‘Publishing is not just
printing stories’
Shrabon Prokashani is a publishing house with a strong political stand and a firm belief in variation, founder Robin Ahsan tells Sanam Amin
New Age: How did Shrabon start out?
Robin Ahsan: It began back in 1999 as an idea that came to me while working in the Little Magazine Corner. I thought of starting a publishing facility and approached Syed Anwar Rashid, then director general of the Bangla Academy. He supported my endeavour and within a short space of time we had many manuscripts from ten or twelve well-known authors such as Selim Al-Deen and Anu Muhammad; Shamsur Rahman and Badruddin Umar too. Over time we have published a large variety of genres, not just stories and novels. We have published many plays as well, something I think most other publishers tend to avoid. But at Shrabon we believe this variation is necessary.
NA: How is Shrabon different from other publishing houses?
RA: I think the difference lies in what we choose to publish. We have done some English books and will publish much more in the near future. We have also done a lot of translations, something that I think is very necessary in increasing exposure and sharing different literatures. Most importantly there is a political aspect to Shrabon. Shrabon publishes several books related to political discourse that most other publishers choose not to take up. But publishing is not just about printing stories and novels; we have a very close interest in writing on political issues. One example is Anu Muhammad’s Development or Destruction, a book of essays that question global hegemony and corporate grabbing in Bangladesh’s context. And at this year’s fair our highest selling new book is Fidel Castro’s autobiography, translated to Bangla by Farouk Chowdhury.
NA: You also have a series of children’s books? One of them is authored by you.
RA: Yes, these are mostly rhymes and stories; one book of rhymes is by me. Before I was a publisher, I was a writer. I try to make the children’s books good productions; we invest more in the production costs of children’s books even though we don’t sell as much as adult literature. But a child’s book of rhymes needs to be a good production, more so than a collection of political essays. It is regrettable that there has been no arrangement for children at the fair this year. A child who has just learned to read is barely the height of these stalls; he or she cannot browse through the children’s books side-by-side with adults quite simply because it is unreachable. And the congestion this year at the book fair is tremendous, especially on weekends. It isn’t possible for a family with small children to come and enjoy themselves. One solution that has been suggested is to use the adjacent gymnasium field and rearrange the stalls, put the big publishing houses there so those who are ready to push and shove for the books they want can go there while the newer smaller publishers and writers can have a big open space. And the Shishu Academy premises could be used for a separate children’s book fair with stalls and seats of the right size. They can arrange games and activities as well. These reforms are possible if the Boi Mela Committee is reformed and has academics, publishers and writers as members. Collectively they can make improvements.
NA: Do you think a publisher ought to have some experience as a writer?
RA: Not necessarily, but you need to understand what is literature, what is good writing style, what makes a story. A publisher needs that understanding before thinking about what will sell.
NA: How do you define a good writer?
RA: I don’t really have a definition. A writer is a writer as long as he or she writes, regardless of their personality or behaviour.
NA: What book(s) will you be releasing in the near future?
RA: Well, in the last week of the Ekushey book fair we will be releasing a collection of essays by Paul Suizi, the former editor of Monthly Review. He died just last year and the new editor of Monthly Review gave us permission to print this book. It comes with an introduction from the current editor.
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