From the very beginning, the Dhaka Lit Fest has built many bridges between writers of different countries, or between writers and readers, or between writers and journalists; the list could go on and on. One of the most productive bridges is between publishers and aspiring or emerging writers. For new writers, it is indeed a rare opportunity to connect with publishers and agents from around the world who they normally would never meet. Two of the publishers attending this year are celebrated writers and editors as well
David Davidar
David Davidar is the founding publisher of Penguin India and has been a publisher for thirty years. He has published works of many distinguished writers, including Shashi Tharoor, Vikram Seth, Arundhati Roy, Kiran Desai, R.K. Narayan, Khushwant Singh and Amitav Ghosh. Davidar is also an author of three novels: The House of Blue Mangoes (2002), The Solitude of Emperors (2007) and Ithaca (2011). He is also the publisher of Aleph, a literary publishing firm he co-founded in 2011.
Kelly Falconer
The DLF 2017 will also put the spotlight on Kelly Falconer, the founder of the Asia Literary Agency. She was an editor of fiction and non-fiction in London, working in-house or as a freelancer for publishers including Weidenfeld & Nicolson, Granta magazine, Virgin Books and Constable & Robinson. In 2012 she was the literary editor of the Asia Literary Review. The Asia Literary Agency represents Asian authors, experts on Asia and writers living in the Australasia region.
Ritu Menon
A distinguished feminist publisher and author, Ritu is vocal about imperialism encroaching upon Indian publishing industry. She co-founded India’s first feminist publishing house, Kali for Women; also founded Women Unlimited, and published works of two greatest Indian Urdu writers, Ismat Chughtai and Qurratulain Hyder. She authored Borders & Boundaries: Women in India’s Partition (1998), and edited No Woman’s Land: Women from Pakistan, India & Bangladesh Write about the Partition of India.