1983; Duration: 141 minutes ; Language: Hindi

Lunch Break : 1.30 p.m. to 2.00 p.m.

Mohan Joshi Haazir Ho 2 p.m. to 4.15 pm.
Directed by Saeed Mirza; Year: 1984 ; Duration: 130 minutes ; Language: Hindi

Coffee Break : 4.15 p.m. to 4.45 p.m.

The Story of Two chawls 4.45 p.m. to 5.15 p.m.
The Chawl and the City's spatial transformations 5.15 p.m. onwards
A Discussion with Amrit Gangar, Neera Adarkar, Ramu Ramnathan

15th January 2007 Monday

ANUJA GHOSALKAR
(Lecturer, researcher) will introduce debate and discuss the following films by Women Directors :

Introduction: 10 a.m. to 10.30 a.m.

The House is Black ( Kaneh Siah Ast) 10.30 a.m. to 11 a.m.
Directed by Forugh Farrokhzad ; Year:1963 ; Duration:20 minutes; Language: Persian; Country: Iran

India Song 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Directed by Marguerite Duras ; Year: 1975 ; Duration: 120 minutes ; Language: French; Country: France

Lunch Break : 1.00 p.m. to 1.30 p.m.

Daisies ( Sedmikrasky) 2 p.m. to 3.15 p.m. Directed by Vera Chytilova ; Year: 1966 ; Duration: 74 minutes ; Language: Czech; Country: Czechoslovakia

Coffee Break : 3.45 p.m. to 4.15 p.m.

Cleo from 5 to 7 ( Cleo a 5 de 7) 4.15 p.m. to 5.45 p.m.
Directed by Agnes Varda; Year: 1961 ; Duration:90 minutes ; Language: French; Country: France/Italy

The Swamp ( La Cienaga) 6.p.m. to 7.45 p.m.
Directed by Lucrecia Martel; Year: 2001 ; Duration:103 minutes; Language: Spanish; Country: Argentina/ France/ Spain

16th January 2007 Tuesday

SUYASH BARVE
(student) will introduce, debate and discuss the following films:

Introduction: 10 a.m. to 10.30 a.m.

The Outcry (Il Grido) 10.30 a.m. to 12.30 p.m.
Directed by Michelangelo Antonioni; Year: 1957; Duration: 116 minutes; Language: Italian; Country: Italy/USA

Germany Year Zero (Germania anno zero) 12.30 p.m. to 1.30 p.m. Directed by Roberto Rossellini; Year: 1948; Duration: 78minutes; Language: Italian/German Country:Italy
English/ French

Lunch Break : 1.30 p.m. to 2 p.m.

Ballad of a little soldier ( Ballad vom klienen soldaten) 2 p.m. to 2.50 p.m. Directed by Werner Herzog; Year: 1984; Duration: 46 minutes ; Language: English/ German; Country:West Germany

Herakles 3 p.m. to 3.10 p.m. Directed by Werner Herzog; Year: 1962; Duration: 10 minutes ; Language: German; Country: West Germany

The Great Ecstasy of Woodcarver Steiner (Die grobe Ekstase des bildschnitzers Steiner) 3.15 p.m. to 4 p.m. Directed by Werner Herzog; Year: 1974; Duration: 45 minutes ; Language: German; Country: West Germany

Coffee Break : 4 p.m. to 4.30 p.m.

What time is it there? (Ni neiban jidian) 4.30 p.m. to 6.30 p.m.
Directed by Tsai Ming-Liang; Year: 2001; Duration: 116 minutes; Language: Mandarin; Country: Taiwan// French/ Taiwanese France

The Skywalk is gone ( Tianqiao bu jianle) 7 p.m. to 7.30 p.m.
Directed by Tsai Ming-Liang; Year: 2002; Duration: 25 minutes; Language: Mandarin; Country: Taiwan/ France

17th January 2007 Wednesday

DARIUS COOPER
( professor of literature and film at San Diego Mesa College, a writer, poet and critic )will introduce, debate and discuss the following films:

Introduction: 10 a.m. to 11 a.m.

The Sweet Hereafter 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Directed by Atom Egoyan.; Year: 1997; Duration: 112 minutes; Language: English; Country: Canada

Lunch Break : 1.p.m. to 1.30 p.m.

House of Games 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.
Directed by David Mamet.; Year: 1987; Duration: 102 minutes; Language: English; Country: USA

Coffee Break : 4 p.m. to 4.30 p.m.

The Decalogue ( Part 1) (Dekalog) 5 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Directed by Krzsysztof Kieslowski; Year: 1989; Duration: 55 minutes; Language: Poland; Country: Polish

18th January 2007 Thursday

KIRAN DAVID
(film enthusiast) will introduce, debate and discuss the following films:

Introduction: 10 a.m. to 10.30 a.m.

A One and a Two...(YiYi) 10.30 a.m. to 1.30 p.m.
Directed by Edward Yang; Year:2000; Duration: 173 minutes; Language: Taiwanese/; Country: Taiwan/ Hokkien/English/Japanese Japan

Lunch Break : 1.30p.m. to 2 p.m.

The Life of Jesus (la Vie de Jesus) 2 p.m. to 3.45 p.m.
Directed by Bruno Dumont.; Year: 1997; Duration: 96 minutes; Language: French; Country: France

Graveyard of honour ( Jingi no Hakaba) 3.50 p.m. to 5.30 p.m.
Directed by Kinji Fukasaku.; Year: 1975; Duration: 94 minutes; Language: Japanese; Country: Japan

Coffee Break : 5.30 p.m. to 5.45 p.m.

Dead or Alive (Dead or Alive: Hanzaisha) 5.45 p.m. to 7.30 p.m.
Directed by Takashi Miike; Year: 1999; Duration: 105 minutes; Language: Mandarin; Country: Japan/Japanese

The Bedroom ( Shisenjiyou no Aria) 7.30 p.m.to 8.30 p.m.
Directed by Hisayasu Sato; Year: 1992; Duration: 60 minutes; Language: Japanese; Country: Japan

PLEASE NOTE:

1) The above schedule is subject to last minute changes.
2) Entry is strictly on a FIRST COME FIRST SERVE basis. The Alliance Francaise Auditorium is a 75 seater. Those seated for the film will not be asked to leave if they wish to watch the next film.
3) The screenings are free of charge.There are no tickets or passes issued.
4) Literature containing Reviews/ Essays will be available on the films. A nominal amount amount will be charged for this.

To great cinema. We're looking to having you with us.

A Katha of Success

2007-01-03T22:04:00.000-08:00

WEARING MANY HATS

(Metroplus, The Hindu, 4 January, 2007)

Geeta Dharmarajan on how the publishing house Katha came into being

From children's magazine to literature to social work, Geeta Dharmarajan has been associated with them all. Her belief that good literature is an effective medium for both pleasure and self improvement, led her to establish Katha, which is not just a publishing house but also a non-profit organisation having several social work projects under its wing. Her very first venture was a children magazine Tamasha, which ran successfully for two years, until it had to be shut down owing to her foray into the publishing world. Her love for literature prompted her to set up a full-fledged publishing house, Katha in 1989, exclusively devoted to translating regional Indian writers into English. A clear upshot of this venture has been that the translation of their works into English has enabled several regional writers to get recognition with the larger audience. Her dexterity in management came to the fore when, in the competitive world of fiction publishing, she not only made Katha into a successful business house but also a name to reckon with.

Turning point

"Reading Mouni, the eminent Tamil writer, proved to be a turning point in the establishment of Katha. In fact, his talent struck me so much that it made me consider that there must be other writers like him in various Indian languages. And suddenly it occurred to me how consequential it would be to get their works translated into English," she says.

But in the age of television, Internet and other modes of entertainment how many people care for literature? "Speaking statistically, India never had had a vast legion of readers for literature. But the complexities and strained circumstances of the modern times are driving more and more people towards it. Gradually, it is being realised that fiction books not only provide pleasure but also act as the best form of relaxant. Also the tremendous growth of English in the last few years coupled with the rise in the purchasing power of the middle class have certainly led to the growth of readership. The fact that our first anthology of short stories is into its ninth reprint proves literature is selling," she explains.

Besides literary projects, Geeta took up social work that includes imparting education to underprivileged children living in slums. For this she arranged a mobile school on wheels and is assisted by several teachers who have volunteered themselves for the project. Her inspiration to get engaged in social work comes from her grandmother, whom she had seen work for the welfare of widows in Chennai. Didn't being a housewife hinder her from involving herself in a wide range of activities?

