The third edition of Ananke’s Women in Literature Festival will present a unique set of panels titled Publishers’ Corner. Three specific sessions held on both days – April 11th and 12th, 2023 – are set to showcase discussions between publishers and their authors. The sessions will celebrate disruptive, female-led publishing houses and their diverse set of authors.
The first session, The Neem Tree Press Panel – will be held on April 11th, 2023, at 3.00 PM UAE and features speakers including Faiqa Mansab, Hafsa Lodi, Dr Shahd AlShammari and Safinah Danish Elahi with Neem Tree Press founder-publisher Archna Sharma.
Neem Tree Press is an independent publisher of award-winning fiction, non-fiction and children’s books that ignite curiosity and broaden readers’ perspectives of the world we live in. The organization is dedicated to discovering and amplifying diverse new voices who have a great story to tell. Â
Based in London, Neem Tree Press is truly global in scope and work with both British and international authors and artists from all backgrounds and walks of life. The publishing organization was recently awarded the English PEN grant, a prestigious literary award for translated fiction. Â
The publishing house’s books have received widespread coverage, including in Harper’s Bazaar and Vogue, on BBC Radio, and at the Smithsonian Design Museum in New York City.Â
Neem Tree Press’ middle grade and YA fiction list aims to showcase global cultures and empower young diverse protagonists. These books invoke a sense of adventure and exploration with stories grounded in art, culture and history from all over the world.Â
Taking inspiration from its namesake: the neem, as a small independent company, Neem Tree Press’ mission is to make an impact on diversity and inclusivity in literature while providing readers with books that inspire, inform and provoke.
The second session, The Reverie Publishers Panel, engages its authors – Moni Mohsin, Osman Haneef and Zain Saeed and author, founder-publisher Safinah Danish Elahi in a conversation about pushing boundaries in Pakistani Publishing. The session will be held on April 12th, 2023, at 12.00 PM UAE time.
Reverie Publishers was founded on the premise of expanding publishing in Pakistan, focusing on Fiction Writing. It provides a platform for aspiring and established writers of the country to be able to produce and sell their work.
Reverie Publishers envisions to provide expertise in producing a book as an end-to-end solution. It aims to publish books under a self-publishing line, ‘Moringa Books’ and traditional publishing line ‘Reverie Publishers,’ the parent label. Not many fiction novels are published in Pakistan therefore hindering creativity and forcing writers to publish content without much guidance. The publishing house aims to correct that and continuously aspire to promoting fresh material and voices from our country.
The third session The Yoda Press Panel will be held on the second day of the event, April 12th, 2023, at 7.15 PM UAE time. Chaired by founder-publisher, Arpita Das, speakers include Anuradha (Anu) Kumar, Fehmida Zakeer, Namita Waikar and Sehyr Mirza.
Founded in 2004 with an alternative publishing vision, Yoda Press aims to create lists around subjects which are not usually a priority for other publishers in India, even though they have a critical presence in contemporary discourse, authorship and an audience. Yoda Press is known for publishing on subjects such as sexuality, popular culture, cities and urbanism, architecture as a lived experience, and new perspectives in Indian history and sociology.
Yoda Press’s series on sexualities have been the preferred home for cutting-edge writing in alternative sexuality since 2005. In August 2015, the publishing house initiated a joint imprint with Sage Publications for our academic titles, SAGE-YODA PRESS. Yoda Press launched its Fiction list in December 2016. Yoda Press founded a brand new joint imprint for its trade titles with Simon and Schuster India in early 2020.
The event will be live-streamed on Ananke’s Facebook page – @anankemag with the option to participate in all live sessions via Zoom. To attend the session, email: media@anankemag.com (please write: Zoom registration in the subject line).
Partners of the event include Zubaan Books, Seagull Books, Zuka Books, Neem Tree Press, Yoda Press and Readomania. More partners and collaborators will be announced soon.
Source material: Neem Tree Press, Reverie Books, Yoda Press