How bibliophiles are urging local libraries to stock Westland’s children’s books

Two days after Sowmya Swaminathan heard about the closure of Westland Books, the Chennai-based educator decided to do something about it. The 28-year-old put out a call on social media asking fellow book lovers to help her urge local libraries and institutions to stock children's books by the publisher before they get pulped. "When I heard the news, I was genuinely in shock because Westland is a big publishing house that has published many big Indian authors. I couldn't just sit and watch because I thought about how many people are really going to be able to buy the books at such short notice," she explains.

On February 1, Amazon announced the closing of Westland Books, the 1962-founded Indian publishing house, which the American e-commerce giant had bought in 2017. The company will shut operations by March 31. As the sudden news of the closing circulated on the internet, many authors who were associated with the publishing house, and had only recently released books with them, expressed their sadness about the uncertain future of their books. At a personal level, avid readers around the country have been trying to come to terms with the closing.

While people were being directed to buy the last of the copies from independent bookstores online, Swaminathan was concerned about all the people, mainly children, who can't afford to buy them. It is a thought that came to her because of her experience as an educator teaching lower-income under-resourced students over the years. Looking up the children's vertical of the publishing house called ‘Red Panda', she realised how children stand to lose access to some really great books. "A generation of children isn't going to be able to read the books put out by them, and some of them are really good ones about Malala Yousafzai, Mithali Raj, Raja Ravi Varma, and more."

Swaminathan jumped into action, reaching every library she could. "We do have a culture of libraries in India and have them everywhere around us. So I decided if we could just persuade, convince or request libraries in our neighbourhood, even if they are very small, to think about it seriously and order as many titles as they can, it would really help the children around them."

How readers responded
Now, a week after she put out the tweet, many people have reached out to her, asking how they can help. The educator even has a buzzing WhatsApp group with 10 people including Westland authors, volunteers and another 10 offline, who are working out the best possible solution to stock the books. She says, "When I reached out to author Arunava Sinha, who teaches at Ashoka University, he told me that he has already asked the library to stock the books and that made me really happy."

Armed with the book catalogue and diligently maintaining an Excel sheet, Swaminathan is trying to take the initiative forward. "We started by compiling a list of schools, libraries and colleges in different cities. People have already reached out to help in Chennai, Mumbai and Goa and it is really heartening," she adds. Even smaller libraries have also reached out to her for the catalogue to buy them. One person has reached out to the educator to help buy the books for children. "I am also creating afundraiser so that we can buy the children's titles and send them to different libraries in India," adds Swaminathan.

They reached out to at least 20 libraries, schools, colleges, communities in Chennai, Hyderabad, Nashik, Haryana, Lucknow and Mumbai so far. While it is hard to track the success of the initiative yet, Swaminathan believes many people have done it in their own capacity. "One person has said he will be buying the children's titles for Rs 10,000 and sending them to the Teach For India offices." She has also been tagged by a few people, who have gone to the bookstores and bought the books and donated them to their local libraries.

Mulling over in Mumbai
The group has reached out to the Central Library in Chennai, and a bookstore in Mumbai's BKC is also likely to purchase the titles, says Chennai-based journalist Manasa R, who has been connecting with libraries and bookshops in both cities.

Some libraries and bookstores haven't been reachable or are seeking discounts to be able to buy the books in bulk at short notice. She points out, "There is still a lack of information about the closing of this publishing house." However, the 27-year-old hopes that since the initiative is being amplified by celebrity writers like Manu S Pillai and Sharanya Manivannan, it could make many libraries and bookstores stock up the Westland titles.

She adds, "It has been easier to reach out to people we already have a connection with, such as the library at institutes where we have studied or by using the names of celebrity authors to help encourage people to stock the books." The fact that she was associated with Westland briefly, as a freelancer, is also another reason why the journalist feels close to the initiative. Being a lover of books, she has been involved in promoting indie bookstores and libraries locally online in the last few years. "These are very important books, especially the non-fiction titles about India, and need to be read," she says. The uncertainty about the future of the books, whether they will be reprinted or be picked up by other publishing houses, also troubles her.

Bandra-based bookshop Trilogy, which has stocked several Westland titles over the years, has seen a lot of readers come in to pick up books by the publishing house since the announcement. Ahalya Naidu Momaya, co-founder, says, "Some of our favourite authors have their books with Westland, and we share in their dismay and frustration. As an independent bookshop, we feel such good books cannot be taken for granted or dismissed in such a cavalier fashion."

She adds that since the deadline for any support from the publisher ends next month, there are a lot of orders being placed now for the books. While there isn't a fixed number of books from the publishing house kept by the bookstore, Momaya says they have always stocked new, interesting and relevant titles whenever they have been released.

The future of bookstores and publishing
The closing of Westland is not only going to affect the authors but also the bookstores dependent on them for their sales. She explains "There will certainly be a gap in great Indian nonfiction and fiction, including translated books. However, everyone is hoping that the authors find new publishing houses to support them and that other more independent and editorial minded publishing houses continue to bring out great titles that our readers deserve."

It is also at such a time that she feels the publishing industry needs to do more than before and come together "to minimise Amazon's near complete control over what and how we read". That some of them have been quiet about the recent developments, she says, is very unfortunate. "All publishing houses need to wake up and acknowledge that their role as publishers is to listen to society, not the market! "

Till that happens, she finds hope in how the reading community - including the likes of Swaminathan-reacted to the closing of Westland and how they are trying to bring about change. "It has been the authors, readers, and indie booksellers who have moved swiftly to thwart major losses to our reading heritage by spreading the word to buy the books and to clearly voice their concerns and dismay," she observes. "Just by simply acknowledging and patronising bookshops at this time, the sense of community this has created is heartwarming. This community sense is what's missing in the algorithm-led, number-obsessed approach to business."