"On the contrary, being a housewife gave me the luxury of leisure, which I utilised to do what I had always wanted to and believed in. Besides, my husband and in-laws were quite supportive in my endeavours," she remarks.

More than a decade ago, when she embarked upon her purpose, little did she imagine that her fledgling institution would soon become a strong team of over 200 people. Elaborating the challenges that confront such projects, she points out, "In community development projects like these, the availability of funds and volunteers matter the most. Unfortunately, the growing indifference of society results in the scarcity of both and more particularly of volunteers. On the other hand, in the West, people volunteer themselves to social causes wholeheartedly. India is a vast country with a vast number of problems. These problems can only be solved if we volunteer ourselves to confront them in our individual capacities."

- ADITYA SHARMA

Katha's Christmas @ Chennai

2007-01-02T21:27:00.000-08:00

... and so ended the Christmas season at Katha, with 17 kids having a grand time listening to stories, making masks, making friends, looking at bird's nests and enjoying the Christmas season in every way possible. Katha's Christmas workshops, from 23rd to 27th December 2006 were tons of fun.

Katha's collection of stories make for marvellous reading - especially when there's a storyteller to read it out to you, with the actual characters right beside them - as woodcuts.

We did a series of stories for each day of the five-day module - each with a different activity. Two hours practically flew by, and no one wanted to go back home. The first day's story was The Runaway Puppy, followed by an activity with making signs. Kids also made an excursion downstairs to the vet clinic, a visiting place for many animals - a combination of theory and practice.

The next day's story was The Magic Raindrop - a particular favourite, as it has a magic kite that grows enormous. We kicked off with a story-telling session, where our workshop coordinator used woodcuts to add colour to the story.

One of the youngsters with a kite she designed and drew - isn't it pretty? We thought so too.

There was also a session of flag-painting going on, side by side. Kids got the flag of the country they wanted painted on their hands - and some even opted for imaginery countries! Pink flags were a particular favourite.

Katha's kids came up with their own kite song too.

Day three's session was filled with scarecrows - we did The Song of a Scarecrow. Everyone had a grand time designing their own versions of the crow-scarers. And it happened to be Christmas Day as well, so it was extra special. Day four was another fun day with The Magical Webbridge ... and our workshop coordinator brought with her a wonderful bhaya bird nest!

Naturally, this excited a lot of curioisty. How did the bird even build such a nest? How did they get in? How did they sleep? Eat? What if they fell out while they were sleeping? How long did these nests last? So many questions, so many answers. And plenty of imagination. Here's what one Katha kid came up with, for her very own bird:

Day Five saw the grand finale - Hanuman's Adventures in the Netherworld. Today, it was masks galore, with every kid being Rama or Ravana, and much role-playing ensued. At the end, everyone was given a certificate - and we wished the workshop could have gone on, day after day.

We broke for the New Year, with hopes of lots more workshops, and thrilling books to come.

Here's to a great, Happy New year from everyone at Katha!

Bright Sparks @ Delhi

2006-12-27T00:20:00.000-08:00

Einsteins, Aryabhattas, C V Raman all came alive at the Katha run school Katha Khazana at Govindpuri as the school organized a Fresh Fiction Festival on Friday.

The hot topic of debate was Extreme Science. Under this Memory Game, Spelling Bee, Spin Game, Tongue Twister, Cartoon Contest events were held that were open to all students of the school.

Kids enjoying themselves, dressed up as ants.

In the Discovery and Documentary films section, Children were shown films on the Destination Mars, The Earth surface, and The Solar system.

Clay models and craft work were made from waste material in the hands on activities section. The pre-school children enjoyed the Ants Game (Chhoti jaan Kaam Mahaan) before breaking into fun and frolic of Jingle Bells.

A shrine for illustrators ...

2006-12-21T20:11:00.000-08:00

Animationxpress: A Take on Katha

Esha Birnur & Anand Gurnani, from the popular website for animation, speak with Katha's Managing Editor, Dr Rizio Yohannan Raj, about Katha, its books, illustrators, and their space.

In these days of crass commercialization, it is rare to find a commercial entity that pursues its artistic ideals with zeal.

Close to two decades into the publishing industry and Delhi based Katha Publications still pursues the proverb "A picture is better than a thousand words" with full vigor. Set up in 1988, by Geeta Dharmarajan, Katha, in its eighteen years of existence, has come up with many brilliantly illustrated books and also won many accolades and awards.

Strongly positioned as a publishing house that gives creative freedom and space to its illustrators, Katha has worked with a range of artists, from multiple Award winners to 10 year old first timers. Katha`s Managing Editor Rizio Raj shared with Animation Xpress.com "As a publisher we are very serious about promoting talent. The illustrator should have a versatile style and the quality of his/her work should be good. We encourage variety from page to page so that all pages don`t look alike giving them a portrait look and feel. The layout should be exciting, encourage a variety of illustrations-paint, photography, pastels, computer-generated art, needlecraft, clay and so on. For example, we have worked with award winning illustrators like Sonali Biswas, Sudipto Basu, Vandana Bist and at the same time have also worked with Ragini Siruguri who is all of 10 years old. Ragini has illustrated her mother Sadhana Ramchander`s "Autorickshaw Blues" for Katha, with special help from Taposhi Ghoshal" added Raj.

At Katha, different illustrators follow different ways of illustrating. For instance, Sonali Biswas who received the Chitra Katha Award 2003 for Outstanding Illustrations for The Lonely Unicorn, a story-counting book published by Katha.

Biswas who has also received the runner-up award from Noma Concours for Children`s Book Illustrations in 2000 first reads the text and then illustrates according to how she interprets it and then lays emphasis on the small details. She adds elements of delight, nudges the imagination of the child, creating an atmosphere where the imagination of the child can go wild.

"Katha gives one the freedom to imagine. It listens to the illustrator and understands that both the illustration and story are complimentary to each other. Also, it doesn`t follow the market but is idealistic. Katha tries to bring out contemporary issues such as health, environment, wildlife and education, where a child not only reads but gets an all round development." shared Sonali.

So what makes the best of illustration talent want to work with Katha?

For Sudipto Basu, a renowned illustrator and the winner of the Katha Chitrakala Award 2002 for The Song of a Scarecrow, a picture book written and illustrated by him, it is the freedom, which one gets at Katha. "Katha focuses on quality and content and gives a lot of freedom to design. An illustrator needs to breathe and Katha gives you that space to do so. Illustrations should look pretty and must be logically connected to the story and should concentrate on the plot as well enhance it."

Katha`s illustrations tell a story themselves be it characters such as Dadoo, the frog or Unicorn or Tiloo puppy, these illustrations are not only beautiful but a story in themselves. One look at them and instantly the child connects with the book.

For Vandana Bist, who has illustrated Surangini and The Princess with the Longest Hair for Katha, the text is very visual and supports the illustrations. In 1988, she was awarded the encouragement prize in the Children`s Picture Book Competition organised by the Noma Concours Foundation, Japan. Her work has been exhibited in Japan and Bratislava.

MD Rizio Raj concluded, "At Katha we follow certain guidelines when it comes to the quality of the illustrations. We do not encourage static illustrations and believe in work that can give the effect of visual movement and make the characters look alive. Expressions on faces and in posture are absolutely vital and it is also essential that a character appears to be of the same person from page to page, not young, old, tall or short versions. Attention is paid to the description that the text offers where the readers will compare what the author describes with what has been depicted."

Way to go!

Katha Chennai's Christmas Workshops

2006-12-19T00:57:00.000-08:00

It's Xmas!

As you know, KATHA is actively involved in popularizing Indian literature and the art of story-telling. We believe in bringing back the joy of listening to a story, to a generation of kids who have grown up on the TV and Internet.

And now, Katha's back with Christmas Workshops, in Chennai!

Katha is now organizing a workshop module for children in the age group of 4 - 8 years, from the 23rd of December, 2006 to the 27th December, 2006. The workshops will have fun-filled sessions with creative activities that are connected to Katha's brilliant and marvelously illustrated stories, activities that make the child think, and expand his or her perceptions. Each session will be for 1 and a 1/2 hours, from 11.30 AM to 1 PM each day. The session will be a combination of story-telling and activities based on/connected to the stories.

The Workshops will be held @ ...

