The Lit Pickers: A new podcast highlights conversations we need to be having about books, reading, and publishing biz

In The Lit Pickers, a podcast produced by Maed in India, writers Supriya Nair and Deepanjana Pal, in a lively and conversational tone, engage in critical conversation about books and the publishing industry in India. “I do think there isn’t much space for books and criticism in English-language media in India, but that’s a symptom of a larger tendency: there isn’t space for a lot of things in mainstream Indian media that readers in other countries take, perhaps, for granted,” says Nair in an email interview with Firstpost. For this reason, initiatives like the podcast that open dialogue and encourage criticism are always a welcome entrant on the Indian publishing landscape. “Critical conversation around books and publishing could always stand to be expanded to new voices, new formats and new opinions,” Nair adds. Among the things the duo will discuss on the podcast are protest poetry, feminist books, and kickstarting reading habits. On the first of the 12 episodes in this debut season that they will release on a weekly basis, the two talk about literature festivals in the country. They discuss the commercial nature of these fests, highlighting how selling books is often prioritised over making people read and think deeply about the things they read. “When lit fests become places that can potentially turn books to best sellers, no doubt we will see the industry respond the same way,” she says about publishing seasons. In the podcast, the two also call out how fests must serve as entertainment, where speakers are valued most often for their celebrity instead of authorship, and how fests are organised in a way to encourage headlines instead of conversations. They also acknowledge the pressure of funding that influences such a mind-set among organisers. Listen to the first episode of The Lit Pickers here: In the podcast, Nair and Pal also discuss the fact that literature festivals are not always a safe space. “At literature festivals I think we would simply like to see those at risk of institutional reprisal or censorship feel free and safe in speaking fearlessly,” says Nair. The powerful, however, dictate the topics and extent to which one can speak, and strong censorship ensures that fests serve more as entertainment than criticism or a form of public expression. “We should also admit that “festivals” of any sort are not places of debate, but platforms for the amplification of views: and the popular and the powerful often come to these places because they are heard, rather than meaningfully criticised, here,” she adds. Even as a literature festival can define itself in any way it pleases, the primacy of literature can be presumed as a common thread among these events. “Since each festival is dedicated to the cause of literature, though, it stands to reason that any literature festival should be committed to the political and artistic freedoms that make modern literature possible. A festival which does not care about this must accept the criticism that it is not wholly in the public interest, even it is free to attend,” says Nair. However, even despite the many restraints on these fests today, they are still an avenue for finding new books, meeting new people, and connecting with books on a deeper level through meeting the authors. “Literature festivals are always places of discovery for someone or the other, and they can be very exciting when they expose us to ideas and arguments that are not heard in the mainstream,” she says. While literature festivals serve in part as book fairs, offering extravagant displays of books on sale, understanding the other places readers find the books they read and its impact provides important insight into reading habits and subsequent mind-sets, and the publishing industry of the country. Even as books can be purchased at stores and online, “a shopping app doesn’t have open bookshelves and human store managers to expand your ability to discover what you want to buy,” says Nair. While one may be reading more online, that reading has the possibility of being more contained, online algorithms not allowing for the adventure of browsing books on shelves with a variety of books. “Without a bookstore, the way in which we discover books changes: there is less subjectivity involved.” And in the process, “we become safer, more objective consumers.” The other, diminishing, avenue of book exploration is libraries, which “struggle in consumer cultures around the world.” However, in Mumbai alone, initiatives like the Sister Library “show how even small institutions can serve entire communities, including readers with varying levels of access to books and education. This is as important as having a school in the neighbourhood,” says Nair. Finally, also affecting readers is the type of books available for reading from which to choose. For instance, non-fiction seems largely more popular in Indian publishing today than fiction. Because, “non-fiction sells more,” starting with textbooks and educational material which are a key source of income for publishing houses. “In the last decade or so popular non-fiction has really blossomed in India, thanks to journalists with the wherewithal to write long-format work; celebrities writing memoirs; and a renewed interest in certain kinds of history, politics and biography.” And with a plethora of non-fiction to choose from, while readers jostle with varying narratives of history and multiple perspectives of a truth, critical engagement with a book on the part of the reader becomes a necessity. “I think a reader should only read books she enjoys, and if she enjoys critically engaging with a book, then she should finish it, otherwise she should give it up and read something else. Life is too short to stick with a book that doesn’t hold our interest unless we are studying it for an exam,” says Nair. Listen to the second episode of The Lit Pickers here: