Navayana (publishing house)

Navayana
Founded 2003
Founder S. Anand
Country of origin India
Official website navayana.org

Navayana is an independent anti-caste Indian publishing house based in New Delhi, strongly influenced by Ambedkarite ideas. It was founded by S. Anand and D. Ravikumar in 2003. The first book it published was Ambedkar: Autobiographical Notes priced at Rs 40 (about $1 at that time). Since then it has published acclaimed fiction, non-fiction, graphic novels and poetry anthologies. From 2009 onwards, Navayana broadened its publishing outlook to include social issues other than caste because ‘the struggle against caste cannot happen in isolation from other struggles for justice and equality’ as a statement on the website reads.[1]

The logo of the publishing house is an ink sketch of two buffaloes kissing. The publisher S. Anand explains that the iconography comes from an excerpt from Aravind Malagatti’s autobiography in Kannada, Government Brahmana. It is a story about how the ideology of caste does not allow a dalit-owned she-buffalo in heat to mate with a he-buffalo owned by a landlord. For the cover art of the April 2003 issue of The Dalit, a journal run by the Dalit Media Network, Chennai, Anand approached the artist Chandru (G. Chandrasekaran) with this story. The logo is a close-up of the artist’s interpretation.[2]

Founders

S. Anand

Anand has worked as a journalist with Deccan Chronicle, Indian Express, The Hindu and Outlook. At the time of the launch of Navayana, he was working for Outlook in Chennai. In 2007, he left his day job as a journalist and turned full-time to publishing. Today, he is the publisher of Navayana Publishing Pvt Ltd based in New Delhi.[3]

D. Ravikumar

Ravikumar is an activist in the civil rights movement in Tamil Nadu. At the time of the launch of Navayana, he was a bank employee. In 2006, he turned full-time to politics and became a member of the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi, and was elected to the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly.

Annual Lectures

Navayana hosted its first annual lecture where the Slovenian Marxist philosopher, Slavoj Žižek, spoke in New Delhi, Kochi and Hyderabad to packed audiences.[4]

2011

The American feminist thinker and former Black Panther, Angela Yvonne Davis, delivered lectures in New Delhi and Pune.[5]

2015


The aboriginal writer from Australia, Ali Cobby Eckermann, delivered the lectures in New Delhi and in Kolkata.[6]

Awards

The founder of Navayana, S. Anand, won the International Young Publishing Entrepreneur Award in 2007.[7]

References

  1. ↑ http://navayana.org
  2. ↑ Anand, S. "Five Years of Buffaloes Kissing". Navayana. Retrieved 15 September 2014.
  3. ↑ Gonsalves, Roanna (Aug 1, 2016). "We Need to Talk about Caste: Roanna Gonsalves Interviews S Anand". Cordite Poetry Review. Retrieved 29 April 2018.
  4. ↑ Atluri, Tara. "Mild Curry, Mildly Queer: India, Sex, and Slavoj Žižek". International Journal of Zizek Studies. 4 (4). Retrieved 29 April 2018.
  5. ↑ Rajalakshmi, T.K. "For collective fight against capitalism". Frontline. Retrieved 29 April 2018.
  6. ↑ Menon, Meena (Jan 19, 2015). "Waging a war over land rights". The Hindu. Retrieved 29 April 2018.
  7. ↑ "Young Publishing Entrepreneur Award". Retrieved 15 September 2014.

Official website, Navayana Publishing

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