KATHA,
8, 1st Main Road,
Karpagam Gardens,
Adyar,
Chennai 600 020
Phone No: (044) 4211 4326
Email: workshop.chennai@katha.org
Media Mentions: http://www.kathamedia.blogspot.com

Website: http://www.katha.org

The Dates: 23rd December - 27th December 2006

Timings: 11.30 AM - 1 PM.

Age Group: 4 - 8 Years.

We're charging a very nominal fee of Rs. 500 for the entire module.

The last day for registration is 22nd December.

Join us on a merry ride, kids!

Kalki comes to the Capital!

2006-12-14T00:05:00.000-08:00

The racy Tamil historical novel, Kalki’s Parthiban Kanavu translated into English by Gita Rajan as "Parthiban’s Dream," drew students from various schools across Delhi to participate in the story reading and activity workshop at Partyzone, India Habitat Centre on Saturday 9 December 2006.

The program began with a brief introduction about the book, Parthiban's Dream. This book witnesses the times of the great Pallavas and Cholas, the royal intrigues and conspiracies and the exploits of the great Narasimha Varman that has inspired storytellers down the ages.

Introducing the author, R Krishnamurthy popularly known as "Kalki" was born in 1899 at Puttamangalam in Thanjavur district in an orthodox Brahmin family. Inspired by patriotic ideals, Kalki left school to join Gandhi’s non-cooperation movement. Kalki has 35 volumes of short stories, novels, essays, travelogues and biographies to his credit. The phenomenal success of Kalki’s novels can be attributed to three factors – his gift of storytelling, the abundance of humour in his writings and his portrayal of the cultural and social aspects of the nation and the times.

Narrating extracts from the book, storyteller Nupur Awasthi said that Parthiban’s Dream was penned by a man considered to be a pioneer in historical novels in Tamil literature. A story of epic proportions, it presented various little known facts to every child. Getting the children to open up, the storyteller asked whether the children knew "Who was Kalki - the much awaited tenth avatar of Lord Vishnu?’’

She asked the children to introduce themselves with similes. After reading a few paragraphs, the storyteller gave handy tips of temples in south India and showed some photographs of the temple town Kanchipuram. The children also enacted a few lines from the book. One became a king, one the daughter and the other the boatman. Some of the children also sketched temples.

To add more substance to the event, students from DTEA School presented a Shruti- "Vara veena mridupani..." Some of those present there joined in the singing too. Kalki too was a great musician. Some of the schools who sent their students, include Bluebells International, Katha Khazana, Mother’s International, St. Mary’s, Hans Raj Model, The Banyan Tree, DTEA and K R Mangalam.

The book has been well illustrated by Srisrividhiya K or Srivi, a designer, writer and a visualizer. She holds a masters degree with distinction in Fine Arts from Stella Maris College and is currently pursuing her masters in Arts in Education at Harvard Graduate School of Education. She is focused on the areas of developing media for children and using art as a means for creative thinking in Children.

New Releases, for the New Year ...

2006-12-12T00:07:00.000-08:00

Katha is delighted to announce the arrival of its latest releases, featured in NDTV.com ...

Ma Ganga and the Razai Box

A delightful story that combines mythology and contemporary environmental issues, Ma Ganga and the Razai Box tells us something we have overlooked – that Ma Ganga is miffed.

Written by: Geeta Dharmarajan

Illustrated by: Sonali Biswas

Category: Children's Fiction

Satyadas

Satyadas is a simple allegorical tale of changing fortunes and the exit of humane values at the advent of material well-being and prosperity.

Written by: Bimal Kar

Ilustrated by: Neeta Gangopadhya

Category: Young Adult Fiction

Cut!

In her refreshingly subjective style, Merle Kröger portrays the tenuous connections between reel and real life, the past and the present, and with chilling perception, depicts the clash of stark Hamburg reality with the Bollywood dream factory.

Written by: Merle Kröger
Translated by: Rubaica Jaliwala
Category: Adult Fiction

King Parthiban's Dream ...

2006-12-05T01:53:00.000-08:00

Katha is proud to present you ...

... one of Thamizh's sparkling writers of history and adventure. From the pen of the master, Kalki R Krishnamurthy, flows Parthiban's Dream, expertly translated by Gita Rajan, and magnificently illustrated by Srivi.

A story of epic proportions spanning dynasties, Parthiban's Dream is realized on a landscape that resounds as much with heroic war cries as it is awash with the tenderness of familial and romantic love.

Witness the times of the great Pallavas and Cholas, the royal intrigues and conspiracies and the exploits of the great Narasimha Verman that has inspired storytellers down the ages. A heady mix of history and legend, with Parthiban's Dream, we bring the inimitable Kalki to you.

Katha invites you to storytelling workshop on Kalki's "Parthiban's Dream"
@
Partyzone,
Eatopia, India Habitat Centre, Lodhi Road, New Delhi
on
Saturday, December 9, 2006
from 9.45 am to 12 noon

Entry is free for kids in the 5 - 15 age group.

Join us on a magical trip back through the centuries!

Book: Parthiban's Dream
Publishers: Katha
Age Group: Young Adults, 12 +
ISBN 81-89020-64-1
Price: Rs 150 [PB]

For more details about the workshop, please contact Lakshmi Ramakrishna, Media Relations Officer, @ Tel:(91.11) 26521752 Ext 25
Email: media@katha.org

A Queen from the Sky ...

2006-12-03T22:38:00.000-08:00

The Sky Queen

The clouds form her silken white robes. Her sweat and tears are running water and rain. Her voice rings out in the sweet songs of the birds and humming insects. She is Nyanyi Myete of the lovely, ever changing natural world, the glorious celestial aunt of the Kojum-Koja.

The New Indian Express
(School Magazine, July 12, 2006)

What strikes us most about Mamang Dai's The Sky Queen is its bright colour illustrations that are sprawled across the 30 odd pages of the book.

The author weaves out a fairytale, about a civilisation called Kojum-Koja, and how on the occasion of the Pime, tragedy befell them. The land of the Kojum-Koja is devastated by floods and gales, and is wiped off from the face of the Earth.

The second part of the book witnesses the rise of Nyanyi Myete, the lady of the Kojum family out of the ruins. With her sweet songs and music, she once again breathes life into the world.

The illustrations in the book are done in bright colours, mainly bold pastels. The gaiety and festivity held during the course of the story, are well depicted through the illustrations, along with the costumes and jewellery of the north east Indian community.

Mamang spins an adorable folk tale around the bounty of nature, and paints a pretty picture through her pen, of tribes of Arunachal Pradesh.

- Sujata Chakrabarti

About the author

Mamang Dai

About the illustrator

Srivi

Publishers: Katha
Age Group : 5 - 8 Years
32 pages, size 8.25 x 6
ISBN 81-89020-32-3
Price: Rs 75

Katha in schools ...

2006-11-27T20:26:00.000-08:00

Katha concluded two days of exhibition of its titles for children, in Hari Shree Vidyalayam, the school that is a part of the Chettinad Management on the 20th and 21st November, 2006. Katha showcased its vast array of titles for children, throwing into brilliance stories written by contemporary Indian authors; folk-tales and fiction from the far-reaching Northeast.

Katha has always believed in bringing the pleasures of story-telling and fiction-appreciation to our children; with this in mind, they also organized "The Katha Review Contest 2006" in which prizes and certificates were bagged by eight enterprising students who combined creativity and appreciation in their book reviews. Katha also sponsored a "Meet the Author" session, where translator/writer Mira Naik, a resident of Besant Nagar, whose story forms part of Katha's Young Adult Fiction Collection, interacted with students of varying age groups. Children had a great time quizzing her about her own writing experiences, and tips about writing.

In a land where Noddy and Pinocchio and Cinderella were firmly rooted, India's beautiful fables and writers have finally taken center-stage.

Maitreyi Pushpa, Udaya Narayana Singh, and Katha

2006-11-22T00:27:00.000-08:00

The making of a rebel

(Metroplus - Delhi, The Hindu, 16 November)

WORDSMITH'S WISDOM DON'T Judge Maitreyi Pushpa's book by its cover

Maitreyi spoke about "Alma Kabutari" to AMRITA TALWAR.

Nobel laureate and author Orhan Pamuk came into limelight when his stories were translated from Turkish to English. Now, people across the world can read his novels. Similarly, India with its diversity in culture, language and religion, has some great stories and storytellers. It is important that the thoughts of such writers are read by the largest possible numbers.

Keeping with the trend of translations, Katha Publishing House has brought out a double treat for literary diehards - Maitreyi Pushpa's SAARC Literary Award-winning novel "Alma Kabutari" translated from Hindi to English and U.N. Singh's poem, "Second Person Singular", translated from Maithili to English.

