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Bloomsbury India begins academic publishing with local authors
Bloomsbury is starting academic publishing in India this year as it continues to evolve its business in the country.
The firm plans to publish local authors on similar topics to those commonly covered in the US and the UK, with subjects including social studies, philosophy and history. Editor Chandra Sekhar will be looking to commission from a range of academics.
Bloomsbury India’s first academic title is Time, Doubt and Wonder in the Humanities by Prasanta Chakravarty, an associate professor of English at the University of Delhi. Published as an e-book on 14th January, the work examines the relevance of the humanities in the age of post-truth and fake news.
Bloomsbury's New Delhi office opened in 2012. Jenny Ridout, Bloomsbury’s global head of academic publishing, said it was originally seen as an extension of the company’s traditional publishing but had grown in recent years. She said Bloomsbury wanted to continue investment in that business and develop it by branching into the academic sector. The move would also see a wider range of academic opinion made available.
She said: “We’re trying to increase the diversity of views, which has been quite UK and US-centric in the past. We want to have better regional coverage and also to have voices coming through from the territories themselves.”
Alongside tapping into a huge domestic market, Bloomsbury India said the new list would have international appeal and be made available globally.
Rajiv Beri, m.d. of Bloomsbury India, said: "We have for the past few years been actively marketing and selling the large and diverse academic lists of Bloomsbury UK. The results have been excellent and have encouraged us to launch an India origin academic publishing programme. Our aim will be to publish high quality content in Humanities and Social Sciences with authorship from centres of academic and scholarly excellence in India. The list we create will have international appeal and will reach all parts of the world. We are indeed delighted with this significant initiative and look forward to contributing to dissemination of India origin high quality, meaningful and fresh academic content."
Ridout said the academic arm was also “open to looking at where the next opportunity is” internationally.
