Former Penguin top honcho David Davidar emerged from the eye of a storm only to set up a new publishing venture. It's little wonder then that his new book, Ithaca, ponders over the life and times of the publishing industry

David Davidar, former CEO, Penguin International, who left the publishing giant he had helped set up in India amidst much controversy, is out with a new book. Titled Ithaca (after CP Cavafy's 1911 Greek poem), the novel follows the rise and fall of publisher Zachariah Thomas, and through him, depicts the changes threatening to topple established names and well-worn practises within the publishing world. Excerpts from an interview:



As an editor turned writer, could you tell us a bit about the writing of this book. Did the subject of the book -- on writing, the commerce and wistfulness -- influence your choice of form? What editorial choices did you bring into the writing of this book?

That's very perceptive. The day to day business of publishing doesn't give you the space for nuanced reflection on what it is all about, and that is why I decided to write a novel about it. The triumphs and tragedies of writing, and those who help bring it to the outside world. I've followed the same writing process for all my novels. Once I have the plot and the main characters worked out in my head (and then transferred to paper -- I still write my first draft in long hand on paper), I try to write for a fixed time every morning.

I'm a morning person so I usually wake up early, write for a couple of hours, and then look through what I've done the previous day. I spend the rest of the day researching and thinking about the next day's writing. When I have the first draft done, my wife Rachna, who has been my first editor on all my novels, transfers it to a computer (she types way more efficiently than I do, and makes suggestions as she goes along, so it works quite well), and I then begin revising. The book takes its final shape in the fourth draft.

What's the role of a "first editor"?
Rachna is an excellent 'reader' the essential pre-requisite to being a good editor, and she suggested ways to improve the plot, characterisation, narrative pace and so on which I incorporated into my revisions.