"Alma Kabutari" is an account of Alma, a young girl from the marginalised kabutara community. It is the story of her evolution from victim to survivor to a tenacious rebel. Identified as a criminal tribe during the colonial times, kabutaras have dealt with social and sexual subjugation by the upper caste. They are not only poor but do not possess any land or water resources, are roofless, and the society has completely shunned them.

Real person

But Alma is the revolution. Educated on her father's insistence, Alma finds that literacy brings her authority and confidence to sustain her through life's upheavals and tragedies. She is the nerve centre of her village. She leaves home and connects with society and creates an identity for herself.

Maitreyi Pushpa, who has written consistently about rural politics and is an activist of sorts for the underprivileged and exploited tribes, through her book has presented to the world, the condition of Kabutaras. "My book's protagonist is not just a character but a real person. I met her in Khill, my village in Jhansi, and was mesmerised by her beauty and touched by her plight," says Pushpa.

So how did she connect with the tribe? "These people either stayed in mountains or made a banyan tree their home. As a child, I wanted to go and help them but was always stopped by my mother. But opportunity came in the form of my brother Shovaram, who was at that time interacting with the women of the tribe." Alma is his daughter-in-law.

Kabutaras were blamed for the sins, which they never committed. "When the tribe realised that without stealing they are being blamed for it, they started robbing places and rich landlords - attacking the rice granaries and other agricultural produces. They used to be caught and jailed for life. The men spent most of the time in jails and their young wives were left behind," says Pushpa.

According to Pushpa, the kabutara women are very beautiful. "The women, to make an income sell hooch made of mahua and gur. Since men spend most of their time in jail, the women to ensure breeding of their future generations indulge in illicit sex with the upper caste."

But they have no recognition in the society. "Two kids were studying and I asked one of them, why they weren't going to school and the younger one said that the upper caste children release dogs on them."

On translating it from Hindi to English, she says, "My Hindi novel could only reach selective audience but I wanted to share the plight of these people globally and translating it into English was the perfect medium."

Daily India.com

Translated work of SAARC award winner released

By Indo Asian News ServiceNew Delhi, Nov 2 (IANS)

Two English translations, including 'Alma Kabutari', the SAARC literary award winning Hindi novel by Maitreyi Pushpa, have been released by Katha.

Pushpa's novel and 'Second Person Singular', a collection of original poems in Maithili by Udaya Narayana Singh, were released here by noted Hindi scholar Namwar Singh Wednesday evening.In 'Alma Kabutari', translated by Raji Narasimhan, Pushpa delineates the old Kabutari tradition of sexual slavery of the Kajja tribe. The onus of breaking this vicious circle of subjugation and securing a human status for the Kabutaris falls upon young Alma.

It is an engrossing tale of both her extraordinary achievement and also a window to the lives of marginalised tribes.Pushpa, who usually writes on women's issues, said after the launch: 'Women have come a long way from their position of subordination to carving out a niche for themselves. 'They have had to bear harassment and torture to bring about this change. There are hopes resting on the new generation that they will be able to take up the challenges of the day and take this movement forward.'Pushpa won the SAARC award in 2001.'Second Person Singular' presents the strange counterpoints that one gets from an involvement with language.

The authors read excerpts from their books and interacted with the audience.

"The man from Chinnamasta" comes to Chennai

2006-11-18T20:28:00.000-08:00

Even the rain stayed away from November 16's launch of Indira Goswami's "The man from Chinnamasta," - and the event kicked off to a dignified, crisp start, with Katha providing the perfect platform for the release of the Jnanpith Award Winner's masterpiece, in the Odyssey Bookstore, Adyar.

Katha played host to the novel that created waves when it was first published in Asomiya - and consequently, among literary circles throughout the country, when its English translation was published.

Set in the times of unrest and turmoil; at the turn of the twentieth century, the novel paints the hoary history of Assam’s most famous temple of the Sakta cult, Kamakhya.

The story flows as swiftly as the Brahmaputra; it holds the reader’s attention as seductively. And as the narrative moves inexorably towards the end, we see the power of the storyteller in Indira Goswami. This evocative translation of Prashant Goswami makes the novel a must read for all lovers of good fiction.

These sentiments were insightfully expressed by both the Chief Guest for the launch, Kanimozhi, and Dr Nanditha Krishna, Director of the C P Ramaswami Art Foundation, who received the first copy. Kanimozhi spoke of "the conflict the book raised in my heart" and asked that "those present must also read it, that they too experience the myriad emotions it kindled in herself."

Dr Nanditha Krishna spoke evocatively - animal sacrifice was a subject that was very close to her heart, and as such, she could relate to it on many levels; she has written and spoken about the subject many times. She described the trials suffered by animals, made a heartfelt request that more people become aware of these animals' plight, and extend compassion towards them. She also gave glowing praise to Katha for having brought out translations that enabled people to read such excellent works in English - "for how would I be able to appreciate a novel written in Ahom or Asomiya, had it not been for this excellent translation? We are all deeply indebted to Katha for their sterling services."

This was followed by a charming skit presentation by The Karuna Club, an initiative of Sri Sankara Senior Secondary School, Adyar. The Karuna Club’s objective is to kindle kindness and compassion towards animals and indeed, all life around us. It is a part of activities, competitions and holds exhibitions centered around Karuna, compassion and other values. Begun in 1999, they hold an Animal Welfare Fortnight from January 14th to 30th of every year. Special mention must be made of the fact, here, that the school prohibits leather shoes, in view of its stand on animal welfare.

10 children of varying ages, starting from a sweet six year old to a dignified 15 year old played their parts perfectly in a dramatic piece which revolves around a family that decides to sacrifice an animal, when their son falls sick. The superstitious servant maid and milk man urge them to sacrifice a chicken - when the father has a change of heart. They reflect about the wrongs of taking a life away in exchange of their son's health, and adopt a little girl, instead.

The skit won a great deal of acclaim and appreciation from the crowd present. Writers Ashokamithran and Jayakantan who were present, expressed their enjoyment of the presentation. The children and Skit coordinators received gifts and certificates from Katha, given away by Dr Nanditha Krishna, who made sure to congratulate each and every child on the part they played.

Author Indira Goswami and translator Prashant Goswami, though not present for the function, took the time to convey special messages for the Chennai Launch.

"The writing of Chinnamastar Manuhto was provoked by my encounters with the tradition of animal sacrifice at the famous Kamakhya temple in Assam, a tradition that continues to this day," said Indira Goswami. "It’s a gruesome sight, there are rivers of blood flowing on festival days. My book raises a simple question -- if you can change tradition to stop human sacrifice, why not change it to exclude animal sacrifice!

Since my childhood I have been horrified by this shocking practice at the Kamakhya temple on Nilachal Hill, at Guwahati, in Assam where I grew up. Known as the greatest place of Shakti worship in all of India, the Kamakhya temple has a hoary 2000-year-old history, and has been visited by great saints such as Shankaracharya, Guru Nanak and Vivekananda. I soon learnt that there were regular sacrifices at several other temples in my native place. In fact, our mighty Brahmaputra river is known as the Red River, as a result of all the blood that flows into it from various temples.

In my novel, I have vehemently condemned the ritual of animal sacrifice at Chinnamasta, especially the buffalo sacrifice that has been going on for over 2000 years. There is no one to raise their voice against such sacrifices. I have also depicted the life of people and priests of the temple and several rituals, including that of Kumari puja, where even the daughters of prostitutes were worshipped. In fact the Ahom king Shiv Sinha married a Devdasi, who went on to rule the vast empire of the Ahom dynasty.

When the novel was serialized in a popular magazine, I was threatened with dire consequences. Shortly after this, a local newspaper, Sadin, carried an appeal about animal sacrifice, which resulted in quite an uproar -- the editor was gheraoed and a tantrik warned me. But when the appeal was published, the response was overwhelmingly in favour of banning animal sacrifice. I also had to contend with rejection from a publisher who was initially keen and had promised me a huge advance, but who later backtracked, offering instead to publish any other book of mine. But the rest, as they say, is history and Chinnamastar Manuhto went on to become a runaway bestseller!

I firmly believe that the world would be a better place if more people understood and appreciated such issues as these in all their complexity. I hope The Man from Chinnamasta will be just the right catalyst to a making us more sensitive and responsible citizens. I wish the Chennai launch all the very best!"

