Bengali Book Publishers Face Adverse Impact Of Bangladesh Turmoil, Recession

Kolkata: Sustained social turbulence in Bangladesh seems to have adversely impacted the publishing industry in Kolkata with sales of books of Bengali authors on both sides of the border and count of 'floating' purchasers "declining", stakeholders said on Thursday.

With the Bangladesh book pavilion already out of contention from the city’s biggest literary carnival, the upcoming Kolkata International Book Fair, and publishers with business ties in Dhaka admitting to a nearly 40 per cent dip in 'floating' readers of Bangladeshi titles over the past fortnight or so, the signs look ominous.

‘Floating’ or non-premeditated readers, who make sudden decisions to purchase books during their visits to a stall, account for a significant bulk of sales in the publishing world.

While publishers in Kolkata maintain that the export and import of books to and from the neighbouring country remain largely unaffected and footfalls of majority of committed or regular readers at bookshops stay unhindered, the slump in sales of books of Bengali authors on both sides of the border remains a cause of concern for stakeholders at the College Street book hub in Kolkata. "While the 60-70 per cent committed readers continue to visit our bookshop in College Street and the stall of our representative in Dhaka, some 30-40 per cent of first-time or floating readers are missing during recent times,” Sudip Dey, a director of Dey's Publishing, one of the biggest seller-publishers of Bangladeshi writers and publications, told PTI.

"The numbers had been steadily declining since turbulence and instability gripped Bangladesh over the last few months, but it has dipped further in the past 15 days after the recent incidents of violence and related protests, which found reflection in social media, started shaping public opinions" he continued.

Dey, however, maintained that the export and import of books continue to remain steady with visitors from India and Bangladesh placing orders, both physically and in the online mode.

"But with the decline in the number of Bangladeshi visitors to the city, due to the current check on issuing of visas for tourists, not more than two to three Bengali-speaking foreigners are dropping at our bookshop daily looking for works of their favourite Indian or Bangladeshi authors,” Dey said.

The publisher revealed that Bangladeshi authors like Hasan Azizul Huq, Jasimuddin, Badruddin Umar, Humayun Ahmed and Sadat Hossain remain hot favourites among Indian readers while works of Sunil Gangopadhyay, Sirshendu Mukhopadhyay, Shakti Chattopadhyay and contemporary names like Pracheta Gupta and Swapnamoy Chakraborty remain in high demand from readers across the border.

"I refuse to believe that book sales can be a casualty at the altar of violence, strife or dispute between the two sides. There are bibliophiles and ordinary book lovers in both countries," he said.

Dey, however, refused to divulge how many books are regularly being exported or imported to and from Bangladesh in a month.

An official of the Publishers and Booksellers Guild, the apex body of publishers in Bengal, said the volume of export and import of books to and from Bangladesh, which run into several crores, has registered a 20 per cent drop in the figure since July, which can be more attributed to the recessive market situation than incidents in the past month.

"We have to wait for some more time to analyse and assess the effect of these developments," Dey said.

Partha Shankar Basu, the owner of Naya Udyog, the sole publisher-exporter-importer of books in the state and the number one publisher-seller of Bangladeshi books in the country, said the publishing industry in both countries is passing through a recession impeding their sales but hoped the trend will be reversed after some time.

"It has nothing to do with politics or violence. The larger majority of discerning Bangladeshi readers as well as their Indian counterparts will never give up reading, their childhood habit," Basu said.

There would be a turnaround to this temporary setback sooner rather than later, he asserted.

"Organisers of book fairs in different towns across West Bengal, slated to be held during the period of December-January, are in touch with us for dispatching books by Bangladeshi writers. We will also send books to the Agartala book fair. We have not heard about any of them making plans to discard literary works from Bangladesh. But yes, due to the overall recession, the footfall might be less," he said.

Basu suggested that the current uncertainties could, however, boost piracy of Bengali titles in both countries.

"The grey market is active on both sides. If you visit booksellers on pavement across the city, including College Street, you will find pirated editions of books of Humayun Ahmed here which have great demand and far less in price. Similarly, you will find pirated editions of Sunil Gangopadhyay, Sirshendu Mukhopadhyay and other popular Bengali writers from this part of the border on the streets of Dhaka as well," he claimed.