Publishers in India are looking to publish more English language titles, according to news out of the Jaipur Literature Festival this week.
Aditi Maheshwari, Director Vani Publications spoke at the festival this week and said, “India may dream in Hindi, sleep in Hindi, but it aspires to read in English. The population of Hindi readers is much fewer than English readers in India,” according to a report in Press Trust of India.
The Financial Times points out that India’s publishing is about a $1.6 billion business according to the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry and it is expect to grow 30 percent a year. Here is more from the news site: “Of the 90,000 new books produced every year in 24 different languages, Hindi publications make up about 26 per cent and English language books 24 per cent. It’s all part of the ‘globalisation’ of literature. The pressure to write in English – and the queue of authors keen for their work to be translated – was a big topic at the annual Jaipur Literature Festival this weekend, especially during one session on the Global Novel.”