Translator Prashant Goswami expressed his wish that the novel provoke debate about the fate of animals. He said that "Mamoni di (Indira Goswami) has produced a jewel which book lovers need to read.''

The event wound up with Katha expressing its vote of thanks. It was a crisp, photo finish … and an issue that desperately needs to be addressed found a way to express itself. Both by the young generation, and the old. The event was a fitting bridge, the pathway that was intended to connect different points in society.

"The man from Chinnamasta" had arrived.

The Deccan Chronicle covers the Chennai Launch here.

Katha - by kids!

2006-11-14T00:05:00.000-08:00

It's November 14 - Children's Day.

This is the day children are celebrated, when everything is pushed back and you watch the youngest of the young generation step forward.

And Katha has celebrated children for more than 18 years, when Executive Director Geeta Dharmarajan first planned and brought out the first issue of Tamasha in 1988, her magazine for kids.

Katha has done this by shaping their minds, widening their perceptions, broadening their world. Through stories from India.

Katha for Kids, the banner under which Katha brings out books for children wishes to celebrate it in a different way. Our books have been reviewed by the media, by writers and artists ... why not have a book reviewed, for a change, by a kid herself? After all, aren't children the ones to derive the greatest enjoyment from them? And wouldn't they be the right people to know, really, what a kid's book is all about?

Listen to Samyukkthaa G, age 8 from Class IV C share her thoughts about the Katha book, Surangini.

"Surangini is my favourite character," she says seriously. "She is a kind young woman who loved her siblings and took care of them after her mother's death. She stood up against her father when he was wrong. Surangini offered to help Kalu and gave him her golden pot in return for the pot he broke."

"But I didn't like her to disappear," she confides. "The Zamindar's action is not right. Inspite of Kalu narrating a story which made Surangini appear, the Zamindar had not got his daughter married only because Kalu was poor."

"I really liked the story. I would have liked it better if Surangini appeared again and lived happily with her father."

What does she think of Vandana Bist's illustrations?

"I think the carpet is so nice," she says, feeling the pages of the book. "When Surangini walks on the carpet, see? It looks like it's water. And the design is so pretty!"

Samyukkthaa loves stories and has now discovered Indian writers, through Katha.

Katha's launch in Chennai

2006-11-13T05:50:00.000-08:00

Greetings!

KATHA welcomes you to the launch of "The Man from Chinnamasta" by Jnanpith Award Winner Indira Goswami.

KATHA proudly presents Indira Goswami's hugely successful novel, "The man from Chinnamasta." Set in the times of unrest and turmoil at the turn of the twentieth century, the novel paints the hoary history of Assam's most famous Temple of the Sakta cult, Kamakhya.

Splendidly translated by Prashant Goswami, KATHA presents you this best-selling Asomiya Novel,

at …

The Odyssey Bookstore @ 7.00 PM, 16th November 2006.

Renowned poet and author, Ms Kanimozhi will release the book, presenting the first copy to
Dr Nanditha Krishna, Director the CP Ramaswamy Aiyar Foundation. A presentation follows by The Karuna Club, an initiative of Sri Sankara Senior Secondary School.

KATHA would love to have you with them, on this special occasion.

Please feel free to contact us for more details, at 4211 4326/ 94443 90134.

Rubaru!

2006-11-10T05:12:00.000-08:00

We're letter-writers. And we love sharing news with you. Imagine that: long, newsy letters talking about everything that's going on in Katha, all that we're up to: the books, the schools, the teachers, kids, workshops, exciting and upcoming events ... face to face. Rubaru.

That's what it means, in Urdu. "Face to face." Imagine that you and I aren't sitting before computers - that we're actually seated at arm's length. Imagine cosy surroundings. The misty rain, and a nice book to curl up on the couch with. A nice Katha to sink into.

Here's to Rubaru, then. Katha's Winter Newsletter, for your reading pleasure.

On DD Lok Sabha ...

2006-11-03T06:05:00.000-08:00

The DD Lok Sabha channel will feature a programme on Katha, at 9.30 PM on Friday, November 3, 2006. It's a half hour programme - be sure to catch it!

Launch today!

2006-11-01T03:19:00.000-08:00

Katha launches

"Alma Kabutari" and "Second Person Singular"

today.

Do drop in!

2006-10-30T03:12:00.000-08:00

On Art and Creativity ...

There’s more than one art to creative PRA

Helen Gould
•

Introduction

Think of participatory development, for one moment, as an orchestra. It would be inconceivable to use just one instrument. With PRA (Participatory Rural Appraisal), as with orchestras, you need a balance of skills, a range of instruments and players, performing in concert. This analogy fits in well with the historical development of PRA as a family of tools which complement each other.

More recently, creative activities are being included in the tool kit of PRA. This is an exciting development but one worrying aspect is the increasing dominance of theatre within this group of creative tools. Creativity is a core language of human expression in participatory development, but just as the orchestra, there is a variety of instruments which help a community verbalise their needs and solutions creatively. It would be a dull world indeed if acting was our only form of self-expression. What, then, of our poets, painters and craft-makers, our musicians and dancers?

Learning through creativity

One example of a project which has these values close at heart is Katha, a literacy development project. This works with some 10,000 families in one of the largest slums in New Delhi, India.

Katha was set up by author Geeta Dharmarajan in 1988, initially as a health and environmental education project. It is now an integrated development project, which specialises in teaching LIFE skills (literacy and lifelong learning, income generation skills, family well-being and empowerment). It uses an enormous range of activities to spread the joys of books and reading, to empower women and children, break down gender and social barriers, and to encourage learning through creativity.

The Indian literacy tradition spans a continuum from the spoken word - storytelling and performance - to written texts. Thus, as part of this legacy, Katha uses all the creative tools at its disposal - theatre, storytelling, writing and film, cartoons and magazine publishing - to ‘make an impact, ...to motivate and excite many, many people in a myriad of ways’.

To read the whole article, go here.

2006-10-24T07:03:00.000-07:00

A Broadcast ...

Katha's Executive Director, Geeta Dharmarajan, will be speaking about her experiences and thoughts on the Frankfurt Book Fair, on the All India Radio.

You can tune in to it on 12.5 Khz MW at 8.05 PM, on October 25 2006, on the programme, Vividha.

In addition, one of our award winning illustrators, and whose work was part of the Frankfurt Selection of Katha Books, Sonali Biswas, will speak on the importance of illustrations in story books.

The Katha team's looking forward to your comments and feedback.

2006-10-23T01:47:00.000-07:00

Katha invites ...

Warm Greetings from Katha!

We most cordially invite you to the launch of the releases of the English translations of the SAARC Literary award winning Hindi novel "Alma Kabutari" by Maitreyi Pushpa & "Second Person Singular," collection of poems in Maithili, by Udaya Narayana Singh, writer and director CIIL, Mysore by renowned Hindi scholar Prof Namwar Singh.

Alma Kabutari

Translated from the Hindi by Raji Narasimhan [the cover carries a reproduction of a famous painting by Paresh Maity] the saga of Alma Kabutari does not begin with Alma herself. It has its roots in centuries of social and sexual subjugation of the kabutaris by the upper-caste kajjas. Like Chittor's Rani Padmini of yore, from whom the kabutaris have descended, the onus of breaking the vicious circle and reclaiming human status for her people falls on young Alma. Maitreyi Pushpa has written consistently about rural politics and has endeavored to explore the web of human relationships in a time of moral ambivalence and social uncertainty.

Second Person Singular

Translated from Maithili by the poet with Rizio Yohanan Raj [the book & the cover carry brilliant b&w illustrations by the renowned artist Sanjay Bhattacharya], Second Person Singular is the poetic expression of the epiphanic other-view of love and life that language presents to each individual. Udaya Narayana Singh's original Maithili poems in this translation present the strange counterpoints that one gets from an involvement with language. They bring out the dialectical texture of the silent spaces in human relationships.

The launch will take place at ...

The Attic,
36 Regal Building,
Connaught Place, New Delhi
on
Wednesday November 1, 2006
at 6.30 pm.

A special discount of 10 per cent on the books can be availed of, by those who order the book via email or buy it, on the day of the launch .

Looking forward to meeting you at the event.

With warm regards,

Lakshmi Ramakrishna
Media Relations Officer, Katha
2652.1752 ext 25

2006-10-15T23:54:00.000-07:00

THE SONG OF A SCARECROW

"What happens when a scarecrow decides to leave his field for one day?"

