As the world counts the last days of 2017, I take a look back at the past 12 months. What a year it has been for Readomania and me! I was promoted as the Managing Editor in December 2016 and the heady feeling turned euphoric in January when my lovely author, Radhika Maira Tabrez, won the Muse India Satish Verma Young Writer Award for her debut novel, In The Light Of Darkness.
We explored multiple genres this year at Readomania. I was happy to edit Readomania’s first non-fiction book, Manjula Lal’s In Search of Ram Rajya. It traced the political history of Uttar Pradesh.
Onaatah—of the Earth, Paulami DuttaGupta’s National-award winning script was turned into a novel and it touched the heart of its readers with its sensitive portrayal of a rape victim’s rehabilitation. It was the first time I edited a book, the cinematic version of which had won multiple accolades. I did another such book. Sinjini Sengupta’s Elixir, a novel based on the award-winning short film of the same name. Sinjini’s imagery and lyrical prose was another outstanding high for me.
Kirthi Jayakumar’s The Doodler of Dimashq left me teary eyed with her soul-stirring portrayal of a teenager’s struggle to survive in war-torn Syria. Sadiqa Peerbhoy’s House of Discord made me smile and cry both with its realistic portrayal of a dysfunctional family’s trials and tribulations set in a riot-torn Bombay of the 1990s. What a storyteller she is!
Veteran actor Jayant Kripalani’s inimitable wit kept me entertained while editing Cantilevered Tales. Even the email exchanges with him were full of humour!
Readomania also started its poetry line with Kripalani’s wonderful Some Mad Poems, Some Sad Poems, Some Bad Poems & A Short Story in Verse.
Mallar Chatterjee’s Yudhisthira—The Unfallen Pandava further whetted my appetite for mythology. It was a big challenge to not lose focus and maintain the pace while dealing with a manuscript of such an ‘epic’ proportion!
My thirst for my favourite genre—thrillers—was quenched by Sourabh Mukherjee’s The Colour of Passion and Amit Sharma’s unique book, The Woman Who Saw the Future. What incredible feedback both books are receiving!
Atima Mankotia’s Staring at the Square Moon floored me with its hard-hitting plot and crisp language. Her attention to detail is legendary! I really hope this excellent book gets a cinematic release soon! And then Out With Lanterns, this year’s final release, had me at peace. Although Alisha ‘Priti’ Kirpalani keeps thanking me for suggesting a resolution to the conflict in her book, I thank her for giving such a beautiful voice to everyday conflicts.
While the country was going berserk over Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Padmavati, Readomania did a sane thing to come up with a book that would offer the right perspective to people on the legendary queen. Sutapa Basu did intensive research and came up with the true story of Padmavati.
Sriram Subramanian, after his much-acclaimed Rain, continued his winning run with Centre Court and we at Readomania could not stop gloating as readers called him the next best thing in fiction!
Acclaimed journalist, Amrita Mukherjee, continued to amaze us with her storytelling skills with Museum of Memories.
Sankhya Samhita, what a find she is! Her Revelations of an Imperfect Life had the readers getting nostalgic about that feeling called ‘home’!
Veteran automobile expert/columnist H. Kishie Singh’s Good Motoring was hailed by readers as entertaining as well as informative. Another gem in Readomania’s non-fiction line!
Readomania collaborated with Writersmelon to publish Jukebox, a collection of stellar short stories by Indian writers. This was the first in our endeavour to co-publish many more titles in the future.
In this day and age of lightning-fast lives and very little time for leisure, to make sure that reading does not become a casualty, we launched Readomania Shots—an e-book imprint of short stories, flash fiction and poetry. This would ensure that readers got their quota of literature, albeit in a short time. Tit for Tat by Archana Sarat was the first launch under this brand.
So many super-talented authors, such different narratives and styles. Every author uniquely enriched me with their knowledge and perspectives. This creative osmosis not only made us a great author-editor team but also forged great friendships.
The transformation of a raw manuscript to a printed book is like a multi-step endeavour involving weeks of brainstorming, development, copyediting and multiple stages of proofreading. Sometimes, it seems like the birth of a baby almost! I am lucky to have worked with authors who have understood my vision and accepted my suggestions. I am proud to say that Team Readomania (the editors, designers, marketing team and the man who keeps us all together—Dipankar Mukherjee) is known for their quality and professional ethics. We received some awesome reviews for our books this year and that worked like fuel to our passion.
The year to come will be another exciting one with interesting titles. We will venture into new genres like Children’s and Young Adult fiction. My first release of 2018 will be a Travel book like no other. Watch out for that one! The next release will be the first book in Readomania’s Light Reads line. There will be something for everyone from the house of Readomania soon!
Readomania is now a formidable name in the Indian publishing industry and I am so excited to have been part of this wonderful team since its nascent days. The journey has been full of ups and downs, accolades and lessons, but not once have we lost our focus. The goal has always been to make reading popular again and give a platform for talented authors to showcase their work to the world. We shall continue to work hard to accomplish this literary mission in 2018 also.
I wish everyone a fulfilling and successful year ahead. May good literature continue to make us introspect and change our attitude for the better!
Read something nice, write something beautiful...
Comments