The Write Stuff

Poet and journalist Nirupama Dutt,who translated Pritam’s works into English,says that initially authors were hesitant. “They feared that they would not be taken seriously if their book was self-published. Besides,it wasn’t technically easy in those days. Now with many publishers demanding too much money the trend of self-publishing has grown,” says Dutt.

While Pritam emerged as a mentor to young Punjabi poets and short story writers hailing from small villages,now there are many new authors opting for self-publishing. This includes Vijai Vardhan,whose book of 55 haikus poems,Beyond The Great Beyond,recently released at Capital Book

Depot; Samartha Vashishtha,who has brought out three self-published books and Kathryn Myra Spencer,who has self-published Paldi,set in Punjab.

This is Vardhan’s first book on poetry and he’s earlier authored a coffee-table book on Lord Krishna titled The Enlightened One. “I realised that there is very little interest in a first-time poet,in English. The genre of poetry is not something that’s financially viable for publishers and there’s not much market for it,except if you’re Gulzar. Frankly,I didn’t want to wait and be at the mercy of publishers,” smiles the bureaucrat.

Vardhan’s book on Kurukshetra is still being finalised,though his publisher felt it should come out first. “He felt I should be known as a serious art historian rather than a romantic poet,” laughs Vardhan. The book is eye-catching and appealing in its choice of photographs,layout and design. To get the book rolling,the author spent long hours at the printing press of his friend Kapil Khanna. “Unlike many poetry books,it’s not dull and drab,” says Vardhan who spent a substantial sum of his money on it. He’s happy that no compromises were made. “It was a calculated risk,but there is no money for authors. Even if you break-even it’s great,” says the poet who even distributed free copies of the book.

Ten years back,at the age of 17,Samartha Vashishtha decided that he would capture his thoughts in verse. The result is Anhadnad,a compilation of his poems,that Vashishtha published in 2000. “Poetry does not sell much in India and there is no financial motivation for publishers,” recalls the now 27-year-old poet,who works in Adobe at Noida. He brought out his second book in verse titled Shadows Don’t Live On Walls,published by P Lal,at the Writers Workshop,Kolkata. He’s now penning a new anthology in Hindi. “Let’s see who publishes this one,” smiles Vashishtha. He points out how poetry books are dumped in libraries,while authors get very few copies and royalty is next to nothing.

Canadian author Kathryn Myra Spencer’s debut novel Paldi is spread across two Paldis,one in Punjab and the other in Vancouver and moves between 1958 and 2008. Spencer is a clinical counsellor and painter and her novel deals with two women — Ella in

Vancouver and Anita in Punjab. While Ella yearns for a life in the East,Anita seeks to adopt the values of the Western world. The storyline deals with issues like geographical and ethical divide,generation gap and life in their respective homes. Released in Chandigarh late last year,Spencer started work on this book in early 2007,as it required research on the two Paldis. She ran the novel through an editor,but chose to self-publish,as it was tough to convince publishers. As the novel was her own spiritual journey it had to be written “against all odds”.