The New Indian Express
(School Magazine, August 30, 2006)

An imaginative book, it describes the story of a scarecrow who wanted to leave his field one day to look at the world outside. The scarecrow starts by cribbing about having to stay in the field all day and being bored doing so.

The scarecrow on his way meets a cow, a fish that refuse to accompany which doesn't stop him from having fun outside the field. He further sets out to enjoy the beauty of the world beyond his cornfield that he guards everyday. The illustrations capture the scarecrow's new found freedom where he runs along the green grasses, chasing butterflies and watching birds and following the blue skies.

During the dusk, the scarecrow misses being at his cornfield and guarding it, he returns only to be disappointed to find the corns were eaten and the plants pulled out from the roots. The scarecrow who was rejoicing was now sad that he left his field to be damaged. True, that time heals, the field is back to bearing healthy corn and also standing happy there is a very happy scarecrow. From then the scarecrow sings a lullaby for the baby corns in the mornings, when it rains, when the sky is decorated with the beautiful rainbow, when it is the autumn season and when the night sky is filled with shining stars.

The book however comes with the hidden moral that there should be a balance between responsibility and freedom. The author's debut attempt in writing a book has won him the Chitra Katha Award in the year 2002. An imaginative and thought provoking book with interesting illustrations.

- Nanditha Suresh

Writer and illustrator

Suddhasattwa Basu

Publishers: Katha
Also available in Hindi
Age Group: 5-8 years
32 pages size 10 x 8
ISBN 81-87649-56-9 [HB]
ISBN 81-89020-08-0 [PB]
Price: Rs 120 [HB]
Rs 95 [PB]

2006-10-13T06:33:00.000-07:00

Singarevva and the Palace

"From strange obsessions to impulsive desires, this is an unusual gothic novel, faithful to the events in Singarevva’s life. The story of a woman, as fascinating and mysterious as the palace she lives in."

Katha's first novel

The Statesman
(April 14, 2002)

“This is yet another achievement for Katha which has carved out a place for itself in the field of short stories and fiction in translation.”

The Telegraph
(May 3, 2002)

“Katha’s first novel comes as a pleasant surprise. Well-defined characters and a powerful and unusual narrative make it an absorbing read.”

NDTV - MSNBC Online
(April 15, 2002)

Novel venture at Katha

“Katha has for nearly a decade been providing g a unique forum for both emerging and established writers.”

“Katha has gone a long way in showcasing the expanse of Indian literaure in a bid to affirming that writing transcends all barriers, linguistic and thematic, and underline a stunning range of themes, settings and literary styles.”

“Literary circles have recognized Katha’ s “trial-blazing effort” to “salvage the lost classics of modern India, translating them into English with flair.”

Hindustantimes.com - Books
(May 13, 2002)

“The story enthralls the reader by its simplicity and the a very fundamental level of apprehension. It does not expose a universally felt predicament; it does not speak of gigantic heroics."

The Asian Age

(April 16, 2002)

“Kambar’s works are inspired by folk tradition, particularly the folklore and mythology of northern Karnataka which he weaves into his writing with consummate ease. The book has been successfully translated into English by Laxmi Chandrashekar, a difficult task, as anyone who has tried even something simple like explaining a hindi song in english knows.”

“As Uday Prakash, himself a well-known hindi writer said of the book and Kambar’s style, “for the reader, I can say, on one can put down this book, as an author, I amazed by this (Kambar) style. He has evolved a kind of style which is very complex. I congratulate Katha for having chosen a very good novel.”

“So, not only to all the parents out there but to children too, get out there and explore the rich world of regional tales, and kids, time to corner parents and grandparents into telling you some amazing stories. This is your future, but it might be time to bring a little of the magic of the past back into it.”

The Times of India - Bangalore Times
(May 15, 2002)

Kambar now in English

“Katha, the leading New Delhi-based publishing house, has been championing the cause of translating short stories from regional languages into English for 14 years.”

Times of India - Pune Times
(April 13, 2002)

“Lending a helping hand towards breaking down such wall are publishing houses which promote works of translation, mostly from a regional language to English. On a parallel front, they also provide a national (and at times global) platform for a relatively unknown author. This, in a nutshell, is what Delhi-based Katha does, an example of which can be witnessed on April 13 when Kannda writer Dr Chandrasekhar Kambar’s novel Singarevva And The Palace is released at Either Or, Sohrab Hall.”

The author

Chandrasekhar Kambar

The translator

Laxmi Chandrashekar

Publishers: Katha [Kannada Library]
Cover Design: Geeta Dharmarajan
Cover Painting: Samir Mondal
Courtesy: www.saffronart.com
Size 5.5” x 8” [PB]
ISBN 81-87649-35-6
Price: Rs 250

2006-10-12T00:10:00.000-07:00

THE STONE LAUGHS ...

and

ATONEMENT

"A striking feature of La.Sa.Ra.'s writing is his characterisation."

The Hindu
(Literary Review, August 6, 2006)

"A touch of the mystical ..."

L.S. RAMAMIRTHAM, or La.Sa.Ra as he is better known, won the Sahitya Akademi award in 1989 and has authored seven novels besides other works. He has been translated into Czech and French and now into English by Padma Narayanan.

Life as an orphan

Dharmarajan was orphaned when very young and his uncle, a temple priest, brings him up. The story begins with him meeting his cousin Mani, who has taken up the job of the priest after his father. Dharmu strikes a deal with Mani to take his place in the temple one day in the week and perform the rituals for the goddess. Dharmu had started out as a travelling salesman and eventually works in a bank where he helps Gomathi get a job there as well. After a gap of 12 years he runs into her and the two catch up on the major events of their lives in the intervening period.

Gomathi is tied down by her gambler husband and finds her joy in her son Prashanth. She's had to pawn her jewels with Manekchand. She worships the ground Dharmu walks on though the latter has a daughter as old as her. Gushes to his face about his fair appearance, good looks, culinary skills, perfectionism, "you seem an illusion, not even a poem, but only the memory of poetry". He is tall, his hair shines like pure white silk, impressive in his flowing white muslin garments, he stands clear as a waterfall.

His landlord, a Nadaar, venerates him and the exaggerated hospitality and adoration are fulsome. All this because of his arresting appearance and Dharmu at one point laments, "my looks are my misfortune". He goes to Manekchand to work as his cook and the seth mistakes him for a European! The sowcar treats him as his brother, but our man steals the bundle containing Gomathi's jewels. The same morning his employer dies and the needle of suspicion points to Dharmu. The first novella ends here and the next picks up the thread from there.

Broad strokes

The protagonist is awarded a prison term of five years but because of his good conduct he is out after three and a half years. But the further he runs from relationships the harder they chase him. His first meeting with Maragatham is explosive: as a salesman once he has to make do with an overnight stay in a village priest's house. In the night's darkness near the well in the backyard when he slips and falls she pleads with him, a total stranger, to take her away from there. The marriage is soon on the rocks and the mother and dancer-daughter leave him.

A very striking feature of La.Sa.Ra.'s writing is his characterisation. At the outset he paints his protagonist with broad strokes — a handsome rascal as it were — but gradually the character evolves and it becomes clear he is not a smooth operator but is a gentleman after all. In contrast, Gomathi comes off as a tepid character, cloying and weak. The other two women in the story, Maragatham and Madhu, are tarred and damned from the word go. Nadaar fears Dharmu might melt into thin air and Gomathi too echoes the sentiment. Aachchi believes that after Dharmu leaves, misfortunes pile up on her. The mysterious element about the lead character is thus accentuated. His one-sided dialogue with his beloved flute touches on the mystical.
Pithy sayings and rhetorical queries abound: "We have an infinite capacity to deceive ourselves". "What we generally see around us is the jackal groaning while the elephant carries the burden".

Central motif

The motif of the stone in both the novellas and the title is central to the theme and symbolic. The hero first interprets the smile of the deity as giving him the go-ahead for the questionable action planned. But as punishment to the crime committed overtakes him in no time, he begins to believe that the stone goddess is laughing at him and his folly. The devotee's adoration and indulgence are complete and life with its many unexpected twists and turns is no longer a puzzle or sheer misery.

The author takes the easy way out to tie up the loose ends. In the last seven pages of the book he assembles all the salient characters together and gets the protagonist to explain threadbare all his actions.

