SATURDAY, MAY 04, 2024
Dolcy D’Cruz
Goans love reading and this is evident as more people are open to discussing books that they have read and loved. The number of readers have also increased as they open their minds to new authors and new genres. The world of books is not limited to just one language in Goa and many institutes and book clubs regularly organise book discussions that engage the readers.
Nitesh Bardipurkar of Prose Patisserie and Café, Nachinola, organises their book events under Prisms of Prose. In the month of April, they discussed 'Ways of Belonging,' a book which features stories by 30 writers of the group of writers called ‘Goa Writers’. “The book discussions usually depend on the authors that we invite for the discussion. The first book we discussed at the café was David De Souza’s book, ‘Moira Diversity’ in 2022. So far, we had over 10 Prisms of Prose events. Besides book discussions, we also have book launches. We prefer to have Goan authors as Goan literature receives a good response. We also have a small library with books from The Dogears Bookshop, where readers can select the books that will be discussed,” says Nitesh. Besides book events, Prisms of Prose recently opened their Book Club, which is moderated by one of their customers, Sarah and Nitesh’s wife, Linsiya Patrao.
Alliance Française Panjim organises monthly book discussions, which discusses international authors especially focusing on French books or books which are translated from French literature. “The monthly book club Thinnai Stories, is in a hybrid medium. A book lover can be sitting in Margao at The Dogears Bookshop and can participate in the book discussion with an author who is across the world. Recently, we had a discussion with Ananda Devi is one of the leading francophone writers of the Indian Ocean, where she spoke all the way from Mauritius,” explains Shamika Andrade, development in-charge at Alliance Francaise, who held the discussion along with Ari Gautier, a French novelist from Pondicherry of Indo-Malagasy origin.
In Goa, ‘Pardon My French’ is being implemented in collaboration with Alliance Française, Panjim. ‘Pardon My French’ is a curated shelf of books in French, and of books translated from French, at The Dogears Bookshop in Margao. “French literature has so many similarities with Goa as the readers are often interested in the themes and characters. Ari often documents the history of Pondicherry under the French Regime. The next book that will be discussed will be ‘Riambel’ by Priya Hein on May 26 which deals with themes like creolization of culture with strong feminist characters,” says Shamika, who informs that the book discussions are usually held at the end of the month and since an increase in readership among French readers in Goa.
Harihara SS is in charge of communication and outreach at Champaca Bookstore at Anjuna. The bookstore sees nearly two book discussions per month with authors coming in from different parts of the world. Some of the recent books that were discussed includes ‘Goagram’ by Bina Nayak, ‘Becoming Goan: A Contemporary Coming-Home Story’ by Michelle Mendonca Bambawale and ‘River of Stories’ by Orijit Sen. “The response for the book discussions depend on the author, the weather and the traffic while driving to Anjuna. We usually get a good response and an email is sent out to the members on which book will be next discussed and we stock up on the books too. Through the readership pattern, we have released that there are many readers who prefer to buy a book every two weeks or those who prefer to buy many books at a time. We have international and Indian books as well as International translations and Indian translations. Books that delve on themes of nature, feminism, queer literature and caste also find a prominent space on the shelves,” informs Harihara. The next events at Champaca will include book discussions on books like ‘The People of the Indus’ by Nikhil Gulati, ‘Speaking to an Elephant and Other Tales from the Kadars’ by Manish Chandi and the book launch of Rochelle Potkar’s book on a collection of poems, ‘Coins in Rivers’ on May 31.
Divya Kapur, the founder of the Literati Bookshop in Calangute is synonymous with fiction book discussions through the Literati Book Club. The members themselves decide on which books especially fiction by any author from around the world, will be discussed next. It is compulsory for the members as well as the audience to read the book to attend the monthly book discussion. “Besides book discussions, we also have book readings and book launches. We prefer to discuss the book first and then call on the author to participate in the Q and A session. It encourages the reading habit and eventually leads to new readers exploring different genres in Goa,” says Divya. The most recent book discussed in the month of April was ‘Like Water for Chocolate, a book written by Mexican author Laura Esquivel.
One can find a wide genre of books to read and discuss at The Dogears Bookshop in Margao. Leonard Fernandes puts in a lot of passion in selecting books that are discussed through the two book clubs as well as the author interactions. “We have two book clubs, Brazilian Literature Book Club that discusses Portuguese in English literature on one Saturday of the month and the French Book discussion that is held over Zoom in collaboration with the French Embassy in India, Institut Français and Alliance Française Panjim that focusses on authors and their works. Besides the book clubs, we have regular book discussions. This month itself, we had nearly 6-7 book discussions. The readership among Goans have certainly increased and we get a good response when the participants are informed that the author will be attending the session. We also discussed books which are translated from Konkani. The next book discussion will be on ‘Colonial Sunset’ by Alexandre Moniz Barbosa on May 4 at 5 pm,” informs Leonard, the founder of The Dogears Bookshop.
A computer engineer by profession, Margao-based Archana Nagvekar has been an avid reader since her childhood. She is the founder of The Out-Of-Context book club which was started seven years back and is one of the oldest Book clubs in Goa. The book club meets monthly at different venues and the 20 core members take turns in selecting the day and the book for the next discussion. “We recently discussed the novel ‘The Covenant of Water’ by Abraham Verghese at the Broadway Book Store, Panjim. Prior to that we had discussed Michelle Mendonça Bambawale’s ‘Becoming Goan: A Contemporary Coming-Home Story’ at Alliance Française Panjim. The crowd is a mixed audience with people from different walks of life attending it. Out-of-Context is a safe forum where various issues are thrown out of the book that are relatable to life and are discussed without any judgement. The next book that will be discussed on May 18 will be ‘Goagram’ by Bina Nayak,” says Archana.
Two other prominent institutes that also regularly have book discussions and book launches are Panjim-based Fundação Oriente and Porvorim-based Xavier Centre of Historical Research that organises the monthly, History Hour that throws light on books related to Goa and Goans.
