Publisher Naveen Kishore on theatre, the Indian reader, and what drives him to promote the arts

Amongst one of the most universal of emotions is the strange wistfulness that emanates from books, both old and new; from their sturdy or worn-out spines and the comforting smell of their pages. Inspired by this shared experience and the joy of making books available, Naveen Kishore, founder and managing trustee of Seagull Books began his small publishing venture in Kolkata. Today, 35 years later, Seagull has divisions in New York and London, and worldwide English-language publishing rights for works by Jean-Paul Sartre, Paul Celan, Ingeborg Bachmann, Mahasweta Devi along with 2012 Nobel Laureate Mo Yan, and 2015 Man Booker International Prize winner, László Krasznahorkai, among many others. Kishore’s publishing legacy is transcendent. Take for instance, German publisher Elisabeth Ruge’s laudatory speech when she was awarded the Goethe Medal in 2013. “She didn’t know me, but her speech had me in tears,” remembers Kishore. “She had looked through six of my catalogues and worked out what my ideologies and philosophies were about?” The publisher will share his experiences in theatre and publishing in the form of a long prose poem in an upcoming talk, ‘As the Seagull Flies’ organised by arts organisation Junoon’s Mumbai Local initiative.

In the beginning

Reminiscing about how it all began, Kishore shares how he had turned to film and theatre critic Samik Banerjee to see how the Seagull Empire – then an impresario organising shows of theatre, music and dance – could promote different kinds of arts. “We had just done a 13-month long tour across India with the National Theatre of the Deaf – an American company that used both hearing and deaf actors to perform – and The Action Players who were a similar Calcutta-based group,” recalls Kishore. “After this long emotional involvement with like-minded people, we felt that returning to a certain kind of theatre didn’t make sense.”

Banerjee drew their attention to a kind of Bengali theatre was developing on the streets and in classrooms after school hours which used only the actors’ bodies to draw attention to humanitarian issues. “Their work was about the politics of the human condition,” says Kishore. “So we invited 20 such groups and organised a theatre festival called Grassroots. It was at one of these performances that I saw young man sketching the actors’ beautiful body movements. I felt it was such a pity that this wonderful scene would one day be possibly forgotten”.

Banerjee suggested a way to document these performances. “He said someone with a specialised interest should start a publishing house only for theatre,” says Kishore. “And we did just that in 1982. The theatre circle, from Badal Sarkar to Habib Tanvir, responded readily. We also published film scripts by Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen and Shyam Benegal. It was a very exciting time when we acted on our impulses.”

Fundamentals of funding

Before the Seagull Empire, Kishore was a part of The Red Curtain, the oldest performing English theatre group in Kolkata. “There everything was done hands on – it did not matter if you had ten years of experience or ten months. Working there was like learning to swim”. The publisher soon became fluent with the workings backstage and learnt lighting under one of the group’s founding members, Sumit Roy. Following his father’s ill-health, Kishore went on to hone his skills and branched out to writing settings as well. “To supplement the work I was doing in theatre design, I started offering the stage razzmatazz to advertising agencies wherein I would help them present products, almost like a curtain raiser. Soon the advertising was funding the theatre and vice versa.”

Kishore’s process of shaping a business model as he went along guided his decisions as a publisher. Take for his instance, the curation of Seagull’s lists of books. Kishore says he just publishes what he wants to. “My way of being political is all in my work.” He maintains that creating, publishing or performing a work of art cannot be done in isolation from one’s surroundings.

Naveen Kishore’s talk will be held at Kitab Khana, Fort, on June 16, at 5.30 p.m. RSVP at to.kitabkhana@gmail.com or log on to bookmyshow.com.