- Seline Augustine

The New Indian Express
(Sunday Express, August 27, 2006)

The Stone Laughs and Atonement by La Sa Ra (two novellas) are about Gomathi and Dharmarajan who are stuck in their everyday routine lives. United by an uncommon bond that defies definition, their paths cross again and again till they realise the absolute they seek lie within. As Gabriella Eichinger Ferro-Luzzi, the famous dravidiologist, puts it, “Dharmarajan’s spiritual experiences and his relationship with the goddess Kamalambikai in the two novellas are infused with a passion both subtle and assertive. La Sa Ramamirtham was a banker and writer who was part of the avant garde “Manikodi” movement of the 1930s and 40s. Though his style is difficult, and full of his philosophical preoccupations, he has a major fan following. And a new book by him was a much looked forward to event.

This translation will open doors to a generation grown up without having been exposed to the world of La Sa Ra.

The author

La Sa Ra

The translator

Padma Narayanan

Publishers: Katha
Language: English
Cover Design: Netra Shyam
Cover Photograph Courtesy: Ebe Chaney
ISBN 81-87649-72-0
Price: Rs 200

2006-10-10T22:34:00.000-07:00

ONCE UPON A MOONTIME ...

"Two brothers create the world; a river wanders over the mountain; the dove sings a lullaby; a wayward sun tries to scorch the earth.
Four delightful tales from Arunachal Pradesh on how the world came to be."

The Hindu
(Young World, February 17, 2006)

The first is a collection of tales of how the earth came to be. Sourced from Arunachal Pradesh, these stories are presented by Mamang Dai with art by Nimret Handa. The planet has its origins in all things natural. The wind, water and the sun have shaped the world, as we know it, with a little help from those living higher up. "Why the dove weeps" is probably the best of the lot.

The art is what constitutes the main appeal. The colours add to the mood and highlight the fine lines of the drawings.

- Paromita Pain

The New Indian Express

(School Magazine, July 26, 2006)

Once Upon a Moontime is a folktale about the formation of the earth, the rivers, the green trees and towering mountains. Nature comes alive through author Mamang Dai's pen, and vivid and colourful illustrations in bold colours, flaming reds, turquoise blues, golden yellows and magentas, from Nimret Handa.

The book consists of four chapters - How the World Was Made, The Story of the River, Why the Dove Weeps and The Sun and the Moon.

The first chapter traces the evolution of the world. Two brothers in the sky, Lopong Rimbuche and Chom Dande, decide to mould and shape water and land, with the aid of the wind to form the earth, as it is today. The second story paints a blue picture of the world, before the earth was formed. Nature collaborated with God Techimdum to carve the way for the rivers and streams to flow winding around the hills and meandering onto the plains to bring nature's bounties to the men and women, animals and birds.

The third story weaves a poignant tale about the dove who, on a morning, while helping Donyi the Sun to carry her baby across the skies, dropped the eppon, which was used to carry the baby across the endless skies, to the earth. In a bid to retrieve it, Dove flew down to earth but, weighed down by the weight of the eppon, she could not fly back to the abode of Donyi. Lamenting being unable to take care of the baby, Dove till today lets out her cry of despair, 'ku.. kuku..ku'.

At the beginning of time, there were two suns. The fourth story tells how the younger sun fell into trouble, when, with his heat, he sent the people of earth into great misery. Finally, he was banished and sent into a pool of mud, and was reduced to a pale state. This semi-reduced state of brightness became the moon.

These sweet tales are easy to read and highly enjoyable for young readers. There are also lessons to learn from the folktales, about how friends get together to make the impossible, possible. The white snowy mountains, the golden sun, the blue waters and nature's bounties conspire together to spin a tale of magic, called Once Upon a Moontime.

- Sujata Chakrabarti

The author

Mamang Dai

The Illustrator

Nimret Handa

Publishers: Katha
Language: English
32 pages, size 8.25 x 6
Age Group: 5 - 8 years
ISBN 81-89020-34-X
Price: Rs 80

2006-10-09T23:18:00.000-07:00

EARTHSONG

"A lyrical tribute to the earth and its amazing diversity, with plenty of information and colourful artwork. How can we keep our earth green and blue? How can we care for and share this planet with others and at the same time, enjoy being part of it? Sensitively written, it's a must-read for youngsters." - Print Pick, The Hindu

"Our Earth's a gift in green and blue
To men and women, children too
So let's enjoy this planet rare
Let's remember to care and share ..."

The Hindu
(Young World, April 7, 2006)

A story about the beauty of the planet and the need to preserve it.

"Home to creatures big and small
To the wind and waterfall
To the trees and all things green...
To the worms that work unseen
To elephants that roam the wild
... To cows and draft animals mild
To men and women, children too
Our Earth's a gift in green and blue
So let's enjoy this planet rare
Let's remember to care and share."

This verse also serves as a delightful content page for the book, Earth Song by Geeta Dharmarajan. The snippets of information can be easily understood.

A page would contain six to seven capsules. For example in the page "Home to creatures big and small": "There are about 24,000 known species of butterflies. Do you know that butterflies taste with their feet? Their taste sensors are located there and by standing on their food, they can taste it!"

The creatures mentioned have their names in bold, for quick identification. A huge illustration dominates the page. Each animal is numbered and a list of names corresponds to the numbers on the side of the vividly colourful illustration. You can discover the animal with the corresponding number. The artwork by Enrique Lara and Luis Garcia, stand out especially as they appear to have been made with plastercine.

- Rohini Ramakrishnan

The New Indian Express
(School Magazine, July 19, 2006)

Geeta Dharmarajan has a unique way of adding life even to the most boring subjects. If you read Earthsong, you'll realise it. it's not the environmental studies book you must have read in school. Or maybe it is, just a better one, a much better one. The book opens with a little poem which almost sounds like a version of the "All things are bringht and beautiful" song you learnt in school. Then the more serious stuff follows, in a way that doesn't sound so serious. Every page has a group of living beings in their natural environment with their names mentioned in a separate box.

And there's a small piece of trivia on each - trivia that's interesting and something that not many are aware of. For example, did you know that cats have 244 bones in their bodies, that's even more than humans have. Or that flamingos get their pink colour from the carotene-rich food they eat. Or that the front lawns of eight houses have the same cooling effect as 24 large air-conditioners. This and other interesting stuff comprise a greater part of the book. A strong point of the book is the art work by Enrique Lara and Luis Garcia, with every creature looking like it's about to come out of the page.

And, in the end, there is also a message for all you young readers out there. A message book that isn't too preachy. What else do you want?

- Shalini Shah

About the author

Geeta Dharmarajan

About the Illustrators

Enrique Lara & Luis Garcia

Publishers: Katha
Language: English
32 pages, size 8 x 10
Age Group: 5 - 8 Years
ISBN 81-89020-40-4 [HB]
ISBN 81-89020-44-7 [PB]
Price: Rs 150 [HB]
Rs 120 [PB]

2006-10-05T22:05:00.000-07:00

Topping the bill

(September 28, 2006)

NEW DELHI (AFP) - Tales from underworld gang wars and racy fare about a small-town girl in the big, bad world of Bollywood will be on show next week as India takes top billing at the world's largest book fair.

Around 70 writers including big names such as Vikram Seth, Vikram Chandra and Shashi Tharoor -- who is in the race for the top job at the United Nations -- are expected to make an appearance at the Frankfurt Book Fair.

India was invited as guest of honour to the five-day event starting October 4, with organisers saying they wanted to bring contemporary India to a wider international audience.

The special presence at Frankfurt is seen as an acknowledgement of an increasing interest in Indian writing and more broadly in its culture as the country's profile rises thanks to its booming economy.

Publishers have compared the renewed interest in Indian English writing to a similar wave nearly a decade ago when Booker prize winner Arundhati Roy made a splash with her debut novel "The God of Small Things."

"Indian writing is no longer considered exotica. It is now mainstream in the UK and the US," says Thomas Abraham, CEO of Penguin India, the country's largest general interest book publisher.

This year, the 45-year-old Chandra -- whose 900-page novel "Sacred Games" has been hailed as the biggest thing in literary circles here -- reportedly took a million-dollar advance from US publishers Harper Collins.

Chandra is one of the most celebrated among a generation of young India writers increasingly winning international acclaim. Others include Amitav Ghosh, Amit Chaudhuri and British-born Rana Dasgupta whose debut novel "Tokyo, Cancelled" earned lavish praise last year.

"Sacred Games", a crime thriller set in Mumbai city's underworld, and "Tokyo Cancelled" -- about 13 Tokyo-bound passengers stranded at an airport -- are among the 55 books by Indians to be translated into European languages for the event.

