Breaking barriers at the World Book Fair

Wadhwa noted the importance of forging Asian links and said the need of the hour was to recognise areas of congruence rather than those of conflict. He alsodeclared that the benefits of the Asian links formed must go to the common people.

One of the most talked about issues was that of piracy. Many felt that a lack of co-operation between Asian countries resulted in piracy and evasion of copyright laws. The present situation meant that that authors lost out on their royalties.

A problem that Kishwar Naheed and Charan Wadhwa dwelt on was the way publishers often cheated Asian writers from what they were legally entitled to get.

The poetess found it strange that at various South Asian fora, the things discussed were CTBT and defence; sharing of information and the exchange of books did not figure on the agenda.

Yet the demand for books and movies from other Asian countries was there. This was evident from the way smuggling and piracy of Indian books and films flourished in Pakistan and vice-versa.

Naheed also raised the issue of globalisation and talked about how it was relevant to the necessity of forging Asian links. On the other hand, Singh said itwas time for us to look away from the West and towards our Asian neighbours. The trend has already started, he added. Books for children written in one language must be translated into other languages as well. Otherwise, our children grow up reading children’s stories in English, which deal with circumstances foreign to us, he said. "The National Book Trust and Children’s Book Trust must work together in this direction," he said.

Moinuddin Ahmed from Bangladesh noted that contemporary Indian writers writing in English had successfully marketed their works in the international market. He cited the example of Bangladesh and said that the barriers between Asian countries were more official than cultural. There were no restrictions on import of books from any country. But authorities felt that Bangla fiction from India was a danger. As they could not target India specifically (for that would be an unfair trade practice), they imposed a 7.5 per cent tariff on all imported works of fiction. "But that had notserved the intended purpose," he said. Books from West Bengal were so popular that the tariff has not made much of an effect. He hoped that the tariff would be lifted soon.

In his speech, Hassan demanded that an Asian copyright law be passed. Under this law, there would be very little control on translations — thus works of one country would be accessible in another.The royalty sum for reprints in Asia should ideally be less — this would tackle the piracy problem as well as boost South Asian links. He announced that the Afro-Asian Book Council would organise a translation seminar in Nepal this year.

Duggal noted the need for having an Asian writers’ conference, which would help build links between Asian countries. He called for Sahitya Akademi’s initiative in this direction.

Dr Vatsyayan wondered whether there was an Asian culture. "What is Asia?, this question must be explored first," she said. She also observed that direct translations of critical works must be undertaken; and the many unpublishedmanuscripts from our past must be brought to light. Otherwise, we would have an incomplete idea of our heritage.