BAPASI denied a stall at the Book Fair to the publisher Salt, which has published 49 books and introduced 13 authors. Salt has also won several awards, including the Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar.
Two days before the commencement of the 46th Chennai Book Fair at YMCA Grounds, Nandanam, a new allegation has been levelled against the Book Sellers and Publishers Association of South India (BAPASI). It has been accused of not being democratic while allocating stalls to non-members in the book fair. Chennai-based publisher Salt alleged that they were denied the application form even after multiple visits to BAPASI organisers.
Naran, a writer and founder of Salt, said in his social media post that BAPASI didn’t even provide them the form to apply for the stall. “When I first went to the office, I was told that the organisers were in Kancheepuram for another book fair. In the last 10 days, I went there multiple times to get the application form, but I was denied eventually,” he said. He added that Salt has launched 49 books and introduced 13 authors. Salt has also won several awards including Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar.
BAPASI offered no clarity when asked about the criteria for allotting stalls to non-members, he said, adding that he was asked to submit a request letter to get the application form. “It was not something that I needed to request. I was asking for the application form that they could easily give. Later, they could have allotted the stalls based on the lucky draw, which is more democratic than giving stalls to those close to BAPASI,” he said.
“BAPASI said that a publisher should have associated with them for the last 10 years and have published several books in the recent years to get the stalls in the non-member category. Ironically, BAPASI gave a stall to a one-year-old publisher that has published only 15 books” Naran’s post read.
“They do not follow any sort of guidelines that can be used by newcomers to the publication field. Those who are in-charge of BAPASI register the same publisher under different names so that those in their close circle can reap all the benefits,” he wrote.
Naran also alleged that BAPASI stopped adding new members eight years ago and that there is no transparency. He condemned BAPASI secretary SK Murugan for being disrespectful towards those seeking application forms. Contemporary writers and publishers who showed support for Salt also condemned BAPASI for its discriminating treatment of non-members.
Writer Pon Vasudevan, who is the publishing editor of the Aganazhigai Publications, seconded Naran’s views about the disparity in giving membership to new publishers. Aganazhigai is one of the many publishers that tried to get BAPASI membership. It was founded in 2008 and has been seeking membership since 2011. It has published more than 200 books. Despite being in the industry for more than a decade, Aganazhigai also went through the same experience as Naran to get the application form for the book fair, and was later denied.
Speaking to TNM, BAPASI’s secretary Murugan said that there was no stall to spare for the publishers anymore as only 800 stalls were planned for this fair. It was extended to 1000 as many non-members approached us for stalls this year, he said, adding, “We don’t have space to put up more stalls. We have already modified the corridors to accommodate a few more. Our intention was not to deny the stalls to anyone. We are happy to provide mini racks to Salt but Naran was not ready to place Salt’s books there.”
“Publishers should have associated with us for at least five years to get the membership and should publish 50-60 books. They should be willing to showcase and sell their books in other book fairs that are conducted across the state. But Salt is only focusing on the Chennai Book Fair and Naran is campaigning against us because we simply denied him the application form,” said Murugan. Refuting the allegations that BAPASI denied membership to some publishers, Murugan said that new members will be added after a committee is formed to scrutinise applicants. According to him, 87 publications are yet to be inducted with BAPASI despite seeking membership since 2021 because BAPASI members unanimously decided to form a committee to inspect the publishers first at their annual general meeting.
This is not the first time that BAPASI has faced backlash from publishers over the discrepancies in allotting stalls. BAPASI earlier drew flak from activists for alleged discrimination against Dalit publications while allocating stalls. In December, Pa Amutharasan, who runs the publishing house Thadagam, alleged that BAPASI favours only its own members while allotting stalls, charging them a considerably lower fee. He claimed that Dalit-led publishers were made to wait until the last minute for stall confirmation.
Read: Denied stalls, membership: Dalit publishers allege discrimination in Chennai Book Fair
BAPASI allotted a stall to a LGBTQIA+ publishing house only after activists voiced their concerns over the alleged denial of stall. The rejection of the publisher Queer Publishing House had led activists to seek the intervention of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin.
Read: TN queer publishing house allotted stall at Chennai Book Fair after protest
Source: The News Minute