London Book Fair – 2009
The London Book Fair kick-started with long queues of people waiting to enter the large Earl’s Court Exhibition Centre. The book fair’s market focus for this year is India and is being attended by some 50 Indian writers and 90 publishers. Although the global economic crisis might have affected exhibitor participation, the crowd seemed as enthusiastic as ever to visit the fair.
With India the focus country for the fair this year, a bag full of big names are expected to attend and deliver lectures at the fair. From Vikram Seth to Amartya Sen, Amit Chaudhuri and Ramchandra Guha, it seems like the country’s best writers are ready to share their intellect with England. At least 54 countries are represented at the fair.
An Interview with Javed Akhtar
I got an opportunity to interview Mr. Javed Akhtar
With Javed Akhtar
What is your take on India being the theme for London Book Fair 2009?
Well, it is a great thing but we shouldn’t be surprised. Today, India has a position in the International world. Indian films are making inroads everywhere and they are being appreciated worldwide. Indian artists are doing work outside across the world. Indian film-makers are making cross over movies. Great deals of things are happening at the moment in the Indian subcontinent. In terms of Indian literature, writers are doing extremely well in the western hemisphere. Looking at the aspect of music, Indian music has definitely become very popular worldwide. One might feel happy but not surprised with this.
Do you see a growing trend in Indian writers from India?
Yes, Of course. There is a growth and they are doing very well across the world.
Now, talking in terms of your organisation, Muslim for Secular Democracy, can you tell us a bit more about it and the kind of work it is doing?
As a matter of fact one can say and one won’t be too wrong if one says that there is a contradiction in terms that if you are secular or democratic then why Muslim, why Christian, why Hindu? And obviously all those people who are in this organisation were, till yesterday, part of different liberal, secular, progressive groups. But we realised that whenever we opposed the fundamentalist voice within our community where we were born, and that was not a matter of choice, the fundamentalist groups say that maybe these are some individuals who have opinions. But we are not some individuals, we are an organization and this organization’s opinion represents the opinion of the masses in the community. And thus we decided to give back an answer to them by forming a secular, liberal, progressive and democratic Muslims.
So, you can say that within this community there is another organisation which is a counter point of the fundamentalists. And this is also a voice, not of the individual but of a segment. I believe people who are against fundamentalist, against anti-women, anti-liberal and anti-conservative views should get a platform and make it very clear that the fundamentalist voice is not the sole representative of the community. That is the basic purpose.