Aditi Maheshwari Goyal – “Publishing is in flux after the pandemic”

Vani Prakashan has entered its sweet sixties. But rather than turn grumpy, it is trying to imbibe the modern. Has the merger with Bhartiya Jnanpith increased your responsibilities?

We have traditionally been a society of quirky and witty grandparents who have always given the younger lot a run for their buck whenever it comes to ideas and a sense of humour. The newest grandparents on the block and foundation of the house of Vani, Arunji, and Ameetaji are not different! (chuckles)

On a serious note, Vani has published the biggest stalwarts of the Hindi public sphere. The very core of this list is based on my parents’, editors’, and now my generation’s hard work. Mahashweta Devi, Mahadevi Verma, Ramdhari Singh Dinkar, Parsai, Nirmal Verma, Narendra Kohli, Namwar Singh, Rajendra Yadav, Kedarnath Singh, Mamta Kalia, Mridula Garg, Usha Kiran Khan, Alka Saraogi, Sheoraj Singh Bechain, Taslima Nasrin... the list is very, very long and the space is very, very limited.

The genius of Bharatiya Jnanpith is that it nurtured the idea of Indian literature in totality. The founders of this organization were dedicated to working for literature and authors. We have been working with similar sentiments and therefore found ourselves closer to the idea of taking the Bharatiya Jnanpith’s prestigious line of publications forward. This has enlarged our scope of work and multiplied the dimensions of our expressions.

Another noteworthy development is Vani’s foray into English-language publishing. Why has it taken you so long?

Thank you for this question. The Vani Prakashan group’s massive backlist, which includes Bharatiya Jnanpith and Yatra Books, required a great deal of care and attention to detail. We intended to consolidate them before venturing into the new arena of English publishing. We’ve started English publishing this year. We hope that we will be able to display the gems of Hindi and other Indian language literature on the global pavilion in both English and foreign languages in the near future. I see it more as a logical step toward the internationalization of Hindi literature.

Hindi flaunts a rich history of translations. Whether it is Karl Marx’s Das Kapital or Russian epics like Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina, readers have responded enthusiastically to literary translations. Translators such as Teji Grover, who are credited with translations of Knut Hamsun’s Pan and Jon Fosse’s Aliss at the Fire (which later went on to win the Nobel), are a rarity these days. Somewhere down the line, and more so after the pandemic, translations into Hindi have slackened. Even the winning of the International Booker Prize that shone a spotlight on translations received a tepid response in the Hindi literary ecosystem.

I would like to also add Arunava Sinha, Rakhshanda Jalil, Rita Kothari, Jerry Pinto, and Anamika to the list of illustrious translators who have brought languages together. This list is, of course, not exhaustive. The reception of a book when translated into Hindi is important because this helps the other Indian languages take note of the book and its authors. There are no obvious formulae for it. But so far, this has helped the Indian language translation ecosystem.

Publishing is indeed in flux after the pandemic. The capacity to do experimentation has been reduced manifold. Translation is an activity that needs surplus time and resources at hand. Now, the challenge is how to turn the surplus to the mainstream. Also, there needs to be a proper communication system to make translations accessible to the readership. How to find the right tone or platform to push translations is a work in progress. We also need to start working closely with literary agents. We are still struggling in an era where translated books are cornered in a dingy stand at a bookstore. This happens with most Hindi literature books. This needs to change.

What the Booker Award has done is historic. However, this achievement did not come together overnight. It took decades of hard work from the author and a keen eye for details from the literary agents. Of course, a publisher nurtures the book right from its inception.

Initially, I underestimated Facebook’s influence in the Hindi literary community. However, I now recognise its significance in the Hindi literary world. More than just a social networking site, Hindi writers actively participate in it. It has proven to be an essential — and perhaps the only — way to socialise, attract an audience, and even settle previous scores. Some publishing businesses only operate through their owners’ Facebook profiles, showing their new books and even accepting orders there. In contrast, some English publishers have started to deactivate their Facebook pages. Do you believe such overdependence poses substantial hazards in the near future?

Facebook is a social networking platform that allows for longer-form interactions. It is certain that the Hindi public sphere will find natural expression there. However, the trolling culture has now surpassed the sharing culture. The ‘jhagdas’ have gone beyond the platform and demanded litigation. What began as a community-building activity has evolved into a physical boxing ring. This also indicates a shift in the audience base: it has become an old and slanderous ‘mohalla’ rather than a component of the contemporary body politic.

Furthermore, there is a clear distinction between Facebook users and those of other social media platforms, such as Instagram. Two billion of Facebook’s three billion registered users log in on a regular basis to check their accounts. This equates to more than one-third of the global population. Strange, isn’t it? However, it does not go beyond a cursory scroll to generate any genuine involvement. Instagram and Twitter, on the other hand, have evolved into active social media platforms. In terms of product marketing, Instagram has a very encouraging conversion rate. It is a relatively new platform that caters to a much younger audience and allows fresh dimensions of opinion formation to bloom. They are experimenting with new audiovisual formats in the form of reels, which have revolutionized storytelling.

