World Book Fair, Manga and The Hidden Hindu !

📚It has been a whirlwind since I sent out this newsletter last

Let me tell you what has been happening

📚The decision to visit the book fair proved to be quite wonderful

This edition did not disappoint at all, well mostly!

The French, guest of honour for the 2023 edition had created a cute French Book Cafe, designed by graphic novelist Simon Lamouret to resemble a French bookstore with a café inside with an amazing lineup like a lecture by the 2022 Nobel Prize in Literature winner, Annie Ernaux kicked off the first day, a discussion on illustration with graphic novelists Zeina Abirached, Lisa Mandel, Mathieu Bertrand and Lamouret; a talk on children’s literature with author Susie Morgenstern; and a performative reading by Karthika Nair and Joëlle Jollivet.

Honestly, the French Pavilion was just so much fun with live paintings and, believe it or not, a DJ, not to mention the fantastic cappuccinos!

An amazing Manga curation was the highlight for me ranging from Junji Ito, do yourself a favour and check out this master of horror, Death Note Black Editions, Tokyo Ghoul ( Not a manga for the squeamish!) to innovative categories like Bookstagram favourites drew a lot of attention.

Bumping into author Akshat Gupta and witnessing his amazing feat at the New Delhi World Book Fair 2023. Akshat is the author of the widely acclaimed book, The Hidden Hindu, (you might have watched his podcast with Ranveer Allahbadia ), his innovative approach to marketing and selling his book was staggering and frankly humbling!

It was awesome to meet visionary entrepreneur Naveen Valsakumar (Founder,Notionpress) and speak to him about the present and future of publishing.I was particularly impressed by his open and out of the box thinking towards the changing scenarios of book making,selling and marketing!

Meeting fledgling authors is always exciting because one gets to know more about new age thinking and sometimes a new genre itself which was so evident with Nickil Snow ,the author of Nothingness who has delved into impromptu writing.

Evil is not what we should fear. Creatures with power acting in their own interest: that is what should make us shudder.
― Shehan Karunatilaka, The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida

Being Queer: A Collection of Personal Histories

Written by: Gaysi

Narrated by: Toto Robin, Arjun Iyer

Listen to this anthology of first-person LGBT narratives to learn about the stories of individuals from the community and their varied experiences.