"These writers are finally breaking the mould. These are voices with a rare confidence because they are not India-specific in content," says writer Shobhaa De, author of several racy relationship best sellers. "The hangover of the British school of classical writing is over.

"These writers have been bold enough to break away," says De, whose "Starry Nights" about a star in India's formulaic and prolific Bollywood film industry who is supported by an underworld boss will also feature at Frankfurt.

In a sign of the times, international publisher Random House set up shop in India last year. Penguin India ventured into publishing in Hindi and Marathi languages and plans to introduce more of the nearly two-dozen India's official languages with an eye on the expanding market for regional literature.

"Confidence in English writing is infusing better work in translations which do justice to the vast variety of Indian literature in other languages," said Geeta Dharmarajan, director of non-profit Katha, which promotes non-English literature.

While the book market in the West is estimated to be growing at around eight percent, the Indian market is growing at around 15 percent, says Thomas, whose company recorded a 20 percent growth last year.

Book publishing in India is estimated to generate 685 million dollars a year, according to the government-run publisher National Book Trust. With an annual 28,000 titles, India publishes the world's largest number of English books after the US and Britain.

Industry watchers, however, said India would take several years to catch up with Western countries in terms of both the variety of literature and the sales.

"The market is driven by education and text books. We are a generation away from non-fiction. There is still a world-class thriller to come out of India," says Penguin's Abraham.

But writer Namita Gokhale, one of the participants at the fair, said it was hard to ignore India any longer.

"India is a huge paradox -- both unchanged and unchanging, modern yet rooted in tradition -- and our literature has so much to say about this radical sense of change. It's a great moment in history," said Gokhale.

Link-o-mania @

ChannelNewsAsia
Khaleej Times
Gulf Times
The Peninsula
Turkish Press.com

2006-10-03T01:11:00.000-07:00

KATHA IN FRANKFURT

It doesn't get any bigger than this.

The Frankfurt Book Fair is where it's at. Where the largest publishing houses will compete. Where books from every corner of the world, written by the best writers, the greatest translators and the most excellent of illustrators will submit their work. Where they will be presented as a collective whole, to the audience. It is any publisher's dream. And the delight of any lover of books.

This year, India is the Guest of Honour. For the second time, at a moment when its economy in general, and publishing in particular is enjoying a phase of rapid commercial and creative development.

India has always been a land of storytellers. Over the centuries, we have honed the fine art of telling the short story - be it in our epics, our mythologies, our folktales or in our more recent writings. Told by traditional Katha vachaks, village storytellers and one's favourite grandmother, we have all heard stories that have taught us our values, our morals, our culture. "Katha" or the narrative is a special legacy that continues to exist in our country as a rich and fascinating tradition, moving with grace and felicity from the oral traditions to the written texts, from the heard word to the read.

"India is one of the largest emerging markets in the world," Jurgen Boos, director of the Frankfurt Book Fair, says. "We are looking forward to presenting in Frankfurt the great changes that have taken place in India over the past 20 years."

Katha too, has a vision. To spread the joy of reading, knowing, and living amongst adults and children, the common reader and the neo-literate. To establish a code of excellence in all that it does, to enhance the quality of life in every project it has attempted.

And that is why, we present, at the Frankfurt Book Fair, the best of India translated. Our writers come from every corner of India - from the unexplored Northeast to the fiery deserts of the West. From snowy Northern peaks, to the rolling plains of the Deccan, the tapering lands of the South. Our translators are the bridges that connect languages. They hear, see and write words, capture images in another language, that others may also perceive the joy of the written word in a bhaasha they do not know. Our illustrators bring a story to life. They make you turn the pages. They make you gasp in awe at the sheer beauty and magic of their pens, brushes and pencils. They are the best of the best.

Do visit us here, at the Frankfurt Book Fair:

Hall No 5.0, Stall No: D 9217

The following authors will be present at the stall, to do select book reads, and share their thoughts about their award-winning works:

Indira Goswami : "The Man from Chinnamasta"
Gurdial Singh: "The Survivors"

Alka Saroagi : " Over to you, Kadambari"
Kiran Nagarkar : "Seven 6s are 43"
UN Singh: "Second person Singular"

We're looking forward to having you with us.

After all ... as Katha's Executive Director, Geeta Dharmarajan says,

"Finding the full moon is no fun. It is the quest for third crescents, that hint of glow, that elusive nuance in a story that makes Katha’s work creative."

2006-10-02T02:11:00.000-07:00

GOSWAMI, SOBTI BOOKS HEAD FOR FRANKFURT

The Deccan Chronicle
(September 19, 2006)

Books by Indira Goswami, Krishna Sobti and Maitreyi Pushpa will air the rich, paradoxical continuum of Indian language literature at the Frankfurt Book Fair, said Katha executive director Geeta Dharmarajan.

Goswami's The Man from Chinnamasta, Sobti's The Heart Has Its Reasons and Pushpa's Alma Kabutari will be Katha's main English offerings at the fair that begins October 4.

"At the fair, Katha is showcasing the multi-dimensional literary traditions of Indian languages through translations," said Dharmarajan.

"Our new releases from brilliant writers who come from different geographical and cultural spaces, such as Goswami and Pushpa, present before the world the rich and paradoxical continuum of Indian language literature," she added. Katha will carry 60 books, including 25 children's books, to the fair that honours India as a special guest this year.

"We are also taking U. N. Singh's collection of poems originally written in Maithali. His second person singular springs from the ancient land of Mithila and looks at language as an ironic link between human spaces," said Dharmarajan. Maestros of modern storytelling will complete with Chitra Katha Award winner, Komilla Raote's The Princess with the Longest Hair, Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyaya's The Mountain of the Moon, Abanindranath Tagore's Raj Kahini and Naiyer Masud's The Myna from Peacock Garden.

- Shinie Anthony

News about Katha in:

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2006-10-01T06:18:00.000-07:00

The Survivors

Shortlisted for the Hutch Crossword award 2005: Indian Language Translation

The Survivors explores the collapse of kinship culture under the corrosive influence of modernization. It moves back and forth in time to reveal how neocolonial practices in India have surreptitiously replaced the colonial system, thus making the oppression of the common man a seamless continuity. It suggests that only personal revolt, stemming from an awareness about the need for a social upheaval, will help us reach that little place on earth where humanity survives all outrage.

The Tribune

(March 20, 2005)

"...Gurdial Singh’s work has been translated well by Rana Nayar, who has earlier translated two novels and a collection of short stores by the same author. He has made this book available to a far wider audience than the Punjabi original could have reached out to. This endeavour is both worthwhile and appreciable. The book also has a list of Gurdial Singh’s works and awards.

In the introduction Rana Nayar gives an overview of the Punjabi language, literary tradition and novel as well as the author and his writing. This is instructive ... in the ... well-produced book with an excellent cover, which has a painting by Manjit Bawa."

“Gurdial Singh has been seen as an autodidact ... a villager who knows his roots and who voices the anguish of the marginalized.”
– Jasbir Jain

NDTV.com's Review

The author

Gurdial Singh

The translator

Rana Nayar

Publisher: Katha

Cover Painting: Ranjit Bawa
Price: Rs 250
ISBN: 81-89020-24-2

2006-09-30T05:23:00.000-07:00

Seven 6s are 43

Saat Sakkam Trechalis, Nagarkar's explosive first novel, redefined Marathi literature with its language and the sexual identity it gave voice to. Translated by Shubha Slee, Seven 6s are 43, once again brings alive the magic of Nagarkar's creativity. The wry humour and the irreverent approach rivets the reader's attention to the very last page.

The Times of India

"He sees the funny side of everything: poverty, illness, suffering, death, and of course, intercourse."

Senior Assistant Editor Pankaj Upadhyay, rediff.com

"I have known Kiran Nagarkar, the author of Cuckold and Ravan and Eddie, for over five years now. I have laughed with him, cried with him, argued endlessly and fought bitterly. But we have remained friends. For me he is the Maharaj Kumar of Cuckold -- kind, cruel, good, bad, honest, untruthful, loyal, fickle, brave, a coward. But beyond all this, he is someone who is constantly questioning and probing, looking for answers, testing inherited wisdom, turning mores and moralities upside down, every now and then, to check their worth. "

The author

Kiran Nagarkar

The translator

Shubha Slee

Publishers: Katha
Cover Painting: Chittrovana Mazumdar
Price: Rs 200
ISBN: 81-87649-74-7