NEW DELHI, Jan 1: Biographies of Pranab Mukherjee, Manmohan Singh and Narendra Modi, Hillary Clinton’s memoir, another novel from the indomitable Jeffrey Archer and a retelling of the Aarushi murder are some of the major titles that booklovers can look forward to this year.
In the sports segment, prominent books will be autobiographies by tennis stars Sania Mirza and Mahesh Bhupathi (both HarperCollins) and a book on Pakistan cricket “Wounded Tiger: The History of Cricket in Pakistan” by Peter Oborne (Simon & Schuster).
Besides there will be several books on a bevy of subjects like health and fitness, motivation and self help, young adult fiction, cuisines and entertainment.
“The Accidental Prime Minister: The Making and Unmaking of Manmohan Singh” by one of his closest aides Sanjaya Baru will be published by Penguin India in March. In his account, the former media adviser of Singh tells his story of what it was like to ‘manage’ public opinion for the prime minister while giving us a riveting look at Indian politics as it happened behind the scenes.
HarperCollins will also publish a biography of President Pranab Mukherjee by Jayanta Ghosal.
Simon & Schuster’s big title will be Hillary’s memoir in which she will share key decisions and experiences as Secretary of State and her ideas for how the US can address the challenges of a dramatically changing world in the 21st century.
“We couldn’t be happier to continue our long association with Secretary Clinton and to bring readers worldwide her unique insights into the most dramatic events and critically important issues of our time,” says Carolyn Reidy, President and Chief Executive Officer of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
“This will be the ultimate book for people who are interested in world affairs and America’s place in the world today,” adds Jonathan Karp, President and Publisher of the Simon & Schuster Publishing Group.
The year will also see a couple of books on Modi to be brought out by HarperCollins – “Modi and Godhra: The Fiction of Fact-finding” by Manoj Mitta and “Narendra Modi” by Ramesh Menon. There will also be book on Nitish Kumar (by HarperCollins) – “Single Man: Nitish Kumar of Bihar” by journalist Sankarshan Thakur.
A retelling of the Aarushi murder (Penguin) by journalist Avirook Sen will be another anticipated book this year. Sen, who followed the court case and interviewed key players among investigators, lawyers, family and Aarushi’s friends, tries to answer the biggest question of all – who murdered the 14-year-old.
Pan Macmillan India’s major title is Archer’s fourth spellbinding book in his epic “Clifton Chronicles series 1957” – “As Be Careful What You Wish For”.
Other titles from the publishing house include “Big Bad Wolf” by Nele Heuhaus; “Memoir, an electrifying memoir by blind Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng who inspired millions with his fight for justice, and his belief in the cause of freedom; “The Target”, “The Finisher” and “King and Maxwell” by David Baldacci; “In the Light of What we Know” by Zia Haider Rahman; “Want you Dead” by Peter James; “Dead Letter Drop” by Peter James; “Burial Rites” by Hannah Kent and “Vicious Circle” by Wilbur Smith.
Westland’s titles for 2014 include “Why I Write: Essays” by Sadat Hasan Manto (Translated by Aakar Patel), “India Uninc” by Prof R Vaidyanathan, “Take Me Home” by Rashmi Bansal, “Butchers of Banaras” by Mahendra Jakhar, “Kamasutra Diaries” by Sally Howard, “Post-Haste: A History of India Through Stamps” by B G Verghese and “Making of Exile: Sindhis & Partition” by Nandita Bhavnani.
Simon & Schuster will also publish “The Farm” by Tom Rob Smith, “A Short Guide to a Long Life” By David B Agus, ” A Thousand Shards of Glass” By Michael Katakis and “Gold: The Race for the World’s Most Seductive Metal” By Matthew Hart.
HarperCollins fiction list includes “Idris: Keeper of the Light” by Anita Nair, “Karachi Raj” by Anis Shivani, “Gulab” by Annie Zaidi, “The Gypsy Goddess” by Meena Kandaswamy, “And Death Came Calling” by Mukul Deva and “Transgressions” by Vaiju Naravane.
In the ‘Mind, Body, Spirit’ section Simon and Schuster will publish Brendon Burchard’s “The Motivation Manifesto: 7 Declarations to Claim Your Personal Power” and HarperCollins a number of titles like “Who Wrote the Bhagavad Gita: A Secular Enquiry into a Sacred Text” by Lord Meghnad Desai, “Indra’s Net: Defining Modern Hinduism and a Vision for its Future” by Rajiv Malhotra and “The Anti-Ageing Book” by Jamuna Pai.
“How to Age” by Anne Karpf; “How to Think about Exercise” by Damon Young; “How to Deal with Adversity” by Christopher Hamilton; How to Create Emotional Health” by Oliver James; “How to be Alone” by Sara Maitland; “Talk Like Ted: The 9 Public Speaking Secrets of the World’s Top Minds” by Carmine Gallo and “The Skeleton Cupboard” by Tanya Byron, in which the author shares powerful stories from her final years of training as a clinical psychologist, will be brought out by Pan Macmillan India.
The books in the Young Adult section include “Manan” by Mohit Parikh (HarperCollins) and “Half Bad” by Sally Green, “The Blood of Olympus” by Rick Riordan and “Mortal Instruments 6: City of Heavenly Fire” by Cassandra Clare (all Penguin).
According to Hemali Sodhi, vice president (Marketing and Corporate Communications) of Penguin Group India, Penguin enters 2014 “stronger than ever, with a very exciting publishing line up both of our Indian lists, and international lists we represent”.
The publishing house’s other titles include “Noontide Toll”, an extraordinary portrait of post-war Sri Lanka grappling with the ghosts of its troubled past, by Romesh Gunsekera, who was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1994; “Family Life” by Akhil Sharma; “Panty” by Sangeeta Bandyopadhyay and translated from Bengali by Arunava Sinha; “Rebooting Government” by Nandan Nilekani and Viral B Shah; “A Strange Kind of Paradise: India through Foreign Eyes” by Sam Miller.
Penguin’s international titles include “The Last Word” by Hanif Kureishi; “Frog” by Mo Yan; “Runner” by Patrick Lee, “The Strangler Vine” by M J Carter; “Richard Branson: The Man Behind the Mask” by Tom Bower.
Says Karthika V K, publisher and Chief Editor of HarperCollins India, “2013 was a year of some exciting acquisitions that will find their way into bookstores in 2014 – former President A P J Abdul Kalam’s ‘A Manifesto for Change’ and Upamanyu Chatterjee’s novel ‘Fairy Tales at Fifty’ top the list.”
HarperCollins non-fiction titles include “Capital: A Portrait of Twenty-First Century Delhi” by Rana Dasgupta, “Travelling In, Travelling Out: A Book of Unexpected Journeys” by Namita Gokhale, “Indians in a Globalizing World” by Dilip Hiro, “The Connected Age” by Sudhakar Ram and “At the Helm” by V Krishnamurthy, “Get Your Act Together: A Master Class on Becoming an Actor” by Tisca Chopra and “Jagijit Singh: A Musical Biography” by Sathya Saran.
The publishing house also has some books on translations like “Fourteen: Stories that Ray Made into Films” edited and translated by Bhaskar Chattopadhyay, “Reserved Seat & Other Stories” by Man Booker 2013 nominee Intizaar Hussain and translated by Rakshanda Jalil, and “The Boatwreck/ Naukadoobi” by Rabindranath Tagore and translated by Arunava Sinha. (PTI)
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