SSAF Kasauli Art Project
7–10 July 2025
A roundtable on publishing was held at Ivy Lodge, Kasauli from 7 to 9 July (including days of arrival and departure) as part of SKAP’s activities in the summer of 2025. This was the first of what we hope will develop into a series of annual workshops, discussions and conversations that exchange views and experiences on topics of contemporary relevance and concern to the publishing scenario in India.
The participants in the 2025 roundtable were:
Indu Chandrasekhar (Tulika Books, Delhi); Leonard Fernandes (The Dogears Bookshop and Cinnamon Teal Design and Publishing, Margao, Goa); Mandira Sen (Stree-Samya, Kolkata); Manish Purohit (Authors UpFront, Delhi); Radhika Menon (Tulika Publishers, Chennai); Ravi Singh (Speaking Tiger, Delhi); Ritu Menon (Women Unlimited, Delhi); Sudhanva Deshpande (LeftWord Books and May Day Bookstore, Delhi); and Swati Daftuar (editor, writer, journalist, Delhi)
The discussions over two days, after an introductory session on 7th evening (at which the participants introduced themselves), included a sharing of individual experiences and insights as independent publishers/booksellers; an analysis of the current publishing scenario in India and globally; the experiences and prospects of independent publishing in India today, especially in the context of the consolidation of multinational/corporate publishing houses over the last two decades; and a couple of focused sessions on ‘selling books’ which covered the marketing and promotional strategies required in today’s context, and the new challenges faced by book distributors, the retail business and e-commerce. The exchanges, which began at 10 each morning and stretched into late evening/night sessions, were intense and wide-ranging. Most rewardingly, they resulted in some concrete outcomes: one, the formalisation of the ‘group of 9’ that met at Kasauli into a collective entity named ‘Independent India: books & ideas’, which will further the cause of independent publishing through a series of planned activities and initiatives; two, the resolve to further the dialogue on publishing initiated in July 2025 through annual SKAP workshops/symposiums on specific themes and involving participants from different sectors of publishing; and three, following on from the annual workshops/symposiums, to develop an ‘off-the-beaten track’ course/training module in publishing that may lend itself to replication or adaptation in institutional as well as less formal settings.