New Delhi: In the 1990s, when Chitra Narayanan was a young journalist at Business Standard, her newspaper carried a book review section on its back page every single day. It wasn\u2019t easy filling that space up.<\/p>\n
\u201cImagine at that point of time, this was pre-email, it was my job to physically take books to reviewers, hand them over, and then collect it after 10 days,\u201d said Chitra Narayanan, at a recent roundtable of The Book Review Literary Trust on The Role Reviews Play, chaired by author Ranjana Sengupta. It was part of the organisation\u2019s 50th anniversary celebrations.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Narayanan, now at The Hindu BusinessLine, recalled how she and her team identified the best reviewer. It was time consuming, and reviews were taken seriously. However, that culture seems to have disappeared, she lamented.<\/p>\n
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At the India International Centre on 22 August, a long table was stretched across the front, where writers, publishers, and critics sat shoulder to shoulder \u2014 most of them old, having spent decades in the publishing industry and in the world of books. A row of listeners sat facing them.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The discussion brought several voices together, including author Malavika Karlekar, author Maya Joshi, and writer and publisher Ritu Menon. Along with them, were Narayanan, social worker and designer Laila Tyabji, Ashoka University professor Malavika Maheshwari, poet and professor at IIT Delhi Rukmini Bhaya Nair, and Sucharita Sengupta, an assistant professor at Jamia Millia Islamia.\u00a0<\/p>\n
At a time when the publishing industry is expanding, with self-publishing and AI-driven publishing taking over, the session asked an important question: What place do book reviews hold in India\u2019s literary landscape today?<\/p>\n
It was less like a roundtable and more like an \u201cadda\u201d, with microphones, AC, and plastic water bottles.<\/p>\n
The question over shrinking spaces was picked up by Rukmini Bhaya Nair as she leaned back and spoke in a low, soft voice.<\/p>\n
\u201cReviews are as much about the reviewer, as about the book,\u201d she said. Even silence, Nair added, is a review in itself. Choosing not to write is also a statement. For her, even as the space for book reviews has shrunk, the need for them hasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n
Other speakers too weighed in. Ritu Menon was fiery. She reminded the room that there exists a gender bias in reviews \u2014 men get more space and visibility than women.<\/p>\n
\u201cManu Pillai would get more space than Malvika Karlerkar,\u201d Menon said, with a straight face. The room laughed. A few had their eyes open wide, while some smirked as they agreed.<\/p>\n
For Malvika Maheshwari, a book review opens up a conversation, not only about the story, but about different ideas. The speakers argued why it is important to ask some questions: Are book reviews important? Who are we writing for? The author, the book, or myself?\u00a0<\/p>\n