Literary enthusiasts follow in footsteps of legendary forum, churn out quality books

COIMBATORE: Vasagar Vattam, a literary publishing forum established in the 60s by Lakshmi Krishnamurthy, a social activist and daughter of freedom fighter S Satyamurti, was a trailblazer.

The forum brought out high quality editions of the works of several stalwarts of Tamil literature. It published writers such as La Sa Ramamirtham, Thi Janakiraman, Chitti (PG Sundararajan), Ki Rajanarayanan and Sa Kandasamy.

While Vasagar Vattam, which is now history, is fondly remembered by writers and readers of that era for its error-free, hardbound editions, a small group of literary enthusiasts from the city have floated a similar forum. Under the banner ‘Siruvani Vasagar Maiyam’, the forum publishes one book by a selected writer a month -- both out-of-print classics and new titles by contemporary writers -- and distributes it among its members.

So far, the forum has published the works of writers such as La SA Ramamirtham, Asokamitran, Sarvagan, Nanjil Nadan and Kanmani Gunasekaran, among others. It has set up a stall at the ongoing Coimbatore Book Festival.

The forum’s organiser GR Prakash says that after Vasagar Vattam, there were no such initiatives. “Literary forums conduct meetings but do not publish. When we were discussing this with writer Nanjil Nadan, he encouraged us to take up publishing,” he says.

The forum, which was started last April, collects an annual subscription fee of Rs 1,600 and sends its readers one book per month. While the forum publishes most of its books, it also sources some from other publications.

The forum is headed by Subashini Tirumalai, a writer. It has two other members as advisers. “We read the books, which we select for the year and then give it to Nanjil Nadan for the final decision. We can justify the merits of each book we select as it’s a collective decision,” says Prakash. “We don’t want to get trapped in literary ‘isms’, which would hinder literary reading,” says Prakash, who has been working in the quality department of a private firm for the last 25 years.

The forum has around 250 subscribers now. It needs at least 500 subscribers to function effectively and also to publish more ambitious books, says Nanjil Nadan. “The forum doesn’t have a commercial motive and only functions to take rare and good books to its readers. It has been moving to a respectable status,” he says and adds that the forum has been working to reach the 500-mark. “While several big publishers don’t pay writers royalty properly, Siruvani Vasagar Maiyam has been giving its writers royalty on the publication of their books, even if it’s a small amount,” Nanjil Nadan adds.

Commenting on the relevance of such forums, which select books for its readers, Prakash says many readers are misled by flashy covers and titles in bookshops, which make them averse to reading. “But we have been giving our readers selected good works of classics and contemporary writing,” he says.

“Earlier, people went to libraries in search of books. But today, publishers can survive only if they take books to their readers,” adds Nanjil Nadan.


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