Children's books in focus
In an effort to link up Indian and German book industries and also beginning its larger involvement in the field of Children’s Book Publishing in India, the German Book Office New Delhi organized a tour of Indian Children’s Book Publishers to Germany from May 17 to May 22, 2009, to meet their counterparts and get an overview of the book market in Germany.
The 7 chosen publishers included: Anita Roy (Young Zubaan), Atiya Zaidi (Ratna Sagar), Gaurav Ghai (Sterling publishers), Jai Saxena (BPI), Madhu Singh Sirohi (TERI Press), Ravi DC (DC Books) and Sayoni Basu (Scholastic India).
The trip included visits to German publishing houses like Oetinger, Carlsen, Campus Verlag, Beltz and Gelberg among others, in the cities of Frankfurt, Hamburg and Berlin. The visits gave an insight into the functioning of these publishing houses as well as to create first contacts for what could be a constant exchange of ideas and books between the two countries. On the last day, a small book fair was organized at the Literirisches Colloquim Berlin where publishers from other parts of Germany came and met the group. Prohelvetia supported this event by organizing the participation of Atlantis Verlag, a significant Swiss Children Book publisher.
Besides targeted business meets, the trip also included visits to the Arbeitsgemeinschaft von Jugendbuchverlagen e.V. (avj) (the association of children’s book publishers) as well as Tatzelwurm, a special children’s book store. Meetings were also organized with important illustrators for children’s books like Katrin Engelking, Ole Koennecke, Isabel Kreitz and Peter Schössow in the Kinderbuchhaus in Hamburg.
The Indian Consulate in Frankfurt and the Indian Embassy in Berlin also hosted the group and emphasized the importance of Indo-German relations in the field of publishing.
In the words of Ravi DC, “..even after quite a few years of attending Book Fairs, I have got no direct access and information on Children's publishing like I got in these few days. The last day was like a mini Frankfurt Book Fair.”
Madhu Singh Sirohi from Teri Press on the trip: “Personally, the experience has offered much more to me than the knowledge of German Publishing. It has been a learning experience in many ways and exposed me to various aspects of foreign rights, to publishing history, business models, and most of all Indian publishers!”
The German publishers also had a first time experience of meeting Indian children’s book publishers. Having had little or almost no contacts to their Indian counterparts till now, they welcomed this initiative and hope to build contacts for the future. The calendars for Frankfurt Book Fair were already being filled during the trip.
The GBO plans to organize more trips in the future focusing on various segments of Publishing.
Contact GBO New Delhi for further information.
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