Until recently, Hindi writers were reluctant to promote their books. It was deemed pretentious to discuss one’s own work. Now, the pattern appears to be shifting. Writers and publishers are collaborating to spread their books far and wide. Hindi publishers are experimenting with new means to reach out to readers, including e-books, audiobooks, and film adaptations.

The generation of authors who believed that promoting their books was blasphemous has given way to the new generation, who see the need to convey their voice to the reader by competing with audiovisual methods of content creation. The days of a book existing and being appreciated in isolation are over. We all live in different groups, both online and offline, that help us generate, consume, and integrate ideas.

This paradigm shift has altered the approach to book promotion. Neither the author nor the publisher can work alone to promote the book. Both work hand in glove to convey the message. The Vani Prakashan Group launched the Naye Pathak Ki Khoj campaign over a decade ago, promising to set up book fairs and pop-up stores in various educational and leisure areas to ensure that books reached as many readers as possible.

As the digital arena expanded, the Naye Pathak Ki Khoj campaign received a fresh lease on life. Arun Maheshwari, our Managing Director and Chairman, has always believed that we, or the author, should make the effort to reach out to the reader, not the other way around. As a result, we feel that the primary purpose of Vani’s operations is to serve communities. We had a simple transition to the newest ways because of this basic understanding in our day-to-day activities.

Rajkumari Sharma, in her article Homosexuality in Hindi Novels: From a Woman’s Perspective in Sahitya Kunj in August 2020, described it as an antisocial movement that has been imported from the West to spread AIDS and depression. Namvar Singh considered it a perverse, unnatural act. Karmendu Shishir went further to state that queer literature would threaten Indian aesthetics and culture. Despite this homophobic stance of renowned Hindi critics, what made you take the plunge into LGBT literature with a dedicated imprint like Satrangi Vani?

I had the opportunity to meet Shri Saleem Kidwai Saab a few years before his death. He spoke at length about the ancient scriptures and their vocal stand about the plurality of sexuality. Almost all religions on earth have narratives, even minor ones, and instances where sexual plurality is a part of the bigger oeuvre of religious discussions.

As far as the legislative rights are concerned, no federal system must discriminate based on sexual preference. However, the social stigma continues. Our need to launch Satrangi Vani arose from this reality. At a personal level, I saw my close friends suffering at the hands of the draconian Section 377. We can’t even imagine what living under the shadows of an unjust law amounts to!

It causes social unrest, frustration, and suicides and makes families suffer. This is not how a fair and just society should be. So, for us at the house of Vani, to launch an imprint for LGBTQ+ writing is more of a contribution towards civil engineering than anything else. It can be seen as a point of departure from the historical perspective on this matter. Literature has changed the world.

The June issue of Hans included a very humorous editorial comparing AI to ‘quarreling relatives.’ While one can hear echoes here and there, the Hindi world is more busy with its meagre squabbles than with taking a more critical look at the newest developments such as AI.

Although I haven’t read the most recent Hans, I am sure that AI has advanced much beyond ‘quarrelling relatives’. During the last decade, while I was finishing my degree in the UK, a new technology was taking shape that had the power to disrupt and scale up the automation principles of each industry. Also, living in the postmodernist era, where several narratives exist, each with its own legitimacy, will usher in a multifactorial cosmos. We may all agree to disagree about how AI influences decision making, morality, and ownership. I’ve watched some extremely delicate surgeries that would not be possible without artificial intelligence-powered robotics. All of this and more, with one question for everyone: will AI replace humans? Should we be worried?

In the field of publishing, which deals with intellectual property, AI cannot totally replace human intervention. Negotiating the lawful ownership of a specific work, whether written or designed, may become more challenging. However, experts might benefit from AI-generated copy editing and design templates. As a result, it is a fine line that must be tread with caution.

We’re attempting to equip ourselves with software like Turnitin to determine the degree of plagiarism in a given text. But the difficulty is that there is so little internet usage in Hindi that the crowdsourcing material accessible on the internet for Hindi is insufficient to detect plagiarism. The only way to gradually overcome this is to saturate the internet with as much Hindi-language intellectual content as possible. This may sound like a wish circle, yet the English language presents us with a shining example.

The literary ecosystem is a hugely unregulated industry. Neither is there a stable support system for writers nor are book sales under check. I remember you telling me about having to go to second-hand markets to identify pirated books. I have also heard horror stories of how customers exploit the exchange or return policies of e-commerce websites to send diapers and toys.

The government has drafted an evolved and inclusive National Education Policy. What we need now is a National Book Policy to work in tandem with the NEP and make it a reality. I foresee six important pillars on which the NBP will stand:

No tolerance towards piracyRegulation of Foreign Investment in the Publishing and Bookselling SectorIndependent bookstores need to be protected.Revise the taxation model on the book production and selling processes. Engage young professionals with the seniors. Increase intra-language translations among the Indian language literature. These nodal points are of concern in varied capacities for almost all stakeholders in the book production ecosystem.

Kinshuk Gupta is the associate editor of Usawa Literary Review and the poetry editor of Jaggery Lit